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What is culture?

Definition.The word culture has many different meanings. For some it refers to the good literature, music, art, and food. For a biologist, it is a colony of bacteria or other microorganisms. However, for anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns. The term was first used in this way by the pioneer English Anthropologist Edward B. Tylor in his book “Primitive Culture”, published in 1871. Tylor said that culture “includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”

Culture is a powerful human tool for survival, but it is a fragile phenomenon. It is constantly changing and easily lost because it exists only in our minds. Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are merely the products of culture. They are not culture in themselves.

In order to live man, like all other species, must come to terms with the external world.... Man employs his sense organs, nerves, glands, and muscles in adjusting himself to the external world. But in addition to this he has another means of adjustment and control.... This mechanism is culture.

Layers of Culture. There are three layers or levels of culture that are part of your learned behavior patterns and perceptions. Most obviously is the body of cultural traditions that distinguish your specific society. When people speak of Italian, or Japanese culture, they are referring to the shared language, traditions, and beliefs. In most cases, those who share your culture do so because they acquired it as they were raised by parents and other family members who have it.

The second layer of culture that may be part of your identity is a subculture. In complex, diverse societies in which people have come from many different parts of the world, they often retain much of their original cultural traditions. As a result, they are part of an identifiable subculture in their new society. The shared cultural traits of subcultures set them apart from the rest of their society. Examples of easily identifiable subcultures in the United States include ethnic groups such as Vietnamese Americans, African Americans, and Mexican Americans. Members of each of these subcultures share a common identity, food tradition, dialect or language, and other cultural traits that come from their common background and experience.

The third layer of culture consists of cultural universals. These are learned behavior patterns that are shared by all of humanity collectively. No matter where people live in the world, they share these universal traits. Examples of such "human cultural" traits include:

Johann Herder called attention to national cultures	Adolf Bastian developed a universal model of culture
Edward Tylor British anthropologist was one of the first English-speaking scholars to use the term culture in an inclusive and universal sense	Matthew Arnold British poet and critic viewed "culture" as the cultivation of the humanist ideal

View on culture as a process (by Mc Grew)

1. A new pattern of behavior is invented, or an existing one is modified.

2. The innovator transmits this pattern to another.

3. The form of the pattern is consistent within and across performers, perhaps even in terms of recognizable stylistic features.

4. The one who acquires the pattern retains the ability to perform it long after having acquired it.

5. The pattern spreads across social units in a population. These social units may be families, clans, troops, or bands.

6. The pattern spreads across generations.

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