Culture theory is the branch of
anthropologyAnthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time....
and
semioticsSemiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of sign processes , or signification and communication, signs and symbols, into three branches:...
(not to be confused with cultural sociology or
cultural studiesCultural studies is an academic field which combines political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies...
) that seeks to define the
heuristicHeuristic is an adjective for experience-based techniques that help in problem solving, learning and discovery. A heuristic method is particularly used to rapidly come to a solution that is hoped to be close to the best possible answer, or 'optimal solution'...
concept of
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
in operational and/or
scientificScientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific...
terms.
In the 19th century, "
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
" was used by some to refer to a wide array of
humanHumans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens in Hominidae, the great ape family. They are the only surviving member of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving...
activities, and by others as a synonym for "
civilizationA civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, population, and class stratification.-Definition:...
". In the 20th century,
anthropologistsAnthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time....
began theorizing about culture as an object of scientific analysis.
Culture theory is the branch of
anthropologyAnthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time....
and
semioticsSemiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of sign processes , or signification and communication, signs and symbols, into three branches:...
(not to be confused with cultural sociology or
cultural studiesCultural studies is an academic field which combines political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies...
) that seeks to define the
heuristicHeuristic is an adjective for experience-based techniques that help in problem solving, learning and discovery. A heuristic method is particularly used to rapidly come to a solution that is hoped to be close to the best possible answer, or 'optimal solution'...
concept of
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
in operational and/or
scientificScientific method refers to a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. To be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific...
terms.
In the 19th century, "
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
" was used by some to refer to a wide array of
humanHumans are bipedal primates belonging to the species Homo sapiens in Hominidae, the great ape family. They are the only surviving member of the genus Homo. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem solving...
activities, and by others as a synonym for "
civilizationA civilization is a complex society or culture group characterized by dependence upon agriculture, long-distance trade, state form of government, occupational specialization, population, and class stratification.-Definition:...
". In the 20th century,
anthropologistsAnthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time....
began theorizing about culture as an object of scientific analysis. Some used it to distinguish human adaptive strategies from the largely
instinctInstinct is the inborn complex behavior of a living organism that is not learned. Since the 1910 NY Times article , most scientific journals consider the term outdated although it remains popular among the general public and a number of scientists...
ive adaptive strategies of
animalAnimals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously...
s, including the adaptive strategies of other
primateA primate is a member of the biological order Primates , the group that contains lemurs, lorisids, galagos, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes, with the last category including great apes. With the exception of humans, who inhabit every continent on Earth, most primates live in tropical or subtropical...
s and non-human
hominidThe Hominidae The Hominidae The Hominidae (anglicized Hominids, also known as great apes
["Great ape" is a common name rather than a taxonomic label and there are differences in usage...]
s, whereas others used it to refer to symbolic
representationsRepresentation describes the signs that stand in for and take the place of something else. It is through representation people know and understand the world and reality through the act of naming it...
and expressions of human experience, with no direct adaptive value. Both groups understood culture as being definitive of
human natureHuman nature is the concept that there are a set of characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that all 'normal' humans have in common. The branches of science associated with the study of human nature include sociology, sociobiology and psychology, particularly...
.
According to many
theoriesThe term theory has two broad sets of meanings, one used in the empirical sciences and the other used in philosophy, mathematics, logic, and across other fields in the humanities. There is considerable difference and even dispute across academic disciplines as to the proper usages of the term...
that have gained wide acceptance among anthropologists, culture exhibits the way that humans interpret their
biologyBiology is the natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy...
and their
environmentThe social environment , also known as the milieu, is the identical or similar social positions and social roles as a whole that influence the individuals of a group. The social environment of an individual is the culture that he or she was educated and/or lives in, and the people and institutions...
. According to this point of view, culture becomes such an integral part of human
existenceLike “rationalism” and “empiricism,” “existentialism” is a term that belongs to intellectual history. Its definition is thus to some extent one of historical convenience...
that it
is the human environment, and most cultural
changeChange can mean:* The process of becoming different:** Social change** Biological metamorphosis** The mathematical study of change* Small denominations of money given in exchange for a larger denominationChange may also refer to:...
can be attributed to human adaptation to
historical eventsHistory is the study of the human past, with special attention to the written record. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of events, and it often attempts to investigate objectively the patterns...
. Moreover, given that culture is seen as the primary adaptive mechanism of humans and takes place much faster than
human biological evolutionHuman evolution, or anthropogenesis, is the origin and evolution of Homo sapiens as a distinct species from other hominids, great apes and placental mammals...
, most cultural change can be viewed as culture adapting to itself.
Although most anthropologists try to define culture in such a way that it separates human beings from other animals, many human traits are similar to those of other animals, particularly the traits of other primates. For example,
chimpanzeeChimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...
s have big
brainThe brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate, and most invertebrate, animals. Some primitive animals such as jellyfish and starfish have a decentralized nervous system without a brain, while sponges lack any nervous system at all...
s, but human brains are bigger. Similarly,
bonoboThe Bonobo , Pan paniscus, until recently called the Pygmy Chimpanzee and less often, the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee, is a great ape and one of the two species making up the genus Pan. The other species in genus Pan is Pan troglodytes, or the Common Chimpanzee...
s exhibit complex sexual behaviour, but human beings exhibit much more complex
sexual behavioursHuman sexuality is how people experience the erotic and express themselves as sexual beings. Frequently driven by the desire for sexual pleasure, human sexuality has biological, physical and emotional aspects...
. As such, anthropologists often debate whether
human behaviour"Human Behaviour" is Icelandic singer Björk's first solo single, taken from the album Debut. It contains a sample of "Go Down Dying" by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The lyrics reflect on human nature and emotion from an animal's point of view...
is different from animal behaviour in degree rather than in kind; they must also find ways to distinguish cultural behaviour from sociological behaviour and psychological behavior.
See also
- Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field which combines political economy, communication, sociology, social theory, literary theory, media theory, film/video studies, cultural anthropology, philosophy, museum studies and art history/criticism to study cultural phenomena in various societies...
- Cultural behavior
Cultural behavior is behavior exhibited by humans that is extrasomatic or extragenetic, in other words, learned.-Learned Behavior :...
- Culture industry
Culture industry is a term coined by Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer , who argued in "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception," that popular culture is akin to a factory producing standardized cultural goods - through film, radio and magazines – to manipulate the masses into...
- Critical theory
Critical theory is the examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two quite different meanings with different origins and histories, one originating in social theory and the other in literary criticism...
- Dual inheritance theory
Dual Inheritance Theory , also known as Gene-Culture Coevolution, was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s to explain how human behavior is a product of two different and interacting evolutionary processes: genetic evolution and cultural evolution...
- Intercultural relations
Intercultural relations is a relatively new formal field of social science studies. It deals with the ability to get along with others, especially those from a different cultural background.Some of the main topics of study are:...
- Popular culture studies
Popular culture studies is the academic discipline studying popular culture. It is generally considered as a combination of communication studies and cultural studies....
- Structuralism
Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze a specific field as a complex system of interrelated parts. It began in linguistics with the work of Ferdinand de Saussure...
External links