Differences Between Material And Nonmaterial Culture

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Tuition-Free Online University You are logged in as Blessmore Chikwakwa (Log out) Page path Home /My courses /Current Term (Term 3, 2015-2016) /SOC 1502 - T3 2015-2016 /4 February - 10 February /Written Assignment Unit 2 /Assessing submission Written Assignment Unit 2 Assessed submission Introduction to Sociology Written Assignment Unit 2 submitted on Tuesday, 9 February 2016, 11:41 AM Introduction One’s culture can be described as the values, norms, and beliefs that one’s society holds. We have different believe on different issues For example we believe that stealing from someone is wrong and stopping at red traffic lights while driving is right. But did you know that culture has both material and nonmaterial components? (Study.com, n.d) …show more content…

As both names suggests, there are a lot of differences between material culture and non-material culture. In the next four paragraphs, I would like to examine four differences between the two types of cultures First of all there is a clear difference between material and non-material culture. Non-material aspects of any culture are its beliefs, customs, philosophy, patterns and ways of communication like verbal and non-verbal and its government. The material aspect of culture consists of the physical. These are houses, food items, factories, raw materials and technologies. Every culture is the product of this interaction between its’ material and non-material aspects, (Sitwe, n.d). The second difference between material and non-material culture is that since culture is used in different contexts, it also gives the true meaning to an object (material culture). For example, a ring might be just an artifact, but in a society where wedding rings are exchanged, it will be valued differently while non material culture might be difficult to handle. (Sitwe, …show more content…

This is because culture is a socially learned and transmitted behavior. Ideas, norms, values and beliefs are largely dependent on the kind of culture we belong to as the products of this non material culture. The non-material aspects of any culture are its beliefs, customs, philosophy, patterns and ways of communication (verbal and non-verbal) and its government. The material aspect of culture consists of the physical. These are houses, food items, factories, raw materials and technologies. Every culture is the product of this interaction between its’ material and non-material aspects. (Sitwe,