Unit I: CULTURE

Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings,
hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material
objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual
and group striving.

Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people.

Culture is communication, communication is culture.

Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior; that is the totality of a person's learned,
accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social learning.

A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they
accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and
imitation from one generation to the next.

Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols include a group's skills, knowledge, attitudes,
values, and motives. The meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society
through its institutions.

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; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values;
culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as
conditioning influences upon further action.

Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are generally considered to
be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation.

Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or
category of people from another.

What do symbols mean in culture?

Symbols may mean many things in a culture. Often, colors, objects, animals, and other objects can mean
different things to different cultures. For example, the bald eagle represents strength, power, and
freedom in the United States while the dragon represents strength and wisdom in many Asian cultures.

What are some examples of symbols?

Light represents purity, goodness, and enlightenment. Darkness represents evil and the unknown. The
ankh represents life and the Egyptian kings, queens, and pharaohs.
How do cultures use symbols?

Cultures use symbols to create and communicate values and traditions to the cultural group. Symbols
are used by a culture to identify other people who are part of the same culture and are a way to connect
and relate to one another in a culture.

Definition of a Cultural Symbol

A cultural symbol is a physical manifestation that signifies the ideology of a particular culture or that
merely has meaning within a culture. What is culture, you may ask? Culture is an accumulation of the
beliefs, traditions, language and values of a particular group of people.

The Christian culture has the cultural symbol of the cross, where the Jewish culture has the cultural
symbol of the Star of David. Cultural symbols don't have to be actual symbols or signs; they can also be
gestures such as hand shakes and hand signals. Additionally, the same symbol can mean different things
in different cultures. Americans should be careful in Greece, for example. The thumbs up, which
symbolizes that everything is great in American culture, is just like giving the middle finger in Greek
culture.
What is Culture? Types of Culture, Elements of Culture, Characteristics of Culture

What is Culture? Types of Culture, Elements of Culture, Characteristics of Culture

Culture is a word for the way of life of groups of people, the behavior, beliefs, values, and symbols that
they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that passed along by communication and
imitation from one generation to the next generation. There is different Types of Culture.

Culture is the feature and knowledge of a particular group of people, bounding language, religion,
cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Culture is an integrated set of pattern of human activities,
knowledge and belief within a community or social group and the symbolic structures. Culture is purity
Of savor in the fine arts and humanities.

Culture is circle of religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what
we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table, how we meet visitors, how we behave with some
ones, and million other things. The outlook, attitudes, values, morals, goals, and customs shared by a
society all are include in culture. Culture is a complex concept which impacts virtually every aspects of
our lives both consciously and subconsciously.

Culture is the expression of own nature in our way of life and thinking in our everyday dealings in art,
literature, religion, reaction and enjoyments as member of society. Culture is a system of values and
beliefs which we share with others, all of which gives us a sense of belongings or identity.

Types of Culture

Studying culture to understand patterns of human behaviour is a big job. While there are

unlimited ways that people can express their culture, social scientists have

developed two basic categories to define things produced by a society. First is

Material Culture and second is Nonmaterial Culture.

Material Culture
Material culture mentions to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use

to define their culture. These include homes, schools, churches, mosques,

offices, temples, factories and plants, clothes, utensils, roads, ornaments,

T.V, radio, machines, tools, goods and products, stores and many more. All of

these man-made objects and things that have been evolved over ages for man’s

well-being and comfort are material culture.

Now material culture does not mean that it is an object that is bought and sold; it can also

be something we all make. For example, cocking art is a common thing we all do,

and therefore is a part of our material culture.

Non material Culture

The other type of culture is non material culture which cannot be touch, feel, taste or hold. Non material
culture belongs to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, including beliefs, values,
rules, norms, morals, languages, social roles, ethics, music, literature, customs, traditions, organizations
and institutions. Non material culture is just as big of impact on our lives as material culture.

Elements of Culture

The culture of any specific society consists of several elements, or parts. Followings are

some elements of culture.

Social Organization

In most cultures, society divides people by social

organization. Mostly there is a ruler who is more powerful than other persons.

Social organization is an important element of culture that shows how the

society treats the relationships between different members of that culture.

Customs are traditions, values, and social standards of a

society and establish practices. These help a society indicate the rules of

behaviour which enforce ideas of right and wrong. These can be traditions,

rules, written laws, etc.

Rituals

Rituals are processes or set s of actions that are repeated

in specific conditions and with specific meaning. They may be used in such as

when someone is promoted or retires. They may be associated with company events

or special day.

Religion

Religion is another important element of culture, which

describes a society’s morals and beliefs about humanity’s spirituality and

reason for existing.

Language

Language is a symbolic system through which people

communicate and through which culture is written, acted and transmitted. Language

is always evolving as societies create new ideas. Rules of speaking and writing

vary in every language even within cultures.

Norms
There are different norms, standards and expectations in

cultures for behaving. Norms are divided into two types.

Formal norms also called mores and laws considered most important in any society. Informal norms also
called folkways and customs, considered less important.

Symbols

Some symbols are type of nonverbal communication, while

others are material objects. Every culture has many symbols, of things that

stand for somethings or show reactions and emotions.

The world is filled with symbols, like sports uniform, school uniform, company logo, gold ring and traffic
signs are symbols.

Characteristics of Culture

Culture has its own characteristics, here are some discussed.

Learnt

Culture is learnt from their elders because it’s not

biological. Culture is not the thing you study or inherit but it is just the

process you pass from it. Instead, you learn culture subconsciously without

paying any attention. Children learn culture by watching their parents and

family. They copy behaviours and adopt different roles and values. We learn our

culture not only from our parents but also from families, institutions, media

and other people.

Shared

Culture is something that is shared because we share our

culture with other members of our group. Culture is always transferred by

discussions, public speaking, TV, internet. Although culture is share but it

doesn’t mean culture is homogeneous.

Social

Culture is social, it is not the one person phenomena. It is

the product of society and raise and grows through social interaction. Culture

can be thoughts of social influence and it must be social without it there is

no concept of culture.

Continuous

Culture is a continuous process and adapts changes in the

environment. Culture is growing whole with the achievements of the past and

present and provide the future achievements of mankind. Culture is the result

of past and present experiences.

Integrated

Culture is also integrated because its various parts are interconnected. All components of culture are
connected to one another and to gain a extensive Understanding of culture, we must learn about all
these different components.