........................

.....

.. Is culture within us or outside us? , The idea of culture or society being inside the individual is mainly supported by the sociological writings of Max Weber. . He argued that we cannot understand society unless we understand the meanings (Verstehen) that we put onto our beliefs and actions. . He did not found or write the perspective called "Symbolic Interaction" as such (Henslin p. 17), but his approach grew into that perspective of sociology. . In contrast, Durkheim coined the term "Social facts," to describe information of a social nature in contrast to that of individual nature. . Here we look at such things as rates of a specific behaviour (like weddings or suicide) rather than the individual choices behind such behaviour (Henslin p.13). . June is a popular month for weddings, and more people in Canada get married in that month than in other months. . Suicide is more frequent in some groups (by nation, by religion, by ethnic group, by marital status) that in others. . Those rates remain quite constant and predictable, even though the individuals who choose them can not be predicted. . Durkheim did not deny that culture and society, as systems of beliefs and behaviour, are carried by individuals, but that they act as if they are operating externally to individuals. . Durkheim did not found structural functionalism; those who did relied on his writings to get to it. .

....