What is culture?

IB SCA SL

Definitions

• Ferraro: “Culture is everything that people have, think, and do as members of a society.”– Includes material objects, ideas, values,

attitudes, and patterned ways of behaving

• Omohundro: “Culture is the learned, shared understandings among a group of people about how to behave and what everything means.”

Culture is Shared

• Behavior and thought in a society are predictable because of shared culture

• There is always some deviation from cultural norms (real vs. ideal culture)

• Subculture

• Pluralistic societies

Culture is Learned

• Culture is acquired through a process of interacting with one’s cultural environment

• Tacit vs. explicit culture• Enculturation• Culture is not genetic• All peoples in the world acquire their

culture through the same process• Because behavior is learned, it can be

changed

Culture influences biological processes

• We all have biological needs, but culture determines how we satisfy those needs

Culture Changes

• No culture remains static year after year

• Process of change– Internal changes = innovations– External changes = cultural diffusion

• Causes for change– Theorists have varying ideas for causes

Cultural Universals

• Early anthropology focused on documenting cultural differences

• Each culture has its own set of solutions to universal human problems of societies

• Vast number of cultural differences shows how flexible and adaptable humans are

• Basic physiological needs must be met– Economics, marriage, family, education, social

control, supernatural belief, communication

Culture is Adaptive or Maladaptive

• Humans rely more on cultural adaptations than on biological adaptations

• Some adaptations are maladaptive or dysfunctional

• Features adaptive in one culture may be maladaptive or neutral in other cultures

• The adaptability of a cultural item varies over time within any culture

• Cultural relativism

Cultures are Integrated

• Cultural components are interconnected with one another

• Cultural anthropologists describe the various parts of culture, show how they function and how they are interconnected

• Cultures are logical and coherent systems

• Because parts of culture are interrelated, change in one part influences other parts

Culture is Symbolic

• Humans create meaning with symbols

• Symbols vary by culture– Oral language– Written language– Money