The Idea of Culture - Essay Example

Intro: The idea of culture often brings to mind many different ideas, all different faces of a person’s identity, personhood, and uniqueness. Cultureusually binds these terms together, bringing a blanket of terms that are unique to a certain place, region, group, or lineage. Culture is more than just that however. A person’s culture contains everything about that person, where they live, why they live there, their family, their customs, their beliefs, how they live, and why they live that way. All these various things make up a person’s culture; culture does not have to be limited to simply a person’s customs and beliefs. Culture is the force behind every variable aspect of a person’s life, including language, race, traditions Culture can vary from within a group of people to, however people with similar traditions and life styles are often put together in similar cultural groups. Culture can also highly influence the beliefs and life styles of a group of people. Different beliefs can be based on the effects of a person’s culture on those beliefs. Cultures can also change or shift, depending on trends and the ideologies of people of that time. Some cultures fade or die away with time, well other main stream cultures, or their ideas directly effected by them, may stay around for many years. While culture may seem like an overwhelming idea and ideology set, in simplifying it we must not forgot to include all aspects of a person’s life that may effect their culture, or to be effected by it. Culture is an important aspect of who we are, and why we are like that. Middle: Culture, being such a wide topic, can often be defined different ways by different people. These different definitions can often be based on how culture can include so many things, and at the root is one of the keys to basic understanding of human nature. Anthropologists often define culture as “the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). Culture is also usually related to the way people behave and act, often taking into account their language, past, and other beliefs. Although one may not be able to agree on an exact, specific definition of culture, we can be sure about what exactly the culture of a people includes. Cultures most often than not includes a “codes of manners, dress, language, religion, rituals, norms of behavior such as law and morality, and systems of belief”( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). And while certain specialists in different fields may not be able to settle on one perfect definition of culture, at least they can be sure of what to involve and partake under the heading of one’s culture. One of the most recent definitions of culture was made by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2002. They said that “culture should be regarded as the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). This is only one of many possible definitions for culture. A culture often has to include “cultural objects”, meaning physical as well as mental ideals passed on throughout cultures. A culture is often considered to have four basic categories that are passed down from generation to generation. These categories contain many of the ideals and traits composed inside the culture, and are passed down to the new generations as the culture is passed on as well. These four categories are a culture’s values, norms, institutions, and artifacts ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). The first category of a culture is the culture’s values. Values make up what each culture perceives as right and wrong, as acceptable and unacceptable. They are pathways for the rest of the culture, and help set standards for the culture to adhere by. One physical aspect of values can be seen in artifacts of past cultures. The second category of a culture is its “norms”( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture ). These norms are what is often considered normal inside a society, and how the people of a culture will act and behave in certain situations and problems. This can also be considered what is normal for a culture to partake in and achieve. The third category of a culture is its institutions. Institutions are the basic structures in a culture which help pass and transmit the ideals held by the values and the norms. The forth and final category of a culture is its artifacts. An artifact is a remain of a past culture, such as an arrow head of a piece of pottery. Artifacts can help use piece together the other part of what made up that culture. An artifact can also give us a look into the values and norms that were contained and housed in the culture that the artifact derived from.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). The word culture also can derive different meaning from different people. The meaning of culture and exactly how it is related to people all depends on how the person is looking at culture, and who it is referring to. Some people link culture with civilization, and puts culture as the opposite of nature. This is the view that some countries are more “cultured”, and hence, more “civilized” than other countries are. This kind of idea often referred to culture as fancy tastes, or “high living”. This idea of culture is often rejected by scientists, saying that the often called “uncultured people” are just as cultured as their higher class brethren, just cultured in a different way.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). Another idea of cultures is the belief in “world cultures”, or the idea that a world view is part of each ethnic group. This belief was more in line with mode thinking than the culture/civilization idea, however it also allowed for much distinction between “cultured” and “non-cultured” people. Other people view culture as advanced symbolism. These people hold the idea that culture often imbeds symbols with meaning, and is the basis for people understanding each other, yet retaining the personal meaning of each symbol( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). These symbols can often include stock phrases, or commonly used phrases that became part or, or linked to a certain culture’s ideologies. Large groups of people often may find that they are not all of same culture, and that different cultures exists beneath the first layer of original cultures. These sub-cultures are often distinctive of the people that make them up, sometimes separating people by gender, race, or even class status. A myriad of factors can lead to the breaking off of a sub-culture, or a varying idea under the main ideas held by a culture. Regions are also closely linked with culture. Certain regions tend to develop vastly different cultures, based on geography and a number of other important factors. These factors all help to develop the different traits that will eventually become part of the cultures of the region. Regions may also have different cultures inside of a certain region. The different regions of the world, have all seen such cultural diversity in the development of cultures within those regions. For instance, in the Middle East, Persia and Persian culture has long been one of the dominating cultures, and has also gave several cultural ideals to the religion of Islam. The region of Africa’s culture has been greatly affects by Europe, and European colonialism. Even in Asia, a very culturally diverse continent, the Chinese language and writing style can be seen throughout various cultures, even cultures of a different language.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). Another important aspect of cultures is that cultures belief system. These beliefs often involve religion, which is a huge part of culture. Religion often affects various parts of culture, from the art work of a culture, to sometimes even the laws and government style of the culture. The different beliefs held by the religion also greatly shape the culture, and can often provide guide lines for living, such as the Ten Commandments of the Christian faith. Under the subset of religions however, we also have various groups. One of these groups is the Abrahamic religions. This cultural line of religions started with Judaism, which spread to the religions of Christianity, Islam, Samaritanism, and even the Baháí Faith.( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). Eventually, people decided to try to study the vast cultures of the world. In the late 20th century, people began to take interest and study the ideas that different cultures held. Culture studies often focus on areas of culture such as fashion, art, and literature. However, many cultural specialists are divided on opinion of this topic, and almost feel that because of the even changing parts of culture, and that one can link different parts of different cultures together to get ones own “cultural identity”( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). As time progress however, parts of a culture may change, or switch roles. There are three factors to consider about how a culture will change, or resist change. These three things are:  forces at work within a society  contact between societies  changes in the natural environment(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture). All of these things can help either bring about change in a culture, or work against change in a culture. Some cultures may find that they change easier than others as well. And while some people may wish to change their culture, they may find it harder to change who they are then they originally thought. Conclusion: Culture is such an all encompassing word. It basically includes everything that makes us who we are. It includes everything that describes how we think and why we think it, and how come we got to be in the place where we were thinking. Culture also includes all of the different pieces of society, be it art work, literature, or what is currently popular. How often have we heard something referred to as the next big “pop culture” item? And there is even a board game now just to test your knowledge of pop culture. This shows just how much culture is a party of our every day lives, even if we do not specially know it or acknowledge it. Culture also includes the things we often think about, or think strongly about. Things such are our ideals, morals, and guide lines for living are all included as part of our culture. Religion is also a very important part of culture, and has widely affected various cultures through out history, and all over the world. While we may not think of culture as important, culture may be one of the most defining accepts of our lives. It includes everything about us, and it is often passed down from generation to generation. This may make one think if their culture is something they want their kids to live through, though often generations will take and adapt to new changed in society to expand, or shrink the ideas of a culture. Either way, it makes up everything that we are, and it completely in every part of our life. Read More