The Concept of Culture
Culture is the way of life for a people, including art and beliefs passed down by generations. It is an essential aspect of human existence that identifies groups of humans from other species. Culture includes a society’s social norms, laws and customs, language, religion, values, arts and more. Some experts have argued that the concept of culture has expanded to include more than just material objects, such as lifestyles, behaviors and ways of interacting. However, others have argued that such broad definitions are too vague to be useful in explaining cultural differences.
The concept of culture is central to the field of anthropology, where it encompasses the study of the way of life for different populations around the world. It has also been applied in areas such as business, politics and social work. For example, corporate cultures can be defined as the beliefs and attitudes of a specific workplace that influence employee performance and decision-making.
Throughout history, the meaning of the term “cultural” has changed in response to new theories and ideas. For instance, the early anthropologists such as Edward Tylor and Wilhelm von Humboldt defined culture as a learned and acquired behavior that develops in response to a variety of environmental factors. Later, anthropologists such as Franz Boas expanded the definition of culture to include local and personal behaviors and traditions.
In addition, modern social scientists have developed various methodologies for studying culture. These approaches have influenced the understanding of the concept as it exists in the current world. These methodologies have helped researchers better understand the impact of cultural forces on both individual and group dynamics.
For example, the Annales School of anthropologists took an eclectic approach to the study of culture, incorporating techniques from a number of other fields such as history and sociology. In this way, the Annales School sought to establish a link between underlying structural characteristics of human societies and the cultures that they produced.
Another way to view culture is through the lens of symbolic communication, as defined by linguistics. In this way, culture consists of all the symbols and signs that a particular population uses to communicate with one another. This includes a language and the grammatical rules that define it, as well as the culturally determined meanings of those symbols and signs. This view of culture has largely replaced the earlier concepts of culture as learned and acquired behaviors, and has also become the basis for many theories of cross-cultural communication. It is important to note that this new view of culture is still evolving as researchers explore the relationships between the social and psychological determinants of human culture.
Culture is the way of life for a people, including art and beliefs passed down by generations. It is an essential aspect of human existence that identifies groups of humans from other species. Culture includes a society’s social norms, laws and customs, language, religion, values, arts and more. Some experts have argued that the concept of culture has expanded to include more than just material objects, such as lifestyles, behaviors and ways of interacting. However, others have argued that such broad definitions are too vague to be useful in explaining cultural differences. The concept of culture is central to the field of anthropology, where it encompasses the study of the way of life for different populations around the world. It has also been applied in areas such as business, politics and social work. For example, corporate cultures can be defined as the beliefs and attitudes of a specific workplace that influence employee performance and decision-making. Throughout history, the meaning of the term “cultural” has changed in response to new theories and ideas. For instance, the early anthropologists such as Edward Tylor and Wilhelm von Humboldt defined culture as a learned and acquired behavior that develops in response to a variety of environmental factors. Later, anthropologists such as Franz Boas expanded the definition of culture to include local and personal behaviors and traditions. In addition, modern social scientists have developed various methodologies for studying culture. These approaches have influenced the understanding of the concept as it exists in the current world. These methodologies have helped researchers better understand the impact of cultural forces on both individual and group dynamics. For example, the Annales School of anthropologists took an eclectic approach to the study of culture, incorporating techniques from a number of other fields such as history and sociology. In this way, the Annales School sought to establish a link between underlying structural characteristics of human societies and the cultures that they produced. Another way to view culture is through the lens of symbolic communication, as defined by linguistics. In this way, culture consists of all the symbols and signs that a particular population uses to communicate with one another. This includes a language and the grammatical rules that define it, as well as the culturally determined meanings of those symbols and signs. This view of culture has largely replaced the earlier concepts of culture as learned and acquired behaviors, and has also become the basis for many theories of cross-cultural communication. It is important to note that this new view of culture is still evolving as researchers explore the relationships between the social and psychological determinants of human culture.