be done through the recognition of the particular language that is used among role players. Students in schools have their own way of referring to their teachers, other students, class performances. By creating this language which also serves as a code, they create their own world of meanings and significances. Similarly, women are also known to create their own language and through it their own private space beyond the control of men especially when they congregate at the pond to bathe in rural areas or across washing lines on rooftops in urban areas.
In a culture there can be many sub- cultures, like that of the elite and working class youth. Sub-cultures are marked by style, taste and association. Particular sub-cultures are identifiable by their speech, dress codes, preference for particular kind of music or the manner in which they interact with their group members. Sub-cultural groups can also function as cohesive units which impart an identity to all group members.
Within such groups there can be leaders and followers but group members are bound by the purpose of the group and work together to achieve their objectives. For instance young members of a neighbourhood can form a club to engage themselves in sports and other constructive activities. Such activities create a positive image of the members in the locality and this gives the members not only a positive self- image but also inspires them to perform better in their activities. The orientation of their identity as a group undergoes a transformation.
The group is able to differentiate itself from other groups and thereby create its own identity through the acceptance and recognition of the neighbourhood. cultural values projected as the standard or norm are considered superior to that of the beliefs and values of other cultures. We have seen in Chapter and in Chapter (particularly in the discussion on religion) how sociology is an empirical and not a normative discipline. Underlying ethnocentric compari- sons is a sense of cultural superiority clearly demonstrated in colonial situations.
Thomas Babbington Macaulay’s famous Minute on Education ( ) to the East