The Concept of Culture in Human Affairs
Culture, in human affairs, is the totality of learned, socialized and customary behaviours and beliefs peculiar to a particular people. It includes a wide range of activities, from the art forms of music and poetry to architectural style, laws, dress, language, moral codes, and social standards. It also includes the accumulated traditions of a society, such as religious ceremonies and rituals, feasts, holidays, legends, folktales, games and sports. Some anthropologists have been hesitant to define culture, arguing that it is difficult or even impossible to provide a precise definition. They have pointed out that any attempt to do so would be to distort the phenomena they were studying.
Others have attempted to make sharp distinctions among sociocultural phenomena and formulate precise concepts and definitions, with varying degrees of success. The 19th-century classical evolutionists, for example, asserted that man is endowed by nature with certain fundamental and universal capacities that will result in the development of specific cultures everywhere in the world. The “diffusionists,” in contrast, held that peoples will spread the development of tools, techniques, and institutions all over the world. Some have criticized the classical evolutionary and diffusionist theories because some societies seem to skip stages in a predetermined sequence. Others have argued that cultural traits do not diffuse easily and may take time to develop within societies.
Other scholars have reemphasized the importance of a person’s environment in the formation of his or her culture. They have suggested that a person’s culture is the aggregate of all the abilities, habits and knowledge acquired by a person as part of his or her socialization, education, and training. A person’s culture is also the result of his or her genetic makeup and the physical conditions of birth.
The concept of culture has a long history in the field of anthropology. In its early forms, it was a means of classifying and understanding peoples. Some anthropologists have used it to distinguish one people from another, and they have often distinguished between a high culture of the social elite and a low or popular culture that is accessible to all members of a society.
With the growth of knowledge and the rise of social science, it became possible to understand different cultures in a more objective manner. For instance, it became clear that basic human needs could be met in many different ways; that worship might take on a variety of forms; and that morality was not an absolute and indefinable thing but rather constituted conformity to a set of ethical rules. In the 21st century, increased knowledge has enabled individuals to move beyond their own cultures to experience and appreciate those of other countries and regions. In addition, the emergence of globalization has given rise to an awareness that the various aspects of a global culture are interrelated. This new perspective has been termed the “new cultural history.” It is characterized by a rejection of traditional approaches to social and economic history, an appreciation of the value of linguistic analysis, and engagement with the work of post-structuralist philosophers like Jacques Derrida.
Culture, in human affairs, is the totality of learned, socialized and customary behaviours and beliefs peculiar to a particular people. It includes a wide range of activities, from the art forms of music and poetry to architectural style, laws, dress, language, moral codes, and social standards. It also includes the accumulated traditions of a society, such as religious ceremonies and rituals, feasts, holidays, legends, folktales, games and sports. Some anthropologists have been hesitant to define culture, arguing that it is difficult or even impossible to provide a precise definition. They have pointed out that any attempt to do so would be to distort the phenomena they were studying. Others have attempted to make sharp distinctions among sociocultural phenomena and formulate precise concepts and definitions, with varying degrees of success. The 19th-century classical evolutionists, for example, asserted that man is endowed by nature with certain fundamental and universal capacities that will result in the development of specific cultures everywhere in the world. The “diffusionists,” in contrast, held that peoples will spread the development of tools, techniques, and institutions all over the world. Some have criticized the classical evolutionary and diffusionist theories because some societies seem to skip stages in a predetermined sequence. Others have argued that cultural traits do not diffuse easily and may take time to develop within societies. Other scholars have reemphasized the importance of a person’s environment in the formation of his or her culture. They have suggested that a person’s culture is the aggregate of all the abilities, habits and knowledge acquired by a person as part of his or her socialization, education, and training. A person’s culture is also the result of his or her genetic makeup and the physical conditions of birth. The concept of culture has a long history in the field of anthropology. In its early forms, it was a means of classifying and understanding peoples. Some anthropologists have used it to distinguish one people from another, and they have often distinguished between a high culture of the social elite and a low or popular culture that is accessible to all members of a society. With the growth of knowledge and the rise of social science, it became possible to understand different cultures in a more objective manner. For instance, it became clear that basic human needs could be met in many different ways; that worship might take on a variety of forms; and that morality was not an absolute and indefinable thing but rather constituted conformity to a set of ethical rules. In the 21st century, increased knowledge has enabled individuals to move beyond their own cultures to experience and appreciate those of other countries and regions. In addition, the emergence of globalization has given rise to an awareness that the various aspects of a global culture are interrelated. This new perspective has been termed the “new cultural history.” It is characterized by a rejection of traditional approaches to social and economic history, an appreciation of the value of linguistic analysis, and engagement with the work of post-structuralist philosophers like Jacques Derrida.