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What Cultures Share

What cultures share

Source: Jonathan Blundell (2000) Active Sociology for GCSE

Forms of behaviour that are found in all cultures are sometimes called cultural universals. There are some cultural universals:

Language. Children have to learn to speak their language in order to participate fully in their society. Although languages are very complicated (as you will know if you are studying a modern foreign language.) young children are able to learn their language relatively quickly. Language enables us to talk to others, to communicate our feelings and to be aware of ourselves and of the past and future. Languages vary enormously (for example in how many tenses they have, or in whether nouns have a gender or not) but share a basic structure that makes it easier for children to learn languages.

Marriage and the family. All cultures have arrangements by which one or more men form a socially approved relationships with one or more women for the purpose of having and raising children . our children . our society, of course, only allows one man and one women, and we approve the relationships though the weddings ceremony. These ideas are examined in more detail in the family chapter on families

Each culture must be understood on its own terms; its norms and values will be different, but not better or worse. Avoiding making judgements in this way is called cultural relativism.

By Abbie Lloyd and Jessica Jenkins