On the Concept of Cultureand the Nature of Cultural

Systems

Definitions of Culture

“Culture, or civilization. . . is that complex whole which includes

knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a

member of society.”---Sir Edward Tylor, 1871

• Man• Civilization• Complex whole

Other Definitions of Culture

“A culture is the total socially acquired life-way or life-style of a group of people. It consists of the patterned, repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are characteristic of the members of a particular society or segment of society” (Harris 1975, 144).

For our purposes, culture is shared and learned behavior and

beliefs.

Characteristics of Culture

Culture is not the same as nature

Universal human functions to survive:

• Eating• Drinking• Sleeping• Eliminating

Culture is not the same as nature

Culture is not the same as nature

Culture is based on symbols

• A symbol is an object, word, or action with a culturally defined meaning that stands for something else with which it has no necessary or natural relationship.

Culture is learned:through direct instruction, participating, observation

Cultures are Integrated

Cultural Interaction and Change

• Clash of civilizations• McDonaldization• Hybridization• Localization

Multiple Cultural Worlds

• Class• “Race”• Ethnicity and

indigeneity• Gender and sexuality• Age• Institutions

Guiding Goals and Concepts of Cultural Anthropology

• Ethnography and ethnology

• Cultural relativism• Valuing and

sustaining diversity

Biological determinism vs. cultural constructionism

• Are the disturbances that vex adolescents in the US due to the nature of adolescence itself or to our culture?

• Under different cultural conditions, does adolescence vary?

Interpretive anthropology vs. cultural materialism

Individual agency vs. social structure