Language and Culture – Guide to Study
Objectives
To provide an overview of the effects of political, economic and social conditions on culture.
1. To examine the relationship
between language and culture.
2. To understand how the culture
of a country changes with the process of development,
modernization and globalization
modernization and globalization
3. To understand the Sri Lankan
society in the era of globalization.
4. To examine the factors which led to cultural liberty in today's diverse world.
Structure
- Introduction
- Language and learning
- Culture
- Culture and modernization
- Globalization and global culture
- Sri Lankan society in an era of globalization
- Cultural liberty in today's diversity world
1.
Introduction
There is a close
link between language and culture, as language is an important element in culture. A human being's behaviour results from two influences: its genetic endowment and its life
experiences.
The behaviour
and development of the child of today is determined not only by the biological
adaptation made by species in the normal course of evolution but also by the
accumulated collective experience of the whole of mankind or in other words the
social environment and the laws and customs of an organized society. Thus much of the experiences of mankind is
embodied in his culture. The child is
dependent upon adults to a very large extent in his attempt to understand
social environment.
Individuals value a sense of identity and belonging to a group with shared values and other bonds of culture. However, each individual can identify with many different groups. Accommodating diverse ethnicities, religions, languages, and values is an inescapable feature of the 21st-century cultural environment.
2.
Language and Learning
Language is a crucial factor for human beings. Many of the higher animals learn the behaviour patterns of the species through imitation, e.g. kittens, and puppies. But in the case of human beings the process
of education is transformed. The human
parents teach not only by examples but also by telling. This means of course, that patterns of
behaviour can be set up in the absence of the situation to which they are
relevant. The child depends on adults not only for their bodily needs but also in their attempts to master the skills needed for their social environment. A child left
to himself is unlikely to learn any of the human skills. Further, without the guidance of parents and society at large, all the processes which are regarded as characteristics of civilized man are inaccessible to the child. In other words, the social heritage transmitted to the child by adults is
what differentiates man from other animals
In primitive societies, the transmission of knowledge and skills from parents to children was adequate because they were relatively simple skills. But with scientific and technological advances, skills and techniques became increasingly complex, and the transmission became increasingly a specialist
job.
Today in a society of extremely rapid technological and scientific
change adults need to be educated to a much higher level than ever in the past.
Man uses language as a symbol system and it enables him to use as a
“capsule of thought” providing a meaning to a word or in other words as
concepts. The concept is in abstraction
from objects, situations or events of the attributes these phenomena have in
common. The words we use symbolize or
stand for these concepts. Because of the
symbolizing and conceptual nature of language the process of conditioning are
greatly modified in man instead of responding only to the physical nature of
stimuli. Most of his behaviour is influenced by the symbolic aspect of
stimuli. The effect of this is to
introduce an extraordinary flexibility in to learning in man.
3.
Culture
Culture is totality of learned-socially transmitted behavour. In other words all the “products and
services” of a society. Emile Durkheim
one of the founders of modern sociology defines culture as “culture is seen as
a design for living, an aspect of the social structure ensuring the cohesion
and continuity of society”.
Max Weber – another outstanding sociologist has put forward another
view. “Culture is the product of
interaction between the individuals and society”. This approach emphasizes the symbolic nature of culture and focuses on the symbols, beliefs, values, norms, rituals and activities involved in the construction of everyday social reality.
There are different connotations attached to culture as “popular
culture” “high culture” national culture” “youth culture” “multi culture”
“global culture etc. Elements of culture are
1.
Language
2.
Norms
3.
Values
4.
Religion
5.
Dress and food
6.
Natural environment
7. Man-made environment
4.
Culture and modernization
There is always a link between culture and development. The meanings attached to the term development
are produced within and by a particular cultural context that of so called.
West or more precisely, the political economic and social institutions of
Euro-American societies generating a particular discourse of or way of talking
about development. Seen in this way it
becomes clear that development is a cultural artefact, rather than a natural
process which can be accelerated and guided by development planning. Today we categories societies into
“developed” “developing” and “underdeveloped”.
Culture played an important role in distinguishing modern form
traditional societies. Modernization involved development planning as a key
strategy to achieve desired change with the state playing an important role.
In the eyes of modernization theorists modernization is
- A revolutionary process involving radical and total changes in developing societies.
- A complex process including industrialization, urbanization social mobilization differentiation, secularization, media expansion, expansion of political participation, increasing literacy and education.
- A systemic process in the sense that “economic development cultural change and political change together in coherent and even to some extent predictable patterns (Inglehart – 1977)
The policy makers promote modern cultural traits in “Third world”
countries which would enable modernization to occur -Example - western
education system.
There is a close link between modernization, development and
westernization which will result in “Third world countries resembling Western
Europe and United States. Many views
were expressed by sociologists regarding this modernization. One group of sociologist expressed that
through modernization rupturing, breaking even destroying cultural traditions
of third world societies may occur.
Another group of sociologist says that “Third World” cultures are
homogeneous, stable and have historical backgrounds. They doubt whether westernization can completely
destroy their traditional cultures. The
third group of sociologist says that in Third World Countries both the
traditional and modern cultural tracts are visible side by side.
5. Globalization and Global Culture
The concept globalization has developed quite recently. In 1960s globalization had an important
effects in many parts of the world.
World wars particularly World War II with its aftermath, the rise of
what become known as the Third World, the proliferation of international,
transnational and super national institutions and the attempts to co-ordinate
that has become known as global economy have played crucial parts in
globalization. Media - centred “global village” was partly shaped by such
development (miller 1973)
Furthermore modernization of the Third World societies, collapse of
Communism in 1990s and the wave of societal democratization resulted in
globalization. Material aspects of
globalization extend to changing context and process of print and electronic
media, diet, dress, economics business and financial structures and process of
relationship between labour and capital, knowledge and technology and many
other operational elements. These
material dimensions create new opportunities and expectations for exchange and
communication.
In the face of these trends, state governments are challenged to
devise policies to ensure protection of public good and services within their
jurisdiction despite their weakening levels of control. Protection of labour and environment
conditions is threatened by prospects of capital flight in the face of
regulatory initiatives. The states
capacity to prevent the introduction of pornography and unsuitable literature
is undermined by the prospects of trade actions aimed at securing market access
for media industries. Policies aimed at
capital accumulation and development of indigenous technologies are challenged
by a combination of private capital mobility and state action in pursuit of
free trade objectives of private sector.
6. Sri Lankan Society in an era of Globalization
Sri Lanka has experienced enormous societal changes in the past few
decades. These changes have forced the
society and the government to confront issues which had never previously been
encountered. With the process of globalization
in Sri Lanka, the impact has been in stimulating the shift from agriculture
towards manufacturing and services employment increase in job related migration
and international networking civil society organizations.
The competition for resources and status and claims on the
disruptive benefits provided by the state all helped to push along the
questioning of existing societical arrangements. Necessity and widening horizons are working
together to advance change. At the local
level, people are collaborating much more frequently to seek improvements in
their communities agitating for better schools, questioning land use policies
and calling for accountability of local authorities.
A number of civil society organizations has multiplied. At the national level new political parties,
new social movements, new cultural mobilizations have emerged in unprecedented
numbers in the last decade. In Sri Lanka
this is illustrated by the state threatening challenges of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Elam and of the Sinhalese radicals as the Janatha Vimukthi
Peramuna.
There exist
social cohesion providing evidence of ethnic nationalism promoted by political
and cultural leaders in both the majority
Sinhalese community and among the minority Tamil. The reflexivity in practices of social
control and power relations that has been stimulated by globalization is both
undercutting efforts to sustain existing forms of social cohesion and
simultaneously creating ideological and social space for new forms of social
centered. Sri Lanka will have to take up
the task of consciously building a new society.
The dynamic social arrangements in the country require constant
re-thinking redefined purposes and renewed cooperation to flourish. When previous the governing mechanism has
failed in uplifting the economy, distribution of benefits when cultural traditions
evoked to divide people, when individual potentialities are not tapped properly
then the time has come to think about alternative ways of organizing
society. Thus Sri Lanka has reached a
crucial moment in its history.
There is no model that can be borrowed or copied in the societical
reconstruction to understand the problems, philosophy/principle and
procedures. A realistic assessment of
the issues facing the society requires a careful and an honest investigation
which includes a continuing role for those most directly affect.
Fortunately Sri Lanka has a strong tradition of vigourous public
debate and local voluntary organizations form to address problems and give
voice the gieveness and concern. It also
has a strong tradition of socially informed empirical research departments alive
in colleges, universities and other research institutions. In the face of rapid change occurring with the process of globalization, this change has to be dealt with by democratic mobilization.
7. Cultural liberty in today’s diverse world
Accommodating diverse ethnicities, religions, languages, and values are inescapable features of the landscape of polities in the 21st century of the world.
Political leaders very often have suppressed brutally the cultural identities of minorities through state policies – through religious persecution, ethnic cleansing, and economic, social and political discrimination. Today, the indigenous people, ethnic minorities, and immigrants of various parts of the world are mobilizing to express their graveness for ethnic, religious, racial and cultural characteristics, demanding that their identities be acknowledged, appreciated and accommodated by wider society. Suffering from discrimination and
marginalization from social economic and political opportunities they are
demanding social justice. They feel that
their cultures are being swept away.
They demand to keep their diversity in a globalized world.
Why these movements are visible today ?
These are propelled and shaped by spread of democracy which is
giving movements more political grounds for protest and the advance of
globalization which is creating new network of alliance and presenting new
challenges.
Cultural liberty is a vital part of human development because of the
ability to choose ones identity. People
want the freedom to practice their religion openly to speak their language to
celebrate their ethnic or religious heritage without the fear of ridicule
punishment or diminished opportunities eg. Buddhists in Chittagong –
Bangladesh. These struggles over
cultural identify if left unmanaged or managed poorly can create instability
within the state and between them and this retards the country’s development.
Managing diversity and respecting cultural identities are not just
challenges for a few “multi-ethnic” states.
Almost no country is entirely homogeneous. Today rapid international migration is taking
place. Thus every country is a multi
cultural society containing ethnic, religious and linguistic groups that have
common bonds.
Thus cultural diversity will stay on and is still growing. States need to find ways of forging national
unity amidst diversity. The world ever
more interdependent economically cannot function unless people respect
diversity and build amity through common bonds of humanity. In this age of globalization, the demands for cultural recognition can no longer be ignored by any state or by the international community.
Reading List
1.
Schech Susanne and Jane Haggis
(2001) Culture and Development Blackwell Publishers – USA.
2.
Roland Robertsm (1992) Globalization
– Social Theory and Global Culture SAGE Publishers – London, India.
3.
Hettige S.T.(Edited) (1998) Globalization
Social Change and Youth – Published by German Cultural Institute – Colombo.
4.
Hasbullah S.H. and Barrie
Morrison (2004) Sri Lankan Society in the Era of Globalization SAGE –
Publications India – 1967.
5.
Stone E. (1967) Educational
Psychology – Methiren & Co. Ltd. – London.
6.
UNDP (2004) Human Resource
Development Report - Oxford Press
“That very ancient science of the relationship with the Supreme is today told by Me to you because you are My devotee as well as My friend; therefore you can understand the transcendental mystery of this science.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.3)
The fruit of an existence is the reward for remaining alive. Generally, the mentality is reversed, wherein the existing being looks for ways to continue their vitality. Work is built around this very concept. Go to the office early in the morning, spend upwards of forty hours per week there, and then come home to enjoy the results of your actions. If there wouldn’t be work, how would life’s necessities such as food, clothing, and shelter be procured? Above and beyond the necessities is enjoyment, pleasurable experiences that come after the essential functions for the day have been carried out.
Arjuna’s concerns related to the bodily welfare of certain members of the opposing army, the Kauravas. Dronacharya and Bhishmadeva were the notable personalities that Arjuna did not want to harm. Dronacharya had taught Arjuna how to fight, so in this respect he was a guru, or 
Realizing the predicament and leaning towards the option of quitting, Arjuna had no choice but to put the matter to Krishna, who happened to be his charioteer at the time. The Bhagavad-gita thus involves a student asking the original spiritual master of the world how to gain the reward of one’s existence, how to find unending happiness. The discussion that followed revealed the most intimate secrets of spiritual life, some of which were known to the learned people of the time and some points of fact that had never been discussed anywhere else. The soul’s eternality, its position superior to material nature, its struggles through 
In a similar manner, a prevalent view amongst spiritualists is that the common man cannot understand the Bhagavad-gita, or Vedanta in general. “Veda” refers to knowledge and “anta” means the end, or conclusion. Therefore Vedanta philosophy is the summit of knowledge, the philosophy that contains the final conclusions in life. All other truths are but derivatives of the supreme truths handed down by the great Vedic seers. “Vedanta is not meant for just any person. There must be renunciation and strict austerity for one to understand the highest truths of life.”
If Arjuna was part of a class driven by the mode of passion, which is the second class type of activity, how could he receive the sublime wisdom of Vedanta presented by Shri Krishna, who is the fountainhead of all Vedic knowledge? The answer, not surprisingly, is given in the Gita itself, where Krishna states that Arjuna is receiving the highest wisdom because he is a devotee; he is not envious of God. The Vedantist may be very learned, but if he is after becoming one with God, denying His existence by saying that He is impersonal, or even usurping the Lord’s authority, he will never be able to understand the Bhagavad-gita.