CULTURE, LANGUAGE AND BUILDING A SOCIETY

Abstract

A culture is by definition a network of shared references that give shape and meaning to a given social group. Without a culture, a group as such does not exist. This definition may seem easy to grasp, but its application is more complex than one would expect. For at the heart of cultural inclusion is language itself. The inclusiveness of language is a central concern in Shakespeare’s King Henry V. With the growth of modern print culture access to cultural inclusion was linked to the access to a print language. In France, cultural inclusion was established at the expense of internal regional, cultural and linguistic distinctiveness. Today, social tensions can be felt as a result of this historic practice, with regionalist demands that refuse to consider one’s local culture as merely aspect of one’s private convictions. Culture, more than any political or economic policy is what builds a society, but at wat price do we achieve social cohesion?