A socio-cultural approach examines the culture and environment of individuals and groups to which they belong and in which they engage in order to better understand human behavior. Beliefs, conventions, and linguistics all play a role in determining what behaviors are suitable and inappropriate. The socio-cultural environment, thus, is a combination of social and cultural aspects that may be used to explain behavior or societal problems (Daneshfar & Moharami, 2018). Individuals are social beings who do not act in isolation from their surroundings. This approach was developed in the 1930s by Lev Vygotsky, who brought it to the science of psychology, suggesting that an individual’s conduct is molded by his culture and prior experiences (Daneshfar & Moharami, 2018). Depending on their culture or way of life, people will act and learn in different ways. Cultural groupings govern how a person should act, learn, and interact with others through their values and standards.
The socio-cultural setting in which a person life has a significant impact on the creation of behavior. This idea usually refers to a multidimensional socio-cultural space in which a person lives and which reflects his full set of circumstances (Daneshfar & Moharami, 2018). It consists of the socio-cultural environment – the various spheres of life in which the main components of one’s way of life (for example, values and motives) are formed and implemented – as well as an everyday social and cultural practice, which determines the subject’s socialization conditions and adapts their behavior to modern realities.
The role and importance of historical and cultural heritage in education should be highlighted, as access to and competent immersion in the socio-cultural space allows for the individual’s cultural self-identification and determines the success of the process of behavior formation. A person gains the opportunity to master cultural and historical experience by plunging into the space of the socio-cultural environment, which is endowed with a variety of value meanings and cultural symbols (Kelly, 2019). In the process of transferring, he learns the value system that determines his behavior and attitude toward the state and society.
Political and economic circumstances will also have a role in the future creation of particular patterns of behavior. For example, cognitive dissonance grows dramatically in a condition of social and economic instability and the absence of a clear vision of the society’s future, which is represented, among other things, in the lack of target and moral guidelines among modern young (Kelly, 2019). In these circumstances, it is young people’s cultural development that will generate the most chances for them to participate fully in the active actions of society and the state, which, in turn, will guide the creation of civic awareness among the younger generation. The socio-cultural approach has the potential to act as a brake on the escalating societal unrest.
A mix of social and cultural aspects is employed when evaluating actions and occurrences from a socio-cultural perspective. Clothing choices are influenced by societal and cultural aspects worldwide, for example. If attending a wedding or a traditional event in a different country, the expectations for dressing will be different. Traditions are consistent expectations in many aspects of human life; therefore, these variables are frequently passed down from generation to generation based on socio-cultural ideas and practices (Kelly, 2019). Social and cultural groupings influence individuals’ sense of self and self-image. People who do not belong to the culture’s majority, such as ethnic minorities, may view themselves differently as a result of the majority culture’s behavior, which can lead to depression and other mental health issues.
Separately, there is the issue of multi-ethnic societies, which have become the majority in many nations as a result of various historical and societal events. Despite its practical relevance, the topic of establishing the key directions for the development of a multi-ethnic community is neglected in current sociology. The socio-cultural view acknowledges the role of cultural and historical influences in the construction of behavioral models, but it ignores the necessity for and potential of repressing one culture by another, which is all too often in today’s multi-ethnic society (Dweik et al., 2019). A scenario in which original cultures and religions are suppressed by modern society’s challenges, such as globalization and the development of the society in the Western model, is also possible.
From the socio-cultural perspective, several concepts on multi-ethnic relations can be developed. Some of them can be classified as radical, while some of them could be the product of emerging ultra-globalism tendencies. For instance, in some lands, it is still a prevailing point of view that conflicts and disagreements between various social groups residing on the same land are unavoidable and cannot be entirely overcome (Dweik et al., 2019). Cultural groups should coexist without interfering with one another since there will be less conflict if there is more minor touch. This can lead to a radical socio-cultural environment, where social groups who are more developed have the right to force others to embrace a more evolved culture. In the worst-case scenario, “inferior” peoples and civilizations can be distinguished that might be justified in their destruction and tyranny, leading to genocide.
On the other side, diverse social and cultural groups can be forced to become a single entity by different cultures’ convergence to form a single civilization. While this is an ultra-globalist approach to the socio-cultural divergence, it also promotes strong individual culture, where the human being is a unique individual, being disconnected from his people’s history and culture. The uniqueness of different cultural norms, traditions, and behavior patterns, thus, is simply getting lost and forgotten. The most weighted path is that other cultural groups and their representatives should actively interact in society (Dweik et al., 2019). On an equal footing, there should be communication and trade. However, each community should be given every chance to retain and develop its own culture.
These diverse understandings of the socio-cultural approach can show how important it is, especially in the contemporary setting, to grasp the ideas of multiculturality. Only a minority acknowledges the potential of extreme forms of racial discrimination, while integration became the most acceptable type of socio-cultural interaction for the majority of ethnic groups (Dweik et al., 2019). The centuries-old experience of international and multicultural engagement, and in the collective memory of the people, pleasant perceptions of intercultural contact predominate over negative ones, which are, of course, many. For many years, the ability to comprehend, respect, and communicate with people from different cultures or belief systems has been a major part of psychological thought and practice. Mental health practitioners must gain cultural competency as our society becomes increasingly multicultural and multiracial, which means they must comprehend and confront race, culture, and ethnicity issues.
References
Daneshfar, S., & Moharami, M. (2018). Dynamic assessment in Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theory: Origins and main concepts. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 9(3), 600-607.
Dweik, B., Nofal, M., & Al-Obaidi, M. (2019). An ethnic language and culture without a safe enclave: A socio-cultural perspective. International Journal of Arabic-English Studies, 19(1), 103-123.
Kelly, J. R. (2019). A sociocultural perspective. Conservation & Society, 17(4), 355-365.