culture and society defined on the one hand culture consists of the beliefs behaviors objects and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society it is important to note that through culture people and groups define themselves and draw meaning from it conform to society's shared values and contribute to society especially in terms of development thus culture includes many societal aspects such as language customs values norms mores rules tools technologies products organizations and institutions on a side note the term institution refers to clusters of rules and cultural meanings associated with specific social activities common institutions are the family education religion work and health care culture is related to the adjective cultured which means being well educated knowledgeable of the arts stylish and well-mannered and for this reason we speak of high culture and low culture high culture which is generally pursued by the upper class refers to classical music theater fine arts and other sophisticated pursuits members of the upper class can pursue high art because they have cultural capital which means the professional credentials education knowledge and verbal and social skills necessary to attain the property power and prestige to get ahead socially low culture or popular culture the one that is generally pursued by the working and middle classes refers to sports movies television sitcoms and soaps and rock music but it must be remembered that sociologists define culture differently than they do cultured high culture low culture and popular culture on the other hand sociologists define society as the people who interact in such a way as to share a common culture the cultural bond may be ethnic or racial based on gender or due to shared beliefs values and activities the term society can also have a geographic meaning and refer to people who share a common culture in a particular location for example people living in cold temperate climates developed different cultures from those living in tropical climates as we can see culture and society are intricately related for one a culture consists of the objects of a society whereas a society consists of the people who share a common culture it must be noted that when the terms culture and society first acquired their current meanings most people in the world worked and lived in small groups in the same locale however in today's world of six billion people these terms have lost some of their usefulness because increasing numbers of people interact and share resources globally still people tend to use culture and society in a more traditional sense for example being a part of a racial culture within the larger american society