THE NON SOCIOLOGICAL USES OF THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE

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What about the non- sociological uses of the concept of “culture”? 
Since culture plays an important role in social life, the concept should 
have an equally important place in sociological study. Interestingly, 
however, as syllabus topics “culture and identity”, “popular culture” 
and the “individual and society” have only appeared at advanced level 
during the past years. This is not to say that the terms have only just 
been invented or that sociologists have only just begun to take an 
interest in these topics. Rather there has been renewed interest in 
these ideas due to changes in theories used by sociologists to make 
sense of society- in particular the rise of ideas known under the rather 
broad heading of “postmodernism”. Sociology is not, however, the only 
discipline to be interested in such ideas. 
Sociobiology- Sociology can be seen as a challenge to the ideas of 
sociobiology. The latter, which dates back to the ideas put forward by 
Charles Darwin(1871) in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation 
to Sex on the evolution of human species, suggests that everything that 
humans do is the result of their biological make-up. As a species evolves 
its biological needs may change, and so too will the culture of the 
species. A more recent example of this type of theorizing is to be found 
in the work of Goldsmith (1990), who claims that the human sense of 
self-ídentity, given by the cultures to which we belong, is the result of 
humans´ neurophysical impulses and their drive for self-gratification. In 
other words, identity is a biological need to seek pleasure, to satisfy 
our own needs in order to survive, and we compete with others to do 
so. 
Psychoanalytic theory- Whereas a great deal of sociology and 
anthropology seriously questions the notion that humans act according 
to instincts (in-born behavior), the tradition of psychological thought 
known as “psychoanalysis” looks at how instinct might affect how we 
think and act. This view developed by Sigmund Freud (1923), suggests 
that throughout life all human action is based on the interrelationship 
between natural biological needs and learnt social or cultural rules. 
Freud divided the human mind into three separate but interrelated 
elements: the id, the ego, and the superego. In the id we find humans 
as they naturally are- having biological drives that seek to maximize 
pleasure; in the ego we reflect upon who we are and how we behave; 
and in the superego we learn to follow the cultural rules of the 
particular society in which we have been brought up.. 
Freud claimed that psychological disorders and problems result from 
culture and biology clashing in the individual´ s mind. Freud saw 
culture-or what he called ‘civilisation’- and natural needs and drives as 
often producing neuroses and ‘perversions’. This is where humans act 
according to their unconscious biological needs, yet the culture they 
have learnt might define such behavior as wrong or immoral.