The Definition of Culture
Culture is a broad term that describes the ways of life and beliefs of a group of people. It can include art and literature, customs, traditions, values, and even objects. The definition of culture varies depending on the context and the field of study, but it is generally agreed upon that there are some common features to cultural studies:
In one sense, culture refers to all the aspects of human behaviour that define and distinguish a certain group from others. This includes language, ideas, values, art, and institutions, but it also encompasses the behaviour itself, such as the way a person walks or dresses. A person’s culture is also defined by the relationships they have with their family and friends, how they interact with their environment, and their religious or non-religious beliefs.
There are many different ways to approach the study of culture, and historians use a variety of methodologies in their work. For example, anthropologists research culture through the examination of artifacts and the lives of a society’s members. The work of cultural historians can reveal the ideas and assumptions that shape our actions, from magical beliefs to racial hierarchies, from the rituals of marriage to the ways we celebrate holidays.
This approach reveals the deep assumptions that guide us, and helps explain how we perceive the world around us. The study of culture is thus an important way to understand the past and the present, and our hopes for the future.
While there is no clear division between classical and new cultural history, the latter often incorporates methodologies from a wide range of fields, including psychology, anthropology, and sociology. This is partly a response to the challenge that culture is inherently elusive, and that a precise description of the components of a particular culture is impossible (see below).
One problem with this approach is that it can make it difficult to determine what a person’s culture actually is. While it is true that some people will be strongly committed to a specific set of central cultural practices, other will merely dip in and out of them, and pick and choose between the different values and norms that they share with other members of their culture.
This approach also runs the risk of treating a culture as though it were determinate and unshifting, and as though its main elements are somehow “protected”. However, it can be argued that such protection is not really needed; the fact that a culture’s main elements are constantly negotiated does not mean that it cannot survive. Rather, this view sees the value of cultural protection in protecting the forums in which these negotiations take place, without unwanted interference from outside forces.
Culture is a broad term that describes the ways of life and beliefs of a group of people. It can include art and literature, customs, traditions, values, and even objects. The definition of culture varies depending on the context and the field of study, but it is generally agreed upon that there are some common features to cultural studies: In one sense, culture refers to all the aspects of human behaviour that define and distinguish a certain group from others. This includes language, ideas, values, art, and institutions, but it also encompasses the behaviour itself, such as the way a person walks or dresses. A person’s culture is also defined by the relationships they have with their family and friends, how they interact with their environment, and their religious or non-religious beliefs. There are many different ways to approach the study of culture, and historians use a variety of methodologies in their work. For example, anthropologists research culture through the examination of artifacts and the lives of a society’s members. The work of cultural historians can reveal the ideas and assumptions that shape our actions, from magical beliefs to racial hierarchies, from the rituals of marriage to the ways we celebrate holidays. This approach reveals the deep assumptions that guide us, and helps explain how we perceive the world around us. The study of culture is thus an important way to understand the past and the present, and our hopes for the future. While there is no clear division between classical and new cultural history, the latter often incorporates methodologies from a wide range of fields, including psychology, anthropology, and sociology. This is partly a response to the challenge that culture is inherently elusive, and that a precise description of the components of a particular culture is impossible (see below). One problem with this approach is that it can make it difficult to determine what a person’s culture actually is. While it is true that some people will be strongly committed to a specific set of central cultural practices, other will merely dip in and out of them, and pick and choose between the different values and norms that they share with other members of their culture. This approach also runs the risk of treating a culture as though it were determinate and unshifting, and as though its main elements are somehow “protected”. However, it can be argued that such protection is not really needed; the fact that a culture’s main elements are constantly negotiated does not mean that it cannot survive. Rather, this view sees the value of cultural protection in protecting the forums in which these negotiations take place, without unwanted interference from outside forces.