Defining Culture

Defining Culture

Anthropologists define the term culture in a variety of ways, but there are certain shared features of the definition that virtually all anthropologists agree on. Culture is a shared, socially transmitted knowledge and behavior. The key features of this definition of culture are as follows. 1) Culture is shared among the members of that particular society or group. Thus, people share a common cultural identity, meaning that they recognize themselves and their culture's traditions as distinct from other people and other traditions. 2) Culture is socially transmitted from others while growing up in a certain environment, group, or society. The transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation by means of social learning is referred to as enculturation or socialization. 3) Culture profoundly affects the knowledge, actions, and feelings of the people in that particular society or group. This concept is often referred to as cultural knowledge that leads to behavior that is meaningful to others and adaptive to the natural and social environment of that particular culture.

Some anthropologists prefer to conceptualize culture as a mental phenomenon where individuals learn culture and carry it in their heads ("cultural baggage"). From this view actual behavior is not part of culture, but is a product of culture. This view of culture is called the ideational conception of culture. A broader view of culture includes the behavior of individuals, in addition to the ideas, values, and other mental phenomenon. This view of culture encompasses the way of life of a particular group of people. One should keep in mind that people within a culture share ideas, values, opinions, etc., but they are not universal among all the people in that culture.

The word culture is often used to emphasize the most unique aspects of a people's customs and beliefs. Thus, to refer to the culture of a people or group is to call attention to all the things that make that group different or distinctive from others. When anthropologists compare different cultures they do not mean that one culture is better or worse than another culture.