The Meaning of Culture
Culture is a system of human behavior, beliefs, and values that people adopt and transmit from one generation to the next. It includes a society’s art, language, traditions, and social values. It also refers to a society’s customary practices, such as family life and sex roles.
A cultural artifact is a physical object that can be studied by scholars. It might include a painting, statue, or piece of music. Cultural heritage institutions hold a large number of objects of this nature, and many are in conflict over how to best care for them. This is not just a debate about object ownership; it is also a debate over the concept of cultural preservation.
Scholars have long argued about the nature of culture and what it represents for its members. Some see it as something that is inherently valuable to human beings and that, therefore, a culture’s most important features should be preserved. Other scholars disagree and argue that there is nothing intrinsically valuable about a culture as such, and that it is merely a means of organizing social life.
Some scholars take a more inclusive view of the meaning of culture and define it to include all those aspects that make up a society’s distinctive characteristics, including its values and beliefs, its art, language, and social behaviors. They contrast this with the natural sciences, which study only natural processes and phenomena. This approach to culture is sometimes called a humanistic perspective, as it draws from the disciplines of the humanities—literature, history, philosophy, and religion—to understand human experience.
An early critique of this approach to culture was the notion that it leads to an essentialist understanding of the term, that a specific set of practices and values is what defines a particular culture. Multiple objections have been launched against this essentialist view, but most involve variations of the same argument—that there is no such thing as a culturally unchanging core.
For example, some critics point out that a deeply committed member of a culture can be a good steward of its values but still advocate for change in specific areas. For example, a woman in a traditional culture might endorse key parts of the sex and marriage practices of her community but oppose those that deny women equal rights.
This new way of thinking about the meaning of culture has emerged as a distinct school of interpretation in historical scholarship. The main tenets of this approach are that the domain of representation is central to a culture’s definition, and that the struggle for meaning represents the most fruitful area for historical analysis. This is a shift from the earlier approach, which relied heavily on the Annales tradition and its emphasis on high culture. It also differs from the new social, economic, and women’s histories, which are less interested in preserving cultural heritage and more concerned with shifting its limits.
Culture is a system of human behavior, beliefs, and values that people adopt and transmit from one generation to the next. It includes a society’s art, language, traditions, and social values. It also refers to a society’s customary practices, such as family life and sex roles. A cultural artifact is a physical object that can be studied by scholars. It might include a painting, statue, or piece of music. Cultural heritage institutions hold a large number of objects of this nature, and many are in conflict over how to best care for them. This is not just a debate about object ownership; it is also a debate over the concept of cultural preservation. Scholars have long argued about the nature of culture and what it represents for its members. Some see it as something that is inherently valuable to human beings and that, therefore, a culture’s most important features should be preserved. Other scholars disagree and argue that there is nothing intrinsically valuable about a culture as such, and that it is merely a means of organizing social life. Some scholars take a more inclusive view of the meaning of culture and define it to include all those aspects that make up a society’s distinctive characteristics, including its values and beliefs, its art, language, and social behaviors. They contrast this with the natural sciences, which study only natural processes and phenomena. This approach to culture is sometimes called a humanistic perspective, as it draws from the disciplines of the humanities—literature, history, philosophy, and religion—to understand human experience. An early critique of this approach to culture was the notion that it leads to an essentialist understanding of the term, that a specific set of practices and values is what defines a particular culture. Multiple objections have been launched against this essentialist view, but most involve variations of the same argument—that there is no such thing as a culturally unchanging core. For example, some critics point out that a deeply committed member of a culture can be a good steward of its values but still advocate for change in specific areas. For example, a woman in a traditional culture might endorse key parts of the sex and marriage practices of her community but oppose those that deny women equal rights. This new way of thinking about the meaning of culture has emerged as a distinct school of interpretation in historical scholarship. The main tenets of this approach are that the domain of representation is central to a culture’s definition, and that the struggle for meaning represents the most fruitful area for historical analysis. This is a shift from the earlier approach, which relied heavily on the Annales tradition and its emphasis on high culture. It also differs from the new social, economic, and women’s histories, which are less interested in preserving cultural heritage and more concerned with shifting its limits.