AS Unit 1 Understanding Communication and Culture

The Nature of Culture

Definitions of Culture

The meanings and practices of everyday life

High culture and popular culture

The relationship between culture and value

Cultural Codes

Verbal/Non-verbal

Identity and self presentation

Group Communication

Reading Images and products

Introduction

This introductory unit looks at communication at a personal level and in the range of your own experience of culture and practices within our culture such as weddings, festivals, food, customs etc.

By the end of your first year you will need to be able to show that you can analyse and interpret such practices - what do you they mean, what do they tell you and other people about the beliefs and values of our culture and other cultures? What do 'cultural products' such as images, art, books, performances mean and communicate about ourselves and others?

In order to do this analysis you will need a 'toolkit', a set of methods for understanding what things mean. You will be taught these methods during your AS Level course and extend your knowledge of them in the second year of the course.

The 'Nature of Culture' section (see left-hand margin of this page) of this unit will give you an understanding of the context or background such cultural products as film, television, art etc operate in and how it affects them. It will be best to work your way through this section first and then tackle 'Cultural Codes' (in any order you wish)

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