Culture is the way of life of a society.

The upper class society is comprised mostly of the descendants of the European plantation owners, and they reflect what is known as the ‘high culture’. The lower class of the Barbadian society are the descendants of the African slaves that worked on the plantations. Their type of culture has been deemed the ‘folk culture’. The middle class of our society are those who have elevated form the lower class but do not have enough material wealth to be considered the upper class of society. They exhibit aspects of their folk culture but they aspire for the high culture of the upper class.

Culture & Change

    What causes cultural change? If culture is passed from generation to generation should it change? Cultural change can be effected by foreign influences or the people of the society. Emile Durkhiem theorised in his “Consensus Theory” that consensus change is a necessity in order for there to be a balance in society. But shouldn’t this consensus change be for the better? In recent years Barbados has undergone a severe cultural penetration since the introduction of satellite/cable Tv. The foreign media has affected the cultural basis of Barbados by affecting its future generation; The Youth. This cultural penetration has changed the beliefs, norms and values that defined out culture. This change as a result affects our thought process and our decision making, since people of a society ‘consult’ or look to their values and norm before making decisions as the decide what is acceptable for their society . If adopting The Marxist perspective on this cultural change then, it can be said that this cultural change may be due to the imposition of the dominant ideologies of the capitalist class on the non-capitalist class of society. Karl Marx noted that the dominant ideas are those of the capitalist class. If this be the case then the culture of Barbados is being enslaved by that of the capitalist and materialistic culture of America and Europe. America especially promotes its culture as the ideal. Their ideas and beliefs are adopted by our society as our own transforming us into a mini–America so to say. Take for instance the designer clothing promoted by American and European designers. This clothing is promoted as the wear of the movie stars and the fashionably conscious, the prices are extravagant, yet the middle and lower class of society buy into this. This puts more money into the coffers of America at the expense of the lower class and sometimes middle class, there are times this clothing conflicts with the acceptable norms of society. Is culture dynamic? Some say it is, but I say it should not be. As time goes by societies will evolve to adapt to the changes in the environment around them, but the fundamental basis of what makes your culture and society distinctive should be intact at the end of the day. How severely will the cultures of small countries like Barbados be affected as trade liberalisation and globalisation takes it toll?

Counteraction of Cultural Penetration and Degradation 

    The main agents of socialisation; the family, school and the church have all been affected by the cultural penetration of foreign ideologies. If the bajan culture is still viewed to be important to us their must be consensus change to reverse the negative impact on our culture. In recent years there has been attempt to combat the effect of the foreign media on our culture and society. The present government of Barbados has made an attempt to show at least 80% local or regional programming on the local TV station as to minimise the effects of the foreign media. However these attempts must go into the schools, where cultural identity must be instilled from young. Social Action Theorist believe that institutions are created by individuals to influence each other, so belief also is that we can use school which is our secondary means of socialisation to influence individuals about our cultural identity.

 In conclusion I belief that we as Barbadians must respect culture and keep it intact as long as we possibly can.