Culture Expresses the Ideas

Culture expresses the ideas, values, norms, practices and objects that allow a group of people to carry out their collective lives. We are engaged in a variety of cultures, subcultures and cocultures are active parts of them. Subcultures include a group of people who share in the main culture of society but also have their own distinctive values, norms, and lifestyles (116). On the other hand, countercultures include a subculture that adheres to a set of norms and values that sharply contradict the dominant norms and values of the society of which that group is a part (116). Therefore, in order for culture to fully be understood we need to know the differences between subcultures and countercultures.

First, subcultures are a group of people who come together to seek out others that have similar problems, views, and ideas. One of the cultural features in the life is changing the look of your body and this defines you as a person. An example is teens getting body piercings for multiple reasons. This can be influenced by peer pressure or they are afraid they will be viewed as an outsider from the norm. Piercings are part of some cultures as spiritual markings, whereas tattoos can make you a part of a certain gang. They define you as a unique person in society or show others that you are a part of a certain group.

On the other hand, countercultures have values and beliefs that go against their culture. When members of this culture misbehave they can drop out of society, meaning they leave because they reject to change them (117). In the early 1960s is when the rise of countercultures occurred. During this time the civil rights movement was going on, feminism and gay rights were all happening. The civil rights movement made a major impact on the government, in terms of having many rules and norms towards African Americans were created. For feminism it was for women's rights in equality and how they should have the equal rights as men do in the workplace. But the major issue was gay rights becoming more visible during this time too. Many protests were held and counter culture movement marked the beginning of homosexual rise for equality and acceptance. Gay rights have become legal in the United States and we now see more homosexuals around the world in today's society. This example is a part of a counterculture because now gay people have freedom to marry people of the same sex, whereas before when it was not legal to marry someone of the same sex was not allowed in the churches.

Overall, there are major differences between the cultures of subcultures and countercultures. Subcultures have certain qualifications you need to meet for an occupation, in terms of how you present yourself. If you are a person with a piercing through your lip, you are not going to be gaining any high ranked position in a company. Countercultures have been developing over time since the 1960s and movements that were not okay then are now becoming okay in today's society, like the LGTBQ. Cultures have the certain beliefs you should follow, but there a lot of changes that have developed either in favor or against their belief.

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