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WHAT IS CULTURE?Culture refers to the attitudes, values, customs, and behavior patterns that characterize a social group

- the ways in which a particular group of people lives, including their shared knowledge, values, customs and physical objects

More definition of cultureCulture is that complex whole which include knowledge, belief, morals, law, custom and any other capability and habits acquired by man as a member of society (Edward Burnett Taylor 1958) learned norms, values, knowledge, artifacts, language and symbols that are constantly communicated among people who share a common way of life (Craig Calhoun 1994)Culture is the sum total of symbols, ideas, forms of expressions and material products associated with a system. It is a dynamic medium through which societies create a collective way of life reflected in such things as beliefs, values, music, literature, art, dance, science, religious ritual and technology (Allan Johnson 1996)Culture is defined as the set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitude, values and ideals that are characteristics of a particular society or population (Ember 1994)

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Characteristics of Culture

Leslie A. White refers culture as an organization of phenomena that is dependent upon symbols,phenomena which include:> acts (patterns of behavior)> objects (tools and things made by tools)> ideas (beliefs, knowledge) and> sentiments (attitudes, values)In this sense, culture means the entire way of life of people and everything learned and shared by people in society (Hunt et al, 1998)

Gerard Hendrik (Geert) Hofstede states that culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts.It also refers to cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of universe, and materials objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generation through individual and group striving

UNESCO (2002) -The set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to a literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs

Concept of CultureIf you ask 100 anthropologists to define culture, youll get 100 different definitions. However, most of these definitions would emphasize roughly the same things: that culture is shared, transmitted through learning and helps shape behavior and beliefs

Characteristics of Culture1. Culture is Learned

the first essential characteristics of culturecan be learned indirectly through observation and imitationthrough experiencethrough watching (documentaries) and reading bookstaught by parents/family ( generation to generation)A PERSON FEELS LIKE AN OUTSIDER UNTIL THEYVE LEARNED THE WAYS OF THE CULTURE

DISCUSSION QUESTION:Think of a time when you went to a new environment (such as off to college) and you didnt know how you were expected to act or what you should do. How did you figure out what you should do to fit into the group.

2. Culture is shared by group of people

CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE > CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE > CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE > CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE > CHARACTERISTICS OF CUL

people of the same community share the same values, beliefs, and traditionstheir literature and history is the sametheir language and mannerisms, and the way they communicate is similar

built by their belief system, their personalities share certain traitstheir roles in the family and society are defined by their culturetheir occupations and lifestyles may be influenced by their culture

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/characteristics-of-culture.html

3. Culture is cumulativecumulative - increasing or increased in quantity, degree, or force by successive additionsKnowledge is stored and passed on from one generation to the next and new knowledge is being added to what is existingthe achievement of the present and past and make provision for the future achievement of manculture elements are added up as the needs arise.

4. Cultures changeAll cultural knowledge does not perpetually accumulate. At the same time that new cultural traits are added, some old ones are lost because they are no longer usefulcertain traditions or rituals are eliminatedlanguage and mannerisms of people changemigration and globalization lead to a mixing of cultures

Due to education and increase awareness, newer generation become flexible to change and look at concepts like religion and culture with a broader perspective and have a liberal view about them.

Due to exposure to various cultures across the globe, people adopt some aspects of other cultures. This affects what they teach their children, thus influencing the culture of their future generations and in a small way, leading to a cultural change. Gender roles change

5. Culture is dynamicCharacter of culture that stems from its cumulative qualityNo culture is ever in a permanent stateNew ideas and new techniques are added and old ways are constantly modified and discardedSpread of traits from individual and from one group to another which is termed as diffusion

One form of diffusion is growth of language. Filipino vocabulary has grown because of borrowing words from other languages like Spanish, Chinese and English

6. Culture is ideationalCulture is an ideal pattern of behavior which the members are expected to follow.

Assign meanings to environment and experiences by symbolizing themA symbol is something that stands for something else. Symbols vary cross-culturally and are arbitrary. They only have meaning when people in a culture agree on their use. Language, money and are symbols.Language is the most important symboliccomponent of culture

7. Culture is diverse

The sum total of human culture consists of a great many separate cultures, each of them differenta system that has several mutually interdependent parts.

Although these parts are separate, they are interdependent with one another forming culture as a whole

For example, the choice of a marriage partner involves many different parts of culture as religion, economic class, education, etc.

Culture tells us how different activities should be conducted such as > as a husband > as a wife > as a parent > as a child, etc.These rules of permissible behavior are usually flexible to a degree there are some alternatives rather than hard rules8. Culture gives us a range of permissible behavior pattern

Culture, for an instance , tells us how we should dress based on our gender, but it allows us to dress in different ways in different situations in order to communicate varied messages and statuses

The clothing can be intentionally business-like, recreational, as well as sexually attractive, ambiguous, neutral, or even repulsive(http://anthro.Palomar.edu/culture/_htm)

Culture is learned from the people surrounding us. The distinct set of beliefs, values, traditions and behavior is passed down through generations. It is a collective phenomenon, and cannot exist in isolation in a single individual. It is shared at various levels, but is also rich in diversity. Culture implies the overall way of life for a group of individuals. It is the glue that binds people together, and enables them to adapt, survive, and live together in harmony.

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THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

> Roberta Edwards Lenkeit: Introducing Cultural Anthropology (4th Edition); > chapter 2: CULTURE: What makes us strangers when we are away from hom> Conrad Philip Kottak: Cultural Anthropology 6th Edition> http://home.earthlink.net/~youngturck/Chapter8.htm>https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/culture-3/the-symbolic-nature-of-culture-30/the-symbolic-nature-of-culture-189-8968/> https://popculture.knoji.com/the-different-characteristics-of-culture/> http://www.buzzle.com/articles/characteristics-of-culture.html> http://www.buzzle.com/articles/importance-of-culture.html > http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-culture.html> Social Dimensions of Education ( Vega, Prieto, Carreion)

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