What is CultureWhat is Culture- Defining cultureo Many different conceptionso Idealist, behaviorist, and holistic definitionso According to the textbook, culture is a society’s shared andsocially transmitted ideas, values, and perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and generate behavioro SYMBOL LEARNED BASE BEHAVIOR- Culture is Universalo Culture does not equal civilizationo All people do have cultureo What about other animals?- Characteristics of Cultureo Learnedo Sharedo Symbol-basedo Integratedo Dynamic- Culture is learnedo Culture isn’t innate, its acquired Process of enculturation begins at birth or possibly even beforeo Different types of learning: individual, social, and symbolic- Culture is Sharedo Shared cultural traditions allow people to coexisto Culture is shared at different levels (national, local, etc.)o Cultural knowledge is shared but not uniformly participated in (e.g. countercultures)- Culture is Symbol-Basedo Symbol is something verbal or nonverbal that comes to stand for something elseo The relationship of a symbol to what it represents is arbitraryo Symbols can be linguistic or materialo Because there are not literal, symbols are subject to interpretation- Culture is Integratedo Different aspects of culture must be integrated for things to function properlyo Cultural features can not be studied in isolationo Change in one component of culture may have consequences for many other parts- Culture is Dynamico All cultures changeo Change is often unanticipated and unintentionalo Globalization World system that links societies and culture in economic and political relations- Cultural Variationo Capacity for culture is universal but its expression varies tremendouslyo Job of anthropologists to describe, understand this
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