Encyclopedia
The word
culture, from the
Latin colo, -ere, with its root meaning "to cultivate", generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity.
Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences
symbolically. This capacity is long been taken as a defining feature of the genus
Homo. However, primatologists such as
Jane Goodall have identified aspects of culture among our closest relatives in the animal kingdom. Similarly, it has recently been determined that the
Orca pods have culture specific vocalizations and tastes for food. Orcas used in theme parks are exclusively from pods that only feed on fish.
Defining "culture"
Culture has been called "the way of life for an entire society." As such, it includes codes of manners, dress, language,
religion,
rituals, norms of behavior and systems of belief.
Various definitions of
culture reflect differing theories for understanding — or criteria for evaluating — human activity. in the UK in 1871 described culture in the following way:
"Culture or
civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom.More recently, the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organizations described culture as follows:culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs". While these two definitions cover a range of meaning, they do not exhaust the many uses of the term "culture." In 1952
Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of more than 200 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions.These definitions, and many others, provide a catalog of the elements of culture. The items catalogued each have an existence and life-line of their own. They come into space-time at one set of coordinates and go out of it another. While here, they change, so that one may speak of the evolution of the law or the tool.A culture, then, is by definition at least, a set of cultural objects. Anthropologist asked:
What sort of objects are they? Are they physical objects? Mental objects? Both? Metaphors? Symbols? Reifications? In Science of Culture, he concluded that they are objects "sui generis," i.e., of their own kind. In trying to define that kind, he hit upon a previously unrealized aspect of symbolization, which he called "the
symbolate," i.e., an object created by the act of symbolization. He thus defined culture as: "symbolates understood in an extra-somatic context.The Science of Culture: A study of man and civilizationThe key to this definition is the discovery of the symbolate.While most definitions of culture focus on the outcome that a particular culture has achieved , the study of cultures also investigates the process by which these outcomes are achieved and the resources that are used to achieve these outcome. Uichol Kim defines culture as "the collective utilization of natural and human resources to achieve desired outcomes." Differences in culture can exist if people pursue different goals, use different methods or natural or human resources to achieve the goals. Conversely, cultural similarities can exist if people pursue similar goals, use similar methods or natural or human resources to achieve the goal. Cultures differ in the varying emphasis rather than quality. Each culture has developed and cultivated a particular set of natural and human environment that is adaptive, valuable and meaningful for its members. Beliefs focus on how outcomes are achieved and meanings and values are attached to the outcomes and resources and processes used to achieve the positive outcomes or to avoid negative outcomes."Culture, science and indigenous psychologies: An integrated analysis."
Key components of culture
A common way of understanding culture sees it as consisting of four elements that are "passed on from generation to generation by learning alone":
- values
- norms
- institutions
- artifacts.
Values comprise ideas about what in life seems important. They guide the rest of the culture. Norms consist of expectations of how people will behave in various situations. Each culture has methods, called
sanctions, of enforcing its norms. Sanctions vary with the importance of the norm; norms that a society enforces formally have the status of
laws. Institutions are the structures of a society within which values and norms are transmitted. Artifacts—things, or aspects of material culture—derive from a culture's values and norms.
Julian Huxley gives a slightly different division, into inter-related "mentifacts", "socifacts" and "artifacts", for ideological, sociological, and technological subsystems respectively. Socialization, in Huxley's view, depends on the belief subsystem. The sociological subsystem governs interaction between people. Material objects and their use make up the technological subsystem.
As a rule,
archaeologists focus on material culture, whereas cultural anthropologists focus on symbolic culture, although ultimately both groups maintain interests in the relationships between these two dimensions. Moreover, anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to consumption goods, but to the general processes which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become embedded.
Ways of looking at culture
Culture as civilization
Many people today have an idea of "culture" that developed in
Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. This notion of culture reflected inequalities within European societies, and between European powers and their colonies around the world. It identifies "culture" with "
civilization" and contrasts it with "
nature." According to this way of thinking, one can classify some countries as more civilized than others, and some people as more cultured than others. Some cultural theorists have thus tried to eliminate popular or mass culture from the definition of culture. Theorists such as
Matthew Arnold or
the Leavises regard culture as simply the result of "the best that has been thought and said in the world” Arnold contrasted culture with social chaos or anarchy. On this account, culture links closely with social cultivation: the progressive refinement of human behavior. Arnold consistently uses the word this way: "... culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world". Symbols provide the limits of cultured thought. Members of a culture rely on these symbols to frame their thoughts and expressions in intelligible terms. In short, symbols make culture possible, reproducible and readable. They are the "webs of significance" in Weber's sense that, to quote Pierre Bourdieu , "give regularity, unity and systematicity to the practices of a group." Thus, for example:
Culture as a stabilizing mechanism
Modern cultural theory also considers the possibility that culture itself is a product of stabilization tendencies inherent in evolutionary pressures toward self-similarity and self-cognition of societies as wholes, or tribalisms. See Steven Wolfram's
A new kind of science on iterated simple algorithms from genetic unfolding, from which the concept of culture as an operating mechanism can be developed, and
Richard Dawkins'
The Extended Phenotype...
for discussion of genetic and memetic stability over time, through negative feedback mechanisms, such as
Wikipedia itself.
Cultures within a society
Large societies often have subcultures, or groups of people with distinct sets of behavior and beliefs that differentiate them from a larger culture of which they are a part. The subculture may be distinctive because of the
age of its members, or by their
race, ethnicity,
class or
gender. The qualities that determine a subculture as distinct may be
aesthetic,
religious, occupational, political, sexual or a combination of these factors.
In dealing with immigrant groups and their cultures, there are essentially four approaches:
- Monoculturalism: In Europe, culture is very closely linked to nationalism, thus government policy is to assimilate immigrants.
- Leitkultur : A model developed in Germany by Bassam Tibi. The idea is that minorities can have an identity of their own, but they should at least support the core concepts of the culture on which the society is based.
- Melting Pot: In the United States, the traditional view has been one of a melting pot where all the immigrant cultures are mixed and amalgamated without state intervention.
- Multiculturalism: A policy that immigrants and others should preserve their cultures with the different cultures interacting peacefully within one nation.
The way nation states treat immigrant cultures rarely falls neatly into one or another of the above approaches. The degree of difference with the host culture , the number of immigrants, attitudes of the resident population, the type of government policies that are enacted and the effectiveness of those policies all make it difficult to generalize about the effects. Similarly with other subcultures within a society, attitudes of the mainstream population and communications between various cultural groups play a major role in determining outcomes. The study of cultures within a society is complex and research must take into account a myriad of variables.
Cultures by region
Many regional cultures have been influenced by contact with others, such as by
colonization,
trade,
migration,
mass media and
religion.
;Africa
Though of many varied origins, African culture, especially Sub-Saharan African culture has been shaped by European colonialism, and is differentiated from North Africa from its lesser influence by Arab and
Islamic culture.
;Americas
The culture of the
Americas is strongly influenced by:
;Asia
Despite the great cultural diversity of
Asian nations, there are, nevertheless, several transnational cultural influences. Though
Korea,
Japan, and
Vietnam are not Chinese speaking countries, their languages have been heavily influenced by Chinese and Chinese writing. Thus, in
East Asia,
Chinese writing is generally agreed to exert a unifying influence. Religions, especially
Buddhism and
Taoism have had an impact on the cultural traditions of East Asian countries . There is also a shared social and moral philosophy that derives from
Confucianism.
Hinduism and
Islam have for hundreds of years exerted cultural influence on various peoples of
South Asia. Similarly, Buddhism is pervasive in
Southeast Asia.
;Australia
Much of Australia's culture is derived from European and American roots, but distinctive Australian features have evolved from the environment and Aboriginal culture.
;Europe
European culture also has a broad influence beyond the continent of Europe due to the legacy of
colonialism. In this broader sense it is sometimes referred to as
Western culture. This is most easily seen in the spread of the
English language and to a lesser extent, a few other European languages. Dominant influences include
ancient Greece,
ancient Rome, and
Christianity, although religion has declined in Europe.
;Middle East and North Africa
Perhaps the defining characteristic of the
Middle East and
North Africa is
Islam and variations of the
Arab language, though this region is also home to
Israel and
Judaism, and significant Christian minorities. Further, several groups which are adherents to Islam do not consider themselves Arab.
Belief systems
Religion and other belief systems are often integral to a culture. Religion, from the Latin
religare, meaning "to bind fast", is a feature of cultures throughout human history. The
Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion defines religion in the following way:
... an institution with a recognized body of communicants who gather together regularly for worship, and accept a set of doctrines offering some means of relating the individual to what is taken to be the ultimate nature of reality.
Religion often codifies behavior, such as with the
10 Commandments of
Christianity or the five precepts of
Buddhism. Sometimes it is involved with government, as in a theocracy. It also influences arts.
Eurocentric custom to some extent divides the humanity into Western and non-Western cultures, although this has some flaws.
Western culture spread from Europe most strongly to Australia, Canada, and the United States. It is influenced by
ancient Greece,
ancient Rome and the Christian church.
Western culture tends to be more individualistic than non-Western cultures. It also sees man, god, and nature or the universe more separately than non-Western cultures. It is marked by economic wealth, literacy, and technological advancement, although these traits are not exclusive to it.
Abrahamic religions
Judaism is one of, if not the first, recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. The values and history of the Jewish people are a major part of the foundation of other
Abrahamic religions such as
Christianity,
Islam, as well as
Samaritanism and the
Bahá'í Faith.
Christianity was the dominant feature in shaping European culture for at least the last 1700 years. Modern philosophical thought has very much been influenced by Christian philosophers such as St.
Thomas Aquinas and
Erasmus. European colonization and missionaries have spread it.
The Bible
Both Christians and Jews regard the Old Testament, and Christians also the New Testament, as the revealed word of
God.
Because of Christian domination of Europe from the late Roman era to the
Age of Enlightenment, the Bible has influenced not only religion but language, law and the natural philosophy of mainstream
Western Civilization.
Both Hebrew Scripture and the Christian Bible have been translated more times and into more languages — more than 2,100 languages in all — than any other book. The
Gutenberg Bible marked the beginning of the mass production of
books in the
West.
Eastern religion and philosophy
.
Philosophy and religion are often closely interwoven in Eastern thought. Many Asian religious and philosophical traditions originated in India and China and spread across Asia through cultural diffusion and the migration of peoples.
Hinduism is the wellspring of
Buddhism, the
Mahayana branch of which spread north and eastwards from India into Tibet, China, Mongolia, Japan and Korea and south from China into Vietnam.
Theravada Buddhism spread throughout
Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka, parts of southwest China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.
Indian philosophy includes
Hindu philosophy. They contain elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of thought from India, Carvaka, preached the enjoyment of material world.
Confucianism and
Taoism, both of which originated in China have had pervasive influence on both religious and philosophical traditions, as well as statecraft and the arts throughout Asia.
During the
20th century, in the two most populous countries of Asia, two dramatically different political philosophies took shape.
Gandhi gave a new meaning to
Ahimsa, a core belief of both Hinduism and
Jainism, and redefined the concepts of nonviolence and nonresistance. During the same period,
Mao Zedong’s
communist philosophy became a powerful secular belief system in China.
Folk religions
Folk religions practiced by tribal groups are common in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Their influence can be considerable; may pervade the culture and even become the state religion, as with
Shintoism. Like the other major religions, folk religion answers human needs for reassurance in times of trouble, healing, averting misfortune and providing
rituals that address the major passages and transitions in human life.
The ”American Dream”
The
American Dream is a faith, held by many in the United States, that, through hard work, courage, and self-determination, regardless of social class, a person can gain a better life. This notion is rooted in the belief that the United States is a "city upon a hill, a light unto the nations," which were values held by many early European settlers and maintained by subsequent generations.
Marriage
Religion often influences marriage and sexual practices.
Most
Christian churches give some form of blessing to a marriage; the wedding ceremony typically includes some sort of pledge by the community to support the couple's relationship. In marriage, Christians see a picture of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church. The
Roman Catholic Church believes it is morally wrong to divorce, and divorcées cannot remarry in a church marriage.
Cultural studies
Cultural studies developed in the late 20th century, in part through the re-introduction of
Marxist thought into
sociology, and in part through the articulation of
sociology and other academic disciplines such as literary criticism. This movement aimed to focus on the analysis of subcultures in
capitalist societies. Following the non-anthropological tradition, cultural studies generally focus on the study of consumption goods . Because the 18th- and 19th-century distinction between "high" and "low" culture seems inappropriate to apply to the mass-produced and mass-marketed consumption goods which cultural studies analyses, these scholars refer instead to "popular culture".
Today, some
anthropologists have joined the project of cultural studies. Most, however, reject the identification of culture with consumption goods. Furthermore, many now reject the notion of culture as bounded, and consequently reject the notion of subculture. Instead, they see culture as a complex web of shifting patterns that link people in different locales and that link social formations of different scales. According to this view, any group can construct its own cultural identity.
Currently, a debate is underway regarding whether or not culture can actually change fundamental human cognition. Researchers are divided on the question.
Cultural change
Cultures, by predisposition, both embrace and resist
change, depending on culture traits. For example, men and women have complementary roles in many cultures. One gender might desire changes that affect the other, as happened in the second half of the 20th century in
western cultures. Thus there are both dynamic influences that encourage acceptance of new things, and conservative forces that resist change.
Three kinds of influence cause both change and resistance to it:
- forces at work within a society
- contact between societies
- changes in the natural environment.
Cultural change can come about due to the environment, to inventions , and to contact with other cultures. For example, the end of the last
ice age helped lead to the invention of
agriculture, which in its turn brought about many cultural innovations.
In
diffusion, the form of something moves from one culture to another. For example,
hamburgers, mundane in the United States, seemed exotic when introduced into China. "Stimulus diffusion" refers to an element of one culture leading to an invention in another.
Diffusions of innovations theory presents a research-based model of why and when individuals and cultures adopt new ideas, practices, and products.
"Acculturation" has different meanings, but in this context refers to replacement of the traits of one culture with those of another, such as happened to certain
Native American tribes and to many indigenous peoples across the globe during the process of
colonization. Related processes on an individual level include assimilation and transculturation.
Cultural invention has come to mean any innovation that is new and found to be useful to a group of people and expressed in their behaviour but which does not exist as a physical object. Humanity is in a global "accelerating culture change period", driven by the expansion of international commerce, the mass media, and above all, the
human population explosion, among other factors. The world's population now doubles in less than years.O'Neil, D. 2006. .
Culture change is complex and has far-ranging effects. Sociologists and anthropologists believe that a holistic approach to the study of cultures and their environments is needed to understand all of the various aspects of change. Human existence may best be looked at as a "multifaceted whole." Only from this vantage can one grasp the realities of culture change.
References
- Arnold, Matthew. 1869. New York: Macmillan. Third edition, 1882, available online. Retrieved: 2006-06-28.
- Boritt, Gabor S. 1994. Lincoln and the Economics of the American Dream. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-06445-3.
- Bourdieu, Pierre. 1977. Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-29164-X
- Cohen, Anthony P. 1985. The Symbolic Construction of Community. Routledge: New York,
- Dawkiins, R. 1982. Paperback ed., 1999. Oxford Paperbacks. ISBN 0-19-288051-9
- Forsberg, A. CCSF Cultural Geography course notes. Retrieved: 2006-06-29.
- Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures: Selected Essays. New York. ISBN 0-465-09719-7.
- — 1957. "Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese Example," American Anthropologist, Vol. 59, No. 1.
- Goodall, J. 1986. The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-11649-6
- Hoult, T. F., ed. 1969. Dictionary of Modern Sociology. Totowa, New Jersey, United States: Littlefield, Adams & Co.
- Jary, D. and J. Jary. 1991. The HarperCollins Dictionary of Sociology. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-604-61086-5
- Keiser, R. Lincoln 1969. The Vice Lords: Warriors of the Streets. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. ISBN 0-03-080361-6.
- Kroeber, A. L. and C. Kluckhohn, 1952. Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Cambridge, MA: Peabody Museum
- Kim, Uichol . "Culture, science and indigenous psychologies: An integrated analysis." In D. Matsumoto , Handbook of culture and psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press
- Middleton, R. 1990. Studying Popular Music. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 0-335-15275-9.
- Rhoads, Kelton. 2006.
- Tylor, E.B. 1974. Primitive culture: researches into the development of mythology, philosophy, religion, art, and custom. New York: Gordon Press. First published in 1871. ISBN 0-87968-091-1
- O'Neil, D. 2006. , Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College, San Marco, California. Retrieved: 2006-07-10.
- Reagan, Ronald. , January 14, 1989. Retrieved June 3, 2006.
- Reese, W.L. 1980. Dictionary of Philosophy and Religion: Eastern and Western Thought. New Jersey U.S., Sussex, U.K: Humanities Press.
- UNESCO. 2002. , issued on International Mother Language Day
...
, February 21, 2002. Retrieved: 2006-06-23
- White, L. 1949. The Science of Culture: A study of man and civilization. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Wilson, Edward O. . . Vintage: New York. ISBN 0-679-76867-X.
- Wolfram, Stephen. 2002 . Wolfram Media, Inc. ISBN 1-57955-008-8
See also
- Cultural bias - Cultural imperialism - Ethnocentrism
- Cross-cultural communication - Intercultural competence
- Cultural evolution
- Culture theory
- Culture war
- Pop culture
- Organizational culture
- Urban culture
- Kustom Kulture
External links
-
- "Cultural Development" in Antiquity
- "Culture" and "Civilization" in Modern Times
-
- What are the individual features that make culture possible?
- of Oracas
