Did it for the Culture

What comes to mind when you think of culture and society?

When I asked my friends for their takes on culture and society, I initially received blank stares and heard a lot of “ummmm’s” before we were able to unpack what those words meant to them. I initially defined culture as distinct, shared, and based on similar experiences. I defined society as, culturally mixed, made up of systems, and regulated. A theme I noticed in my friends responses was "culture is a way of life." My friend Karen defined culture as, “A specific way of life that varies depending on a community.” My friend Deanna similarly said culture is, “A way of life, food, traditions, and habits.” Despite holding these "interviews" in separate rooms, my third friend Jazmin defined culture as, “Different arts, food, religion, and someone’s way of life.” It struck me that they all defined culture as “a way of life” in some capacity. To further unpack what this “way of life” was, I asked each friend to explain their own culture. 

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Some mentioned the various communities they are a part of. They all mentioned the fact that they consider multiple cultures to be “their culture.” Karen, who immigrated to the United States from Colombia, expressed difficulties with conceptualizing which culture was her culture. She said, 

“It’s hard to think about my culture because I could be talking about what it means to be a Colombiana and the morals and my background that make me the person I am today. But I also think of coming to this country, even though I am Colombian, the way I identify myself most is Latina. It’s the closest thing that I have to my culture.” Deanna, who identifies as biracial Japanese and Japanese American, emphasizes her culture is, “a mix of all the experiences I’ve had… I think I fit under several different cultures.” Another theme presented itself when she discussed the ways her parents have influenced her experience with her culture. This idea was reiterated by Jazmin, who is both Mexican and Guatemalan, when she described a closer connection with Mexican culture. She explains this with, “that’s what my family exposed me to more.” It was becoming clear to me that culture has a lot of community and personal elements but at the same time, it's fluid and responsive to changes in one’s environment.

I asked them to define “society in general," and received three very different responses. Karen mentioned U.S. society but also the way humans “interact and intersect with one another.” Deanna’s response was similar to her definition of culture and defined society as, “a group of people who practice the same, or similar, habits or lifestyles." When I asked Jazmin what came to her mind when she thought about society, she said, “Nothing good.” I noticed their responses showed a lack of personal connection that was present in their answers about culture. Sure enough, Karen explained, “I think about society as everything that is away from what I would describe my culture to be.” So, if culture is to be thought of community, connections, habits, and experiences, it seemed that society could roughly be considered its opposite based on these responses. 

However, with further discussions, another theme emerged. Context. Depending on the context, their perspective of society changed. Deanna, who has spent time living in both Japan and the USA, initially hesitated to call U.S. society open-minded. However, she compared U.S. society to a, “very different society, like Japanese society. I can see open-mindedness being used to describe American society.” Karen also reflected on the context when describing U.S. society. Although she considered U.S. society the opposite of her Colombian/Latina culture, she explained how U.S. society is, “like a double-edged sword because, in this society, I have received the most opportunity. This society was supposed to be one of progress and knowledge.” Like culture, it seemed that society was also fluid when you considered the context and the individual.

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After picking my friends’ brains, I turned to the internet to provide more insight on culture and society. My search led to a New Yorker article about the word culture. In 2014, “culture” was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year due to it having the highest search count. 

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Like my friends and I, people weren’t quite clear on how to define culture, either. So how was culture defined? According to critic, Raymond Williams, there are three ways to define culture. 

1) “culture as a process of individual 
     enrichment” 

2) “culture as a group’s particular way of life”

3) “culture as an activity” (i.e. museums, 
     concerts, etc.) 

However, he highlights the historical definition of culture and contrasts it with the word, “civilization,” which he describes as, “a homogenizing system of efficient, rational rules, designed to encourage discipline and progress.” Going back to Karen’s double-edged definition of society, “one of progress and knowledge,” I can’t help but see the similarities between this interpretation of society and Williams’ definition of civilization. Whether it’s the case today, it seemed that culture has historically been interpreted as the opposite of society.

Uncovering the meaning of society proved a much more difficult task. This article outlining the history of how society was conceptualized mentions Emile Durkheim’s definition, “society has as independent reality from individuals and exists in its own right, exerting an influence over individuals within a bounded territory.”  
With the increase of transportation and communication throughout the 20th century, an era of globalization has allowed societies to step over this “bounded territory,” subsequently shifting the way we conceptualize society. This explanation seems to echo what my friends had to say about society when they considered their context. 

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When I asked myself to define culture and society, I couldn’t formalize actual definitions. But I was able to find keywords that reminded me of culture and society based on my experiences. When I thought about specific ways my culture has physically manifested itself, I immediately thought of music. Being Black and growing up in Black culture, it’s hard to imagine my life without Black music. All kinds of Black music --  jazz, R&B, hip hop, rap -- are critical components of my cultural identity. To define culture and society through pop culture, I thought there was no better way than through music. 

The first thing that came to mind was this line from the song “T-Shirt” by, Migos. 

---- “Do it for the culture. They gon’ bite like vultures.” 

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This song is featured on their latest album, Culture. One of the members, Offset, explained the album title is, “about the culture of hip-hop music. It’s time to let the culture be known. It’s time to claim it.”

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This same phrase, “Do It For The Culture,” is the title of producer Salaam Remi’s project in which he expects to release a playlist of songs from artists across genres every few months for the next couple of years. 

When interviewed by AllHipHop, Remi talks about “Do It For The Culture,” and explains, “I get excited by the reaction that we got from people, which is why I decided to put out more music – ‘for the culture’.”

When I think about my own relationship with music, I see it as a way to express myself and share an identity with others. Music has been a way to hear my own experiences or values vocalized but also a way to hear those of others. This History Matters article discusses the effect songs have on society and their function. It states, “songs serve to unify groups of people and to move them to common action…. They express widely-shared values or experiences and emotions that help define a group’s identity and solidarity.” I interpreted this to mean that songs can function as tools for groups of people to communicate with, and respond to, society.

When I googled, “songs about society,” list after list popped up of songs relating to protests and social issues. This made me think about the power and purpose of such songs. If songs are a way for cultures to express shared experiences and identity, I think they can also be used to represent a culture and its “voice” within a larger society. 

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In response to the current social and political climate in the United States, an important message has been communicated through song by my own culture; a message of resistance to the racism that exists in this country. In 2016, Beyoncé released Lemonade which features songs that empower Black individuals and shows solidarity in the efforts being made to fight racism. Simultaneously, this album validates and expresses the experiences of one culture and acts as a message to a society with many other cultures. 

As mentioned in the History Matters article, “Musicians and their audiences are social actors; while they reflect the world around them, they also interpret and change it.” As such, I don’t think you can truly define either culture or society because our experiences and context constantly refine both.