What Is Culture and Why Is It Important?
Culture is a human behavior that includes all aspects of a person’s life and activity, including language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, and arts. It also includes the way a group lives together as a society and their beliefs, values, attitudes, morals, and goals. Culture is learned, unlike genetic traits which are passed on through heredity.
It is the customary practice for anthropologists to refer to specific cultures, such as Seneca culture or Eskimo culture, or the cultures of a particular topographic region, such as North American Plains culture. However, the concept of culture is more broadly used to describe the inherited behaviours and beliefs that characterize all human societies.
Cultural History
Traditionally, the field of cultural history has been concerned with ideas and beliefs, much as intellectual history has focused on the writings of the philosophies that shape people’s thoughts. The ‘cultural turn’ of the 1980s saw this approach broadened with the rise of feminism and racial studies, leading to a new focus on gender and race.
The study of culture and its influences is central to a number of academic disciplines, including sociology, archeology, history, psychology, philosophy, political science, religion, and linguistics. It is also an important aspect of anthropology, which attempts to understand human culture in its totality by immersing itself in the life of a community.
Anthropologists spend years living in one place, establishing rapport with individuals they interview, and becoming part of the family by being invited to meals or other events. The results are often full-length books that capture the essence of a culture. This method of study is known as fieldwork or ethnography.
As a discipline, it is controversial. Critics point to its lack of objectivity and alleged bias against the culture being studied. They say that it fails to recognize that a culture’s behaviour is not predetermined by genes or natural selection, and that it is possible for people from different cultures to live in relative harmony despite the fact that they may be completely different from each other.
The defenders of cultural history argue that it is a useful discipline that brings to life the past by exploring the way people thought, felt, and behaved. They also argue that it has a role to play in the future, by helping us to understand the roots of modern problems such as war, violence, and discrimination.
A defining feature of culture is its capacity to shape how we think and feel about the world around us. It is a power that can hold the sex urge in check or allow us to achieve premarital chastity, for example. It is powerful enough to cause us to choose a certain profession or to live in a particular place. These are all products of culture, which is why it has a vital role to play in our evolution.
Culture is a human behavior that includes all aspects of a person’s life and activity, including language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, and arts. It also includes the way a group lives together as a society and their beliefs, values, attitudes, morals, and goals. Culture is learned, unlike genetic traits which are passed on through heredity. It is the customary practice for anthropologists to refer to specific cultures, such as Seneca culture or Eskimo culture, or the cultures of a particular topographic region, such as North American Plains culture. However, the concept of culture is more broadly used to describe the inherited behaviours and beliefs that characterize all human societies. Cultural History Traditionally, the field of cultural history has been concerned with ideas and beliefs, much as intellectual history has focused on the writings of the philosophies that shape people’s thoughts. The ‘cultural turn’ of the 1980s saw this approach broadened with the rise of feminism and racial studies, leading to a new focus on gender and race. The study of culture and its influences is central to a number of academic disciplines, including sociology, archeology, history, psychology, philosophy, political science, religion, and linguistics. It is also an important aspect of anthropology, which attempts to understand human culture in its totality by immersing itself in the life of a community. Anthropologists spend years living in one place, establishing rapport with individuals they interview, and becoming part of the family by being invited to meals or other events. The results are often full-length books that capture the essence of a culture. This method of study is known as fieldwork or ethnography. As a discipline, it is controversial. Critics point to its lack of objectivity and alleged bias against the culture being studied. They say that it fails to recognize that a culture’s behaviour is not predetermined by genes or natural selection, and that it is possible for people from different cultures to live in relative harmony despite the fact that they may be completely different from each other. The defenders of cultural history argue that it is a useful discipline that brings to life the past by exploring the way people thought, felt, and behaved. They also argue that it has a role to play in the future, by helping us to understand the roots of modern problems such as war, violence, and discrimination. A defining feature of culture is its capacity to shape how we think and feel about the world around us. It is a power that can hold the sex urge in check or allow us to achieve premarital chastity, for example. It is powerful enough to cause us to choose a certain profession or to live in a particular place. These are all products of culture, which is why it has a vital role to play in our evolution.