Culture is learned - passed down through parents, peers, and reinforced with positive responses, or discouraged with negative responses. . Humans seem to have an inherent nature to belong -- and therefore strive toward being included in the dominant culture -- a process called acculturation (Middleton, 2010, 4-52).
Culture may be thought of as unique to certain structures. For instance, under Islamic society there is Saudi culture, Bedoin culture, and even Malyasian culture. All have unique and separate customs and identities, but are part of the overall Islamic society. The United States is another example; evolving from the Western European tradition and primarly from Great Britain there is a certain societal aspect of cohesiveness. Yet, there are several cultures within America; mostly defined by religious (Mennonite, Baptist, Evangelical) or ethnic (Latino, Asian, African-American). And, even these have sub-groupings that are similar in overall tone, but not in every specific.
Society, however, is a broader term that defines a group of people that are not always related in terms of cultural patterns or distinctive ethic orientation, but more out of group necessity for interdependence, protection, or some sort of a belief system that could not be fulfilled without a group. In broad strokes, it is an economic or social infrastructure made up of a collection of individuals who pulled together for a specific reason (hunting, protection, etc.) In the Ancient World, societies were far more structured along similarities. In...
A culture, then, can be a subset of a society, and each member of a given society does not need to hold to a specific set of cultural norms (Effland, 1998). Culture and society affect scientific discovery in various ways, typically from a need-based template. What is it that the particular society needs to survive (e.g. The wheel, steel, vaccines, etc.) versus what levels will culture allow.
REFERENCES
Bloom, B. (2006, August 4). Bloom's Taxonomy. Retrieved September 8, 2010, from Coconstructivism.com: http://ww.goconstructivism.blogspot.com/2006/08/blooms-taxonomy.html
Effland, R. (1998, January). The Cultural Evolution of Civilizations. Retrieved September 2010, from Mesa Community College: http://www.mesacc.edu/dept/d10/asb/anthro2003/glues/model_complex.html
Erickson, M. (2005). Science, Culture, and Society. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Kuhn, T. (1996). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Middleton, W. (2010). The Challenge of Human Diversity. New York: Waveland Press.
Besides being part of the titles for the Star Trek franchise, it was the title episode for the 1996 Season 1, Episode 3, production. This episode asked the very real scientific question, "What would happen if a human evolved far past the human race?" see: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061027/.
