Form Four Civics Notes All Topics
Click Link Bellow To Join Our Groups
TELEGRAM | WHATSAPP
Click Here To Download Our Notes
Form four civics notes free read online and download PDF file, Hallow guys welcome to our site in this page you will get free access to free notes of civics form four for all topics. Here we have dull guide for you on how you can raed our civics notes for free online and also how you can download this notes for free.
How To Ready Our Form 4 Civics Notes For Free
To read this notes for free please it is better if you can follow our step-by-step guide we listed below;
1. First after you visit this page you will need to scroll down until you find a list of civics topics
2. Once you find a list of form four civics topic now you will need to click on each topic
3. After you click on topic now a new page of that topic will open with full notes
4. Now you have all notes you need for form four civics, enjoy your day and study.
NB: Remember to click on each topic to still open it’s notes.
List Of All Form Four Civics Topics
Click link below to open full notes of civics for form four;
How To Download Our Free Notes
Dear teachers and students we want to tell you that our site offers only free notes for online reading, but if you like our notes and want to get a copy of this notes you can contact us via below contact information.
Contact Us For Our Notes:
Phone Number: 0787237719
For Call, Sms and WhatsApp
Email: [email protected]
Aspects and Elements of Culture
Meaning of Aspects and Elements of Culture
Culture can be defined as all the behaviours, ways of life, arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed from generation to generation. Culture has been called “the way of life of an entire society”. As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behaviour as law and morality – and systems of beliefs, as well as the arts.
The Origin of Culture:As stated before, culture is the totality of people’s way of life, so it is compatible with human life. It is argued historically that, culture started simultaneously with the creation of man and the formation of communities of people, as they were adopting themselves to their environment and struggled to sustain their livelihoods. As human beings started to struggle for basic needs in their environment, they used different tools, ranging from stone to iron tools such as axes, arrows pots and knives.
At the beginning culture was also determined by wearing style. Previously man made clothes using animal‟s skins, grasses and trees. Language was used in communication especially when man established permanent settlements. Language united people during working, such as cultivating and hunting; through language man was able to construct songs and poems, which were used as a part of refreshments particularly when issues arose such as traditional rites. Although culture went hand in hand with human life, it varied according to the needs of the society, and the influence of environment.
Culture has two aspects, namely:
- Material culture;This is the extent of materials or wealth produced or used in a society. It includes the achievements to which one has mastered; level of instrument and technical skills, the scientific organization of labour, the availability of individual material and everyday needs. Instruments of labour are the tools individuals use to carry out material production. Their quality depends on the level of science and technology of a given society in that particular time in history. The level of material culture is expressed in skills and know-how applied in material production. It is also seen in other material elements of the society’s life. For example, in the objects one uses, such as clothes, furniture and utensils, scientific, academic and medical equipment, as well as transport facilities.
- Intellectual culture;This is societal knowledge, skill and technical ability to organize and produce things as well as how one relates with others. This includes the achievements reached in science, education, ethics, literature and art. It is also reflected in the political ideas, civic education, legal relations, language, speech and behaviour.
Culture is traditionally considered as kind of civilization and is very complex. It includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, traditions, customs and other capabilities and habits acquired by an individual as a member of society. Culture consists of patterns of behaviour which are acquired and transmitted by symbols. Essentially, culture consists of traditional ideas.
Essentially, culture consists of traditional ideas, particularly their associated values. These include standards of behaviour and ideology which justifies certain ways of behaviour. Culture is rooted in the facts we know about human nature. There is an interplay between man, his environment and society. As a result of this interplay, man behaves in certain ways.
Man shapes the environment and he is also shaped by his environment. Thus, while it is true to say that man makes society, it is equally true to say that society makes man. Hence, culture refers to the total way of life shared in the society. Culture therefore, consists of behaviour patterns that are either open or hidden.
Open or explicit behaviour patterns are those whose meanings are easily understood either by an individual or outside observers. Examples could be like patterns of modesty and hospitality. This does not mean that an open pattern of behaviour is universal and is practiced in the same way in all cultures. In fact, there can be many variations in its expression from one culture to another.
In hidden or implicit behaviours patterns, the meaning of these patterns is not easily understood because it depends on other factors which are hidden in the cultural system. The inner aspect is not open and is either deliberately concealed or pertains to the unconscious life of the group. There are many concealed social practices in all parts of the world, especially common social fears; fear of the evil eye, fear of witchcraft , fear of speaking openly about sexual matters, taboos, fear of the luck on certain days or after certain occurrences like split salt. Although the practice of these things may be open and public, their meanings remain concealed. In most parts of Tanzania, salt is not asked for or bought at night by mentioning the word “salt,‟ instead people say “dawa ya jiko,‟ literally translated as “kitchen medicine.‟
Man needs culture in order to survive, but in order to be cultured he must participate in the cultural life of his human environment. He must get line with the norms of his human environement. Therefore, in this sense man lives by his culture. It follows therefore that, culture is the common way of living.
Elements of culture manifest themselves in physical and practical ways.
- Customs and Norms: Customs refer to short-lived patterns of behaviour shared by members of a group and can be directly observed. For instance, people who know each other greet by shaking hands whenever they meet while others hug each other. However, customs differ from one society to another. The set of customs form one of the indicators of culture.
Norms are accumulated experiences proven to be acceptable and appropriate ina given society, and they have a tendency to exist for long periods before they change or disappear. This forms the main difference between norms and customs as norms have a tendency to exist for long periods before they change or disappear. Whereas customs on the other hand are passing and vulnerable to change. Take for instance, the wearing of clothes, shoes or hats in a certain fashion usually changes with time.
Norms can be classified in different ways. All groups are called folkways and they are further subdivided into mores. There are special folkways that a society regards as essential for its welfare. Mores are enforced with great vigor and intensity. Folkways are practices that govern most of our daily routine and ordinary contact with other people. They often define what is socially correct and are informally enforced. However, the violation of folkways is not considered as a threat to the group at large. Folkways can include the daily practice of things such as language and eating habits. Take for example, someone may not be allowed to use his left hand to eat or to adhere to the proper way of greeting elders.
Folkways define proper etiquette in various roles. For example. they distinguish children’s roles from men’s roles. They govern our general style of life in types of housing, dressing, food and feeding habits. Other behaviour patterns include education, marriage, recreational activities, youth initiation, science and technology. Furthermore, death and burial procedures, forms of governance, respect to status and mode of communication to people of different ranks are essential to the folkways of a given society.
On the other hand, mores are norms that are considered vital to the welfare of a society. They are not only proper but also obligatory. They are supported by the dominant values or principles of the culture. Mores define right and wrong, moral and immoral actions, thoughts and feelings. They may be expressed in a command way such as“You must not!” in which way they are referred to as taboos.
Fashions are highly passing patterns of behaviour. Fashions allow many changes in norm. Things like art, dress or furnishings can change so fast. Fashions appear to be of high importance in complex urban societies. Women usually change their dressing styles from time to time, to stay up-to-date with the changing fashions.
(b) Language: This is another important element or indicator of culture. Language is a learned, shared and arbitrary system of vocals and symbols through which human beings communicate. It is a system of convectional symbols that covey meaning and is a useful instrument in all economic, social, political, psychological and ideological aspects of society. Language is not only a communicative instrument but also is a product of work. In their effort to produce goods and services, people develop words and therefore, language is further developed. Each language shapes and shows the culture, behaviour patterns and understanding of the group that speaks it. It presents to the learning child a ready–made and distinctive way of looking at the world. It also guides him/her to not only observe the world in a certain way, but also to express him/herself and react in a certain way. Every language has an effect upon what the people use, see and feel, as well as what they talk about.
The names given, for example, to various relatives in different cultures are often symbolic as they connote different behavioural norms. In Swahili for instance, we regard the brother of our father as our father, and the sister of our mother as our mother. This helps indicate how close these relatives are to you and therefore, the kind of behaviour you should express towards them.
Language is an instrument that enables communication among people in their customs, norms, philosophy and ideology of a given society. Over 100 languages are spoken in Tanzania, most of which from the Bantu family. After independence, the government recognized that this posed a threat to national unity and as a result introduced the Swahili language (Swahili) as the only official language. The government introduced it as the teaching language in all primary schools help encourage and spread its use.
Given the conditions of the material time, it was not possible to introduce the language in the entire educational system as the scale of the task of producing Swahili textbooks for primary schools was already considerable. As a result, English (which has been considered the colonial language since the end of the First World War) is still used in high schools and universities. However, a great majority of Tanzanians have accepted Swahili, thus English is generally not well known. As a result of this linguistic situation, many pupils who finish primary education cannot express themselves well in English. Although many tribal languages are actively practiced and used, they do not enjoy the same linguistic rights as Swahili. However, little by little they are disappearing. To date, none of them has entirely vanished, but it is clear that unless the linguistics policy is changed, many of them will soon cease to exist.
Swahili as the national language in Tanzania has the function of developing, enhancing and maintaining the nation’s culture. How then does Swahili as a national language promote national culture? Swahili like any other language has symbols that are spoken or written. And these symbols have specific and arbitrary meanings in society. Before we can answer the question above on how Swahili can promote national culture, we should first discuss the possibilities.
First, language caries people’s experience beyond an immediate time and place. That is, when these symbols (words) are spoken and/or written, the meanings conveyed stay for a longer time and they also go to distant places beyond where these words were spoken or written. Let us look at the experience we have from words spoken by our ancestors and words written by other people who lived far from where we live.
Every one of us has a list of traditional stories that were told to him or her by one of his/her grandparents. This story could be about bravery, praise, sorrow or happiness. Whatever meaning the story had, it created some feelings that had an impact on your attitude. The result of this impact is the change of your behaviour in the community.
We have songs and other written literature about our nation, leaders and people as a whole. All these have helped create feelings towards the love of and for our country. There are feelings that can lead to the defense of someone’s nation. Songs like “Mungu Ibariki Tanzania” (God Bless Tanzania) and “Tanzania, Tanzania” inculcate patriotism to Tanzanians.
Certain words in these songs have a psychological impact on Tanzanians. Patriotic phrases like “Jina lako ni tamu sana” (Your name is very delicious) imply a strong love for one’s country. Such words create and promote national culture in that they are learned and shared with others and therefore, socially transmitted. This makes the whole society have a common belief and attitude that the song relates to them, known as patriotism.
A common language binds people together. To speak the same language is to have a strong bond. And this strong bond enables a person a person to work together, which is one of the most favourable cultural values.
(c) Art: This is an element or indicator of culture. Art as part of culture is an expression which reflects the feelings, attitudes and level of development of a society. Arts denote man made things displayed to be enjoyed. For instance dramatizing and singing. Any art which originates from a given society has roles to perform for that society. For example, it reflectively shows what people have done in their struggle for survival. The carvings, the painting, the songs, and drama represent certain actual struggles or practical life these people have experienced before.