Culture is the external environment — including language, religion, values, traditions and beliefs — that makes up an entire society or group of people. It encompasses a wide range of human activities such as food, clothing, lifestyle, art, music and literature. It is also referred to as the “identity” or “personality” of the individuals within that society.
The concept of cultural has been studied for many years in a variety of academic disciplines, including history, philosophy, sociology and anthropology. During this time, there have been various definitions of culture. Some definitions have been broad and general, while others have focused on specific aspects of the concept. Nevertheless, there are some basic themes that run through all of the different definitions. These include the concepts that culture is learned, shared and symbolic. It is also holistic and dynamic.
One of the first people to use the term cultural was the anthropologist Edward Tylor. He viewed culture as the most recent development in a series of evolutionary processes that aimed to promote survival. Tylor viewed culture as an organized system that encompasses a society’s way of life and its values and attitudes.
Anthropologist Franz Boas developed a more complex idea of what constitutes a culture. He defined it as a collective habitus that forms a pattern of observable behavior. He also viewed it as a set of social behaviors and attitudes that are passed from one generation to the next.
It has become increasingly common to recognize the role that culture plays in development. As a result, there is increased interest in promoting and supporting culturally sensitive programs. However, there is still much work to be done as far as advancing the research that will help us understand how culture influences developmental outcomes.
The idea of culture has also been used to distinguish cultures from each other. For example, some people have viewed the “high” or “art” culture of an urban area as being more sophisticated than the low or popular culture of a rural community. Others have viewed the distinctions in a more hierarchical manner, describing a culture as being either “high” or “low.”
Another aspect of cultural is the way in which a culture reflects its values and traditions through various forms of creative expression. These can include art, music, dance and literature. They can also include traditional foods, clothing and even architecture. In some cases, the expressions of a culture may be more abstract, such as the beliefs or worldview that is represented through a religion or spirituality.
The most commonly accepted definition of culture today is that it is the totality of a person’s learned, accumulated and socially transmitted experiences. This includes a person’s attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time and roles, and the concept of the universe. It also includes all the other socially transmitted facets of a person’s identity and personality, as well as their knowledge, customs, traditions, and values. In short, a person’s culture is everything that makes them unique.