The Importance of Culture and its Transmission in a Society           

A culture is a collection of shared values, standards, images, language, antiques, religion, customs, social association, expressions and writing, legislative issues, and economy. The term “community” refers to a large, diversified group of people who share a shared culture and reside in a geographically equivalent area. Culture is a vital symbol for a community, and its transmission occurs through a variety of mechanisms.

Culture comprises both the nonmaterial elements and the material elements. Nonmaterial tradition incorporates the qualities, convictions, images, and language used to shape society. The material component comprises all of society’s tangible items, such as tools, technology, dining utensils, clothing, and transportation methods. In some cases, culture may reside within a particular culture. In other words, a subculture comprises a group of individuals (such as a specific subculture) that incorporates both traditional and nontraditional issues.

Knowledge of a culture is highly diverse, encompassing many facets of social life. There are various examples, such as differentiating between what is good and what is evil, what is acceptable and what is not, and the multiple ways of performing rituals and what abilities enable someone to be accepted in the community. Cognition plays the essential role in transferring these kinds of knowledge(Stonestreet and Kunkle 54). However, the emotional reactions and how to display them do go through some cultural evolution.

Humans are not born knowing anything about social topics or issues but instead become schooled to them through a human experience. When it comes to social transmission, there are three general classes: vertical, oblique, and horizontal(Freitas 433). The social transition needs the guardians to hand down social learning to their offspring. Direct transmission entails teaching through social interaction that begins with one age and continues to the next. People in an age group are comparable to one another on social facts through horizontal transmission.

Tradition transmission occurs in two distinct areas: the processes themselves and the entities that utilize these processes. Enculturation and socialization are both aspects of the social transmission process(Ayad 54). It denotes the step-by-step process in which an individual acquires the values and characteristics of the way of life through observation. A person becomes acquainted with the cultural qualities by just getting to know them. Also, most people pick up the native language in which they become raised. In many cases, children’s ideas, attitudes, and values are pretty similar to their parents in their early stages of development.

On the other hand, socialization teaches individuals the principles, values, and attitudes that make up their cultural identity. The procedure is both purposeful and highly methodical, and it is also systematic and educative for the individual(Freitas 433). To give a simple example, let’s take the citizenship lessons given to immigrants while they become citizens. Another example is the fact that many children get enrolled in religious education classes.

One cannot live without the other; society and culture tend to intertwine completely. Tradition is needed to guide people so they do not get lost. A shared culture motivates people from disparate groups to reside alongside one another. The methods of cultural transmission may vary, but eventually, all that matters is that cultural information gets passed on to the next generation.

Works Cited

Ayad, Mariam. Studies in Coptic culture: Transmission and interaction. 1st ed., The American University in Cairo Press, 2016.

Freitas, Djalma. “The methodological approaches in an experimental study of the cultural transmission process.” Culture & Psychology, vol. 24, no. 4, 2017, pp. 418–42. Crossref, doi:10.1177/1354067×17729996.

Stonestreet, John, and Brett Kunkle. A practical guide to culture: Helping the next generation navigate today’s world. David C Cook, 2020.