MASS COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

CULTURE

The word ‘culture’ is an English version of the German word ‘kultur’ which in turn is derived from the Latin  noun ‘cultura’, the Latin verb of which is ‘colere’ meaning to cultivate. To cultivate something is to handle it or work upon it in such a way that something valuable results. Thus ‘culture’ stands for something that has been worked upon. Culture in evident in ‘Things’, ‘People’, and ‘Human Practices’.

As defined by B. Malinowski in the year 1969:

“Culture is an integral composed of partly autonomous, partly coordinated institutions. It is integrated on a series of principles such as the community of blood through procreation; the specialization in activities; and last but not least, the use of power in political organization. Each culture owes its completeness and self sufficiency to the fact that it satisfies the whole range of basic, instrumental and integrative needs.”

C. Geertz defines Culture as:

“Culture denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life.”

The term ‘Culture’ entered into English usage with the publication of E.B.Tylor’s text “ Primitive Culture” in 1871. The following definition was given in this classic text:

“Culture or civilization is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”

If ‘culture’ denotes all the capabilities and habits of men and women, then ‘culture’ becomes almost synonymous with ‘civilization’. The term ‘civilization’ also has a Latin background, originating in the word ‘civis’ denoting a citizen – that is a civilized person. Thus, having a culture and being civilized is basically the same thing.

Characteristics of Culture:       

           

·                     Communicable over time and space

·                     Commonly formed and held

·                     Dynamic and changing

·                     Open to Symbolic Expression

·                     Ordered and differentially valued

·                     Systematically patterned

·                     Spatially located

HIGH CULTURE, MASS CULTURE, AND POPULAR CULTURE

High Culture

Assumed to be created by, or under the supervision of a cultural elite operating within some aesthetic, literary, or scientific tradition, it is the set of traditional artifacts including music, art, literature, poetry, codes, norms, etc., that humanists judged to have the highest value.

Mass Culture

Refers to the cultural products manufactured solely for the mass market. Initially unfavoured, mass culture is now regarded as a more universal or standardized culture. Some of the characteristics of Mass Culture can be stated as follows:

*              It is popular with the mass                                               *              It is commercialized

*              It is standardized (homogenized)                                   *              It is Non Traditional

*              It is Non Elite                                                                       *              It is Mass Produced

Popular Culture

It refers to that culture which is normally liked by many people. It usually implies the culture which is popular among the younger generations. Very often Mass Culture is referred to as the Popular Culture.