Window Seat | Mrinal
Chatterjee 9.2.20
CULTURE: WHY WE SHOULD SIMULTANEOUSLY PRESERVE IT
AND ALLOW CHANGES?
In the context of humanities and sociology
culture means the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or
society. Culture is considered a central concept in anthropology, encompassing
the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human
societies. Culture is a word for the ‘way of life’ of groups of people, meaning
the way they do things. Different groups may have different cultures. A culture is passed on to the next generation
by learning, whereas genetics are passed on by heredity.
Cultures
are what make countries unique. Each country may have different cultural
activities and cultural rituals. Culture includes material goods, the things
the people use and produce. Also the beliefs and values of the people and the
ways they think about and understand the world and their own lives.
Culture
can also vary within a region, society or sub group. A region of a country may
have a different culture that they rest of the country. For example, in a large
country like India or China a region may have a distinctive language, different
types of music, and different types of music, and different types of dances.
It
is important to preserve culture of a society, State or country because that is
part of its identity. Every culture that disappears diminishes a possibility of
life. Keeping culture intact equals to patriotism, self-respect, the values of
a nation, rich history as well as a great way forward.
Culture
preservation includes documenting and studying languages: preserving and
restoring historic relics significant to a culture or heritage; and encouraging
the preservation and use of indigenous or tribal languages and rituals.
Culture
is pervasive. It touches every aspect of life. The pervasiveness of culture is
manifest in two ways. First, culture provides an unquestioned context within
which individual action and response take place. Not only emotional action but
relational actions are governed by cultural norms. Second, culture pervades
social activities and institutions.
Culture
is not a force, operating by itself and independent of the human actors. There
is an unconscious tendency to defy culture, to endow it with life and treat it
as a thing. Culture is a creation of society in interaction and depends for its
existence upon the continuance of society.
In
a strict sense, therefore, culture does not ‘do’ anything on its own. It does
not cause the individual to act in a particular way, nor does it ‘make’ the
normal individual into a maladjusted
one. Culture, in short, is a human product; it is not independently endowed
with life.
However,
we must remember that there is one fundamental and in escapable attribute of
culture: the fact of unending change. Some societies at sometimes change
slowly, and hence in comparison to other societies seem not to be changing at
all. But they are changing, even though not obviously so. Culture in not
static. It changes with time and change in technology.
It
is like a flowing river. The river rarely changes its course-it more or less
remains the same, but the water continues to flow. It is never static. If it
does not flow than the river ultimately die. This analogy is true for any
culture. l It needs to be practiced and changed with time to make it relevant
and practice worthy.
Cultures
undergo a gradual change. With passing time, some beliefs change, certain
traditions or rituals are eliminated, language and mannerisms of people change and thus their culture. Migration and
globalization lead to a mixing of cultures. When people from different parts of
the world come together, they influence each other and effectively, each
other’s cultures. These factors contribute to the formation of a multicultural
society and sometimes, even new cultures develop.
Due to education and increased awareness, newer
generations become flexible to change and look at concepts like religion and
culture with a broader perspective and have a liber4al view about them,. So
some rituals or customs become less rigid, some are replaced by simpler ones
and some are discontinued.
Due
to the exposure to various cultures across the globe, people adopt some aspects
of other cultures. This affects what they teach their children, thus
influencing the culture of their future generations and in a small way, leading
to a cultural change. Social thinking
undergoes a transition and so does culture. Gender roles change. For instance,
traditionally, the males were meant to work and earn for their family, while
women stayed at home and looked after the children. Today these roles have changed. In many
families, women work away from home, while men take care of the kids.
All
cultures change in time although their rate of change varies. It’s often seen
that the politically or economically stronger countries influence cultures in
other parts of the world and lead to social changes in the concerned countries.
Thus,
there is a need to preserve culture. But one should not be puritan and averse
to change. On the other hand too sudden or too pervasive a change would kill a
culture. We must balance this two opposing things carefully.
Tailpiece: Corona
Don’t
be so afraid of the corona virus. It won’t last long. After all it is made in
China.
But
of course you need to take precaution. However, Bengalis and to some extent
Odias need not worry. They have been taking precaution against corona from
childhood:
Eta
corona
Ota
corona
Birokto
corona
Bandrami
(mankadami in Odia) corona
Maramari
corona
Nachanachi
corona, etc.
Tailpiece 2: Accountancy Fact
What is the difference between Liability and Asset?
A drunk friend is liability. But, A drunk Girlfriend is an Asset
(Courtesy: Social Media)
***
An
anthology of his weekly column Window
Seat, published in 2019 is being published as a book. Should you want a
copy with introductory discounted price, write to him at: mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com
This column is published every Sunday in Sikkim Express.
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