Meaning of culture (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Culture:

Culture refers to the set of material and spiritual goods of a social group transmitted from generation to generation in order to guide individual and collective practices. It includes language, processes, ways of life, customs, traditions, habits, values, patterns, tools and knowledge.

The function of culture is to guarantee survival and facilitate adaptation of subjects in the environment.

Each culture embodies a world view in response to the reality that the social group lives. Therefore, there is no social group lacking in culture or "uneducated". What does exist are different cultures and, within these, different cultural groups, even with respect to the dominant culture.

The term culture is also used in restricted ways, either to refer to the values ​​and habits that govern specific groups, or to refer to specialized fields of knowledge or activity. In both cases, the word culture is always accompanied by a qualifying adjective.

For example:

• political culture: "Our country suffers from a messianic political culture." organizational culture: "Our organizational culture is based on helping people." physical culture: "The school must provide physical culture to children."

Origin of the term culture

The concept of culture has varied throughout history. In its etymological origin, the word culture comes from the Latin cultus which means "cultivation" or "cultivated". This term is the past participle of the word colere which means 'to cultivate'.

In the Middle Ages, culture designated cultivated land. In the Renaissance the idea of ​​the "cultivated" man appeared, that is to say, someone educated in literature and fine arts.

Beginning in the eighteenth century, the term culture began to be used systematically to refer to enlightened knowledge. In the 19th century, culture also included good manners and customs.

With the development of the social sciences in the 20th century, the sense of culture has been expanding, until finding what we attribute to it today.

Elements of culture

Every culture is made up of a set of basic elements. The most important are the following:

• Cognitive elements: refers to the knowledge accumulated within a certain culture for survival against nature and adaptation within the social group. Beliefs: encompasses the set of ideas that the cultural group establishes about what is true or false. It is linked to the value system. Values: these are the criteria that serve as evaluative models of behavior, since they guide those considered acceptable and unacceptable principles and attitudes to guarantee the continuity of the group. Norms: they are specific action codes that regulate the relationship between individuals based on shared values. Includes the sanctions system. There are two types of standards:
  • Prescriptive norms : they indicate the duties and obligations. Proscriptive rules : they indicate what not to do.
  System of signs and symbols: they are all the arbitrary and conventional communication resources that the social group uses to transmit messages. We can mention the language, the writing, the graphic signs and the symbols. Non-normative forms of behavior: these are the behavioral traits that differentiate one social group from another, even within a shared culture. It is what is called idiosyncrasy.

Other approaches to cultural phenomena establish the following as elements of culture:

• The immaterial or spiritual culture corresponds to the culture that is transmitted by oral tradition. For example:
  • belief system; values; language; music; laws, etc.
  Material culture is that which is represented in a material way, such as technology, cultural consumer goods and tangible heritage. For example:
  • architecture; plastic arts; clothing; kitchen; tools; weapons, etc.

Characteristics of culture

All cultures are characterized by sharing a series of elements, among which we can point out the following:

• they encompass the totality of human practices; they arise in opposition to nature (instinct vs. knowledge); they represent a world view; they are symbolically expressed; they provide social order; their survival depends on communication; they consolidate traditions; they are dynamic, that is They are transformed, they are more or less open, that is, they are susceptible to the influence of other cultures. Therefore, they are subject to processes of:
  • enculturation; transculturation; acculturation; inculturation.

Types of culture

Culture can be classified according to different criteria. This will depend on the objective of the study and the theoretical-ideological approach. Normally, cultures are classified according to topics, that is, matters of collective interest. The most frequent ways of classifying culture are as follows:

According to the historical sense

Peter Brueghel: Dutch Proverbs . 1550. Oil on wood. 1.17 x 1.63 cm. Berlin State Museums.

Refers to cultures framed within a limited period of time. Cultural transformation does not imply an absolute dissolution of culture but its adaptation to historical changes.

For example:

• Renaissance culture, Baroque culture, medieval culture.

According to the anthropological sense

The Acropolis in Athens, Greece.

It refers to the culture that identifies a people in a comprehensive way.

For example:

• egyptian culture; inca culture; greek culture; western culture; eastern culture, etc.

According to the religious paradigm

In the anthropology of religions, cultures are classified according to the type of religious paradigm they develop. Within these categories are those of monotheistic and polytheistic cultures.

For example:

Monotheistic cultures:

• Jewish culture; Christian culture; Muslim culture.

Polytheistic cultures:

• Hindu culture; ancient Greco-Roman culture.

According to the knowledge of writing

Egyptian hieroglyphic script.

Another way to classify cultures is according to their knowledge of writing. The terms oral cultures or agraph cultures are used to refer to cultures that do not have writing systems. Those who have or have owned script systems are called written cultures.

For example:

Agraph cultures:

• Yanomani indigenous culture (Venezuela)

Written cultures:

• Egyptian culture (hieroglyphic writing); Mesopotamian culture (cuneiform writing).

According to the production mode

Rice cultivation fields in China.

Cultures are transformed along with their modes of production or vice versa. Among them we can mention the following types:

• Nomadic cultures: those that depend on hunting and gathering, for which they migrate frequently.
  • Example: the Chichimeca culture in Mexico.
  Agricultural cultures: those that become sedentary thanks to the development of agricultural and livestock technology.
  • Example: Chinese culture.
  Urban cultures: those that are established in urban centers governed by commercial activity.
  • Example: the Renaissance culture or the culture of today's cities.
  Industrial cultures: those that apply massive industrial production modes.
  • Example: Western society today.

According to the socio-economic order (or hegemony)

In the study of culture within the same society, the classification of culture according to social class, socio-economic order or hegemony has predominated, due to the impact that the material order has on cultural processes.

At first it was spoken of high culture and low culture. High culture was represented by the enlightened elite of society, which was the one that held power. The low culture was attributed to the illiterate popular sectors, which were the most vulnerable sectors. This classification, already in disuse, responded to a level assessment based on the hegemony of the dominant group.

With the rise of nationalisms, the popular sectors were considered representatives of the national identity. Thus, the expression popular culture began to be used more frequently to the detriment of low culture. High culture became known as elitist culture, elite culture, culture "cultured", official culture and academic culture.

For example:

• popular culture: folk traditions such as carnival. elite culture:
  • the fine arts ("cultured"), the religion or official ideology of a State (official or official), medicine as an area of ​​knowledge (academic);

According to the diffusion modes

With the entry of the mass media, cultural processes were altered. From there new cultures have emerged.

By mass culture or mass culture is known the culture that arises from the information disclosed by the mass media, that is, the culture of consumption. It affects both elitist culture and popular culture.

For example:

• The global phenomenon of The Beatles and other pop idols; The universal consumption of certain products and the imagery associated with them (for example, soft drinks).

The cyberculture is another cultures defined according to their media. Cyberculture is understood as that which is formed through the interaction of subjects through social networks and virtual reality.

For example:

• Second Life , virtual community. The culture Facebook and other social networks.

According to the power struggles within a society

The differences between the sectors of a society generate resistance and / or innovation movements confronted with the hegemonic order. Often they have to do with generational differences that are accentuated in light of technical and scientific advances. Within this category we recognize the concepts of subculture and counterculture.

For example:

Subcultures:

• rockers; gothic.

Countercultures:

• hippie movement; feminism.

See also:

• Types of culture Subculture Counterculture

Philosophy of culture

The philosophy of culture is a branch within the philosophical discipline that aims to understand the concept of culture and its impact on the subject. In an essay entitled "Idea and history of the philosophy of culture" published in the book Philosophy of culture (VV.AA., 1998), the researcher David Sobrevilla defines the philosophy of culture as:

… the philosophical reflection on the elements and dynamics of cultural phenomena, the foundation of the concepts extracted from them and the evaluation and criticism of said phenomena from a philosophical perspective.

According to the researcher, the difference between the approach that philosophy makes to culture with respect to other disciplines (anthropology or psychology, for example), is that philosophy is devoted to the study of the conceptual. Thus, the philosophy of culture does not address the empirical analysis of cultural phenomena as facts. On the contrary, it tries to understand them from a philosophical point of view.

Cultural context

Cultural context is known as those cultural variables that allow the understanding of a certain phenomenon under study. That is, they are those cultural elements that have an influence on a fact, character or product of history, and that therefore must be considered in order to make a fair interpretation of the matter to be studied. For example: value system, customs, dominant spirituality, etc. Understanding the cultural context of an issue helps minimize the risk of making value judgments.