The Nature of Culture
Culture is an umbrella term that encompasses a broad range of intangible aspects of human life. Sociologists use the word to describe a society’s values, beliefs, communication systems, art, and more. It is distinct from social structure and economic aspects of society, but it is continuously informing and being informed by them.
For example, an anthropologist might study the language, symbols, and stories of an indigenous people to understand their culture. The anthropologist would look for common patterns in the storytelling and language to see how they influence the people’s behaviors and beliefs. This cultural information can be transferred from one person to another through education or immersion in a particular culture.
In this way, a culture can be formed, and it is also possible for individuals to choose to abandon their culture and adopt a new one. This process may be gradual, but it can also happen quickly if an individual feels that their current culture is not serving them in some way.
The debate over the nature of culture has led to many different views on the topic. One view, often referred to as the essentialist view, claims that there is a fixed set of behaviors and beliefs that define a culture. This belief is often challenged by critics, who point out that it is impossible to know whether or not a specific culture actually has a fixed set of norms and practices.
Other views of culture claim that a particular culture is a dynamic process that changes over time. This view avoids the criticism that the essentialist view has to admit that cultures are always in flux and that no one culture is ever fully established. It instead argues that what is important is the fact that members of a particular cultural group believe themselves to be members of that culture, and that this belief has its foundation in their experience of certain basic cultural institutions.
Still others argue that it is not useful to try to establish what exactly defines a culture; rather, the idea is to examine the ways in which different cultures operate and how they differ from each other. This approach allows scholars to examine legal and political controversies from multiple angles, thereby increasing the chances of resolving them.
The idea that a culture can be influenced and transmitted by other cultures is also a popular notion. For example, anthropologists have found that some tools, ornaments, and foods from other regions can diffuse into an indigenous culture. For instance, amber from the Baltic region has been found in archeological sites in the Mediterranean; early coins from the Middle East have been discovered in mounds in aboriginal North America; and macaw feathers from Central America have appeared in Native American tribes in northern Arizona.
Culture is an umbrella term that encompasses a broad range of intangible aspects of human life. Sociologists use the word to describe a society’s values, beliefs, communication systems, art, and more. It is distinct from social structure and economic aspects of society, but it is continuously informing and being informed by them. For example, an anthropologist might study the language, symbols, and stories of an indigenous people to understand their culture. The anthropologist would look for common patterns in the storytelling and language to see how they influence the people’s behaviors and beliefs. This cultural information can be transferred from one person to another through education or immersion in a particular culture. In this way, a culture can be formed, and it is also possible for individuals to choose to abandon their culture and adopt a new one. This process may be gradual, but it can also happen quickly if an individual feels that their current culture is not serving them in some way. The debate over the nature of culture has led to many different views on the topic. One view, often referred to as the essentialist view, claims that there is a fixed set of behaviors and beliefs that define a culture. This belief is often challenged by critics, who point out that it is impossible to know whether or not a specific culture actually has a fixed set of norms and practices. Other views of culture claim that a particular culture is a dynamic process that changes over time. This view avoids the criticism that the essentialist view has to admit that cultures are always in flux and that no one culture is ever fully established. It instead argues that what is important is the fact that members of a particular cultural group believe themselves to be members of that culture, and that this belief has its foundation in their experience of certain basic cultural institutions. Still others argue that it is not useful to try to establish what exactly defines a culture; rather, the idea is to examine the ways in which different cultures operate and how they differ from each other. This approach allows scholars to examine legal and political controversies from multiple angles, thereby increasing the chances of resolving them. The idea that a culture can be influenced and transmitted by other cultures is also a popular notion. For example, anthropologists have found that some tools, ornaments, and foods from other regions can diffuse into an indigenous culture. For instance, amber from the Baltic region has been found in archeological sites in the Mediterranean; early coins from the Middle East have been discovered in mounds in aboriginal North America; and macaw feathers from Central America have appeared in Native American tribes in northern Arizona.