What Is Culture?
Culture is the distinctive pattern of learned behavior that distinguishes a particular group of human beings from others. It is not a fixed, inflexible system of values and beliefs; rather, it is a dynamic process that changes and develops as a result of interaction between people and their environment. It includes all aspects of human life, from language and cuisine to social habits and art. According to the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, it is a “system of shared rules and beliefs that provides an identity for members of a society.”
The concept of culture is often viewed as an evolutionary step up from subhuman animals, which have no notion of an external world. For human beings, culture has the power to deny or fulfill satisfactions. Thus, it may frustrate the senses or encourage sexual desire. It can also be a vehicle for self-gratification.
Various studies are classified as cultural, from the broad approach of cultural history to the more specific study of literature or music. Anthropology is also a discipline that addresses culture and, along with archeology and the other social sciences, can provide insights into the evolution of human beings.
Studies in the field of cultural history are also gaining ground in other disciplines, such as sociology and philosophy. For example, experimental psychology and neuroscience are helping to erode the traditional opposition between nature and nurture. In addition, a rapprochement is emerging between history and biology, culminating in a new view of mankind as part of a co-evolving natural world with animals and plants.
The latest books to be published in the broad category of cultural history range widely over both time and place. Two examples illustrate this point: Albrecht Classen’s Handbook of Medieval Culture, which attempts a comprehensive view of the culture of a whole region, from Australia and Andalucia to Provence, or Rafael Garcia Sanchez’s Trazas medievales: una aproximación cultural, which is less ambitious in scope but nonetheless covers a wide spectrum of human ideas and practices: love and marriage, belief in God and the Devil, numbers and measurement, education, lordship and servitude, religion and cult, games and sports activities, health and medicine.
The study of culture is also changing, as researchers shift from the classical emphasis on ruptures in the past (such as major battles or dynastic change) to an interest in the more subtle continuities of everyday life. Historians are now looking for plurality and examining the changing meanings of symbols, with an eye to how they evolve over time. This refocusing is in contrast to the pre-modern focus on high culture, which was defined by such disciplines as music and language.
Culture is the distinctive pattern of learned behavior that distinguishes a particular group of human beings from others. It is not a fixed, inflexible system of values and beliefs; rather, it is a dynamic process that changes and develops as a result of interaction between people and their environment. It includes all aspects of human life, from language and cuisine to social habits and art. According to the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, it is a “system of shared rules and beliefs that provides an identity for members of a society.” The concept of culture is often viewed as an evolutionary step up from subhuman animals, which have no notion of an external world. For human beings, culture has the power to deny or fulfill satisfactions. Thus, it may frustrate the senses or encourage sexual desire. It can also be a vehicle for self-gratification. Various studies are classified as cultural, from the broad approach of cultural history to the more specific study of literature or music. Anthropology is also a discipline that addresses culture and, along with archeology and the other social sciences, can provide insights into the evolution of human beings. Studies in the field of cultural history are also gaining ground in other disciplines, such as sociology and philosophy. For example, experimental psychology and neuroscience are helping to erode the traditional opposition between nature and nurture. In addition, a rapprochement is emerging between history and biology, culminating in a new view of mankind as part of a co-evolving natural world with animals and plants. The latest books to be published in the broad category of cultural history range widely over both time and place. Two examples illustrate this point: Albrecht Classen’s Handbook of Medieval Culture, which attempts a comprehensive view of the culture of a whole region, from Australia and Andalucia to Provence, or Rafael Garcia Sanchez’s Trazas medievales: una aproximación cultural, which is less ambitious in scope but nonetheless covers a wide spectrum of human ideas and practices: love and marriage, belief in God and the Devil, numbers and measurement, education, lordship and servitude, religion and cult, games and sports activities, health and medicine. The study of culture is also changing, as researchers shift from the classical emphasis on ruptures in the past (such as major battles or dynastic change) to an interest in the more subtle continuities of everyday life. Historians are now looking for plurality and examining the changing meanings of symbols, with an eye to how they evolve over time. This refocusing is in contrast to the pre-modern focus on high culture, which was defined by such disciplines as music and language.