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A Thing Called “CULTURE”

Popular Definition:

Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate")

Basically,

 Information (ideas, values, customs, skills…)

 Transmitted from person to person through direct teaching, imitation, or writing.
 Guides behavior and provides framework for interpreting things in the world.
 May or may not be “adaptive”

The Iceberg Case:

Culture has been aptly compared to an iceberg. Just as an iceberg has a visible section above
the waterline, and a larger, invisible section below the water line, so culture has some aspects
that are observable and others that can only be suspected, imagined, or intuited. Also like an
iceberg, that part of culture that is visible (observable behavior) is only a small part of a much
bigger whole. Thus, we learn here that surface behaviors are influenced by beneath the-surface
values and assumptions.

Essential Definition:

Culture is a system of beliefs, values and assumptions about life that guide behavior and are
shared by a group of people. It includes language and customs.
These are passed on from generation to generation, but not through clear-cut or direct
instructions.

Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one
group from another. — Geert Hofstede

Culture consists of concepts, values, and assumptions about life that guide behavior and are
widely shared by people....[These] are transmitted generation to generation, rarely with explicit
instructions, by parents...and other respected elders. — Richard Brislin & Tomoko Yoshida
Other Definitions of Culture:

Other Substantial Definitions:

Topical
Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as social organization,
religion, or economy.

Historical
Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to future generations.

Behavioral
Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life.

Normative
Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living.
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Functional
Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together.

Mental
Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and distinguish people
from animals. It also consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviors.

Structural
Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviors.

Symbolic
Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society.

Other Things Called “Culture”

High Culture
Entertainment and arts enjoyed mostly by the elite members of society.

Pop Culture
Mainstream stuff that fades in and out of fashion.

Material Culture
The aggregate of physical things used by a society.

Aspects of Culture
 Culture is uniquely human.
 Culture is learned.
 Culture is shared.
 Culture is symbolic.
 Culture is integrated.
 Culture can be adaptive and maladaptive.

Some Levels of Culture

International culture – practices common to identifiable group extending beyond boundaries of

one culture.

National culture – experiences, beliefs, learned behavior patterns, and values shared by
citizens of the same nation.

Subcultures – identifiable cultural patterns existing within a larger culture.

Universality, Generality, and Particularity

Universals – things found in all people regardless of culture.

Generalities – things common to several but not all human groups.

Particularities – things that are unique to specific cultures.

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Adaptations of Culture

1. Parallelism - refers to the independent development of culture characteristics into

widely separated cultures.

2. Diffusion - common process of patterns and traits passing back and forth from one
culture to another.

E.g.: behavior patterns, food, customs, rituals and festivities

3. Fission- process that can be traced historically when a long- established society breaks
up into two or more independent units.

E.g.: Aetas of Zambales, Manobos, Igorots, Dumagats of Palanan

4. Convergence- fusion of two or more culture into a new one which is somewhat different
from its predecessors.

E.g.: Moorish+Spanish culture, Roman+ Germanic traits

N.B.: Diffusion and Convergence are the two (2) most important forms of adaptation in
the modern world because of globalization, migration and fast communication.