analysis of both material and non material culture

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An Analysis of Material and Non-material Culture
Culture is the way of life of people. It hence differs from place to place, and it could also change over time. It’s influenced by a lot of factors, which over time could alienate the culture, or strengthen it depending on how much the people are into their culture. Often it describes people’s ways of life, their eating habits, dressing, and behaviors towards others, their values, beliefs, and norms (Giddens, 6). Further, it could be defined based on the pattern of activities or symbols that are used by a community and usually go a long way in giving significance to a given activity in the society. Culture could, therefore, be defined by the material and non-material culture. Material culture includes tangible items, resources or even spaces that are directly associated to a certain group of people, and they directly relate to them, for example, homes, artifacts, religious structures, products produced by the society, tools among others. Whereas non-material culture references the non-tangible ideas that people have towards their cultural superiority, this includes norms, morals, rules and regulations, values, language, beliefs, organization (Giddens,7) just to mention but a few.
As the societies grow and interact with others, some cultural practices could change although those key identifiers of the society remain intact as they are quite vital. In Sarah’s story, a few elements of culture are illustrated, this is the beliefs and norms that are acceptable in the society, enforcement, and maintenance of safety, the police being the enforcers, in this case, language and the dressing.

Normally, it’s presumed that at midnight, everyone is supposed to be asleep, or just doing their work at home. However, Sarah decides to drive and get coffee as she takes a break from her learning. This is a great illustration of how things have shifted culturally over time. Further, she concentrates not on the driving which makes her knock down the stop sign and is pulled over by the police in a bid to ensure her safety and that of other road users. There is the use of the southern accent that defines the cultural background of the police officer (non-material culture). While Sarah uses her outfit to get out of her situation. The elements of material culture illustrated are, the outfit, the law enforcers and the structures, e.g., the coffee shop and technology; phone, and car. While the non-material aspects are displayed in Sarah’s beliefs alongside the acceptable conduct of the society, rules, and regulations as well as norms and language and morality. Upon realizing her mistake, Sarah takes the time to use the right speed and avoid causing harm to herself and other road users, and despite getting off the hook faster with the police officer, she realizes she was only doing her job and hence takes the chance to do the morally right thing to do. Technology is also a great aspect of culture in today’s society, often the gadgets used speaking volumes about people social status in the society, in this contest it’s an illustration of material culture.
Culture is a great way of putting people in check, maintaining order and better still, enhancing unity in the society. One may not have a great appreciation for culture but abiding by the cultural norms will always work to the advantage of everyone in the society. It also serves to maintain the society intact not to mention, provide a past that generations could look back and admire.
Works Cited
Giddens, Anthony, et al. Introduction to sociology. WW Norton, 2016.