The Concept of Culture
The distinctive customs, beliefs, knowledge, art, and language of a people. Culture also refers to the accumulated behavior and ways of thinking that characterize a particular group within society, such as a profession, social class, or age group. A person’s sense of culture is reflected in his or her mannerisms, dress, and speech.
An infant member of the human species enters this world without culture, and has to acquire a great deal of it. This process, which is largely automatic and unconscious, is known as socialization or, more technically, enculturation. It can transform a person into an Eskimo, a Tibetan, or a Frenchman, and it is the foundation of his or her self-identity and sense of personal autonomy.
The culture of a people is often associated with their values, which are broad tendencies in preferences for certain states of affairs over others (good-evil, right-wrong, natural-unnatural). In general, these values are unconscious to those who hold them, but they can be revealed by studying the practices of a people, such as their heroes, rituals, and works of art.
Unlike subhuman animals, humans are born with fewer instincts, and thus have to learn a great deal of culture in order to survive in the environment. As such, the concept of culture is closely linked to that of evolution. The 19th-century classical evolutionary theorists, such as Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis H. Morgan, believed that human nature was predisposed to develop culture along similar lines everywhere in the world. Others, called the “diffusionists,” maintained that cultural traits are contagious and spread from one area to another.
It is often difficult to determine what a specific trait of culture actually is, since the term has come to encompass a wide range of activities and ideas, both mental and physical. Nonetheless, it is possible to discern distinguishable clusters of these traits that are conventionally called culture complexes.
A common touchstone for thinking about culture has been the work of Clifford Geertz, who defined culture as “a way of life.” This idea is related to that of Karl Marx, who argued that culture was the source of all societal conflict and strife.
Although a culture can be either benign or malignant, it is generally regarded as an important force in the evolution of humanity. This is particularly true of the culture of a particular nation, which provides its citizens with an identity and means of survival. The culture of a particular era is also important to the history of that era, since it reflects the changing dynamics of its time. For example, the Beatles exemplify the phenomenon of cultural diffusion, in that their music was heard and appreciated around the world decades after their emergence. As a result, the Beatles became one of the most popular bands in modern history. This article has been adapted from the Wikipedia entry for Culture. This is an example of how the free encyclopedia can help educate users on a topic.
The distinctive customs, beliefs, knowledge, art, and language of a people. Culture also refers to the accumulated behavior and ways of thinking that characterize a particular group within society, such as a profession, social class, or age group. A person’s sense of culture is reflected in his or her mannerisms, dress, and speech. An infant member of the human species enters this world without culture, and has to acquire a great deal of it. This process, which is largely automatic and unconscious, is known as socialization or, more technically, enculturation. It can transform a person into an Eskimo, a Tibetan, or a Frenchman, and it is the foundation of his or her self-identity and sense of personal autonomy. The culture of a people is often associated with their values, which are broad tendencies in preferences for certain states of affairs over others (good-evil, right-wrong, natural-unnatural). In general, these values are unconscious to those who hold them, but they can be revealed by studying the practices of a people, such as their heroes, rituals, and works of art. Unlike subhuman animals, humans are born with fewer instincts, and thus have to learn a great deal of culture in order to survive in the environment. As such, the concept of culture is closely linked to that of evolution. The 19th-century classical evolutionary theorists, such as Edward Burnett Tylor and Lewis H. Morgan, believed that human nature was predisposed to develop culture along similar lines everywhere in the world. Others, called the “diffusionists,” maintained that cultural traits are contagious and spread from one area to another. It is often difficult to determine what a specific trait of culture actually is, since the term has come to encompass a wide range of activities and ideas, both mental and physical. Nonetheless, it is possible to discern distinguishable clusters of these traits that are conventionally called culture complexes. A common touchstone for thinking about culture has been the work of Clifford Geertz, who defined culture as “a way of life.” This idea is related to that of Karl Marx, who argued that culture was the source of all societal conflict and strife. Although a culture can be either benign or malignant, it is generally regarded as an important force in the evolution of humanity. This is particularly true of the culture of a particular nation, which provides its citizens with an identity and means of survival. The culture of a particular era is also important to the history of that era, since it reflects the changing dynamics of its time. For example, the Beatles exemplify the phenomenon of cultural diffusion, in that their music was heard and appreciated around the world decades after their emergence. As a result, the Beatles became one of the most popular bands in modern history. This article has been adapted from the Wikipedia entry for Culture. This is an example of how the free encyclopedia can help educate users on a topic.