Characteristics of Culture

Culture has five basic characteristics: It is learned, shared, based on symbols,

integrated, and dynamic. All cultures share these basic features.

 Culture is learned. It is not biological; we do not inherit it. Much of learning

culture is unconscious. We learn culture from families, peers, institutions, and
media. The process of learning culture is known as enculturation. While all
humans have basic biological needs such as food, sleep, and sex, the way we
fulfill those needs varies cross-culturally.
 Culture is shared. Because we share culture with other members of our group,
we are able to act in socially appropriate ways as well as predict how others will
act. Despite the shared nature of culture, that doesn’t mean that culture is
homogenous (the same).
 Culture is based on symbols. A symbol is something that stands for something
else. Symbols vary cross-culturally and are arbitrary. They only have meaning
when people in a culture agree on their use. Language, money and art are all
symbols. Language is the most important symbolic component of culture.
 Culture is integrated. This is known as holism, or the various parts of a culture
being interconnected. All aspects of a culture are related to one another and to
truly understand a culture, one must learn about all of its parts, not only a few.
 Culture is dynamic. This simply means that cultures interact and change.
Because most cultures are in contact with other cultures, they exchange ideas
and symbols. All cultures change, otherwise, they would have problems adapting
to changing environments. And because cultures are integrated, if one
component in the system changes, it is likely that the entire system must adjust.
 Characteristics of culture

1. SALMERO, MARIA ALENA

2. Most fundamental characteristics of culture:1. Culture is always a product of

human behavior2. It is always transmitted through learning3. It always gratifies
human needs4. It always tends toward integrating a society.

3. CULTURE IS SHARED ANDTRANSMITTED

4.  It is shared by and is transmitted to and among the members of a social

group.. Generally , man transmits culture by means of ideas The acquired
learning of culture is passed on to succeeding generations primarily through
language, but other symbolic means of communications are utilized

5. CULTURE IS LEARNEDAND ACQUIRED

6.  It has to be understood that not all things shared generally by a population

are cultural. Culture is not instinctive It is acquired by each person through
the senses and from experiences. Each individual must learn through himself.
No one is born equipped with a particular language, or knowledge of religious
beliefs

7. CULTURE IS SOCIAL

8.  Culture is a group product developed by many persons interacting in a

group. It is social due to man’s natural tendency of sociability and
gregariousness.

9. CULTURE ISIDEATIONAL

10.  Man forms ideas and uses them to assign meanings to his environment and
experiences Symbols are symbolized

11. CULTURE GRATIFIESHUMAN NEEDS

12.  An individual is likely to utilize habitually a cultural technique which

gratifies him in some way. The patterns of culture continues to persist if they
continue to satisfy man’s need Biological needs are components of culture

13. CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE

14.  All culture is dynamic They change over time These changes may be in
form of discoveries, inventions, or cultural borrowings.

15. CULTURETENDSTOWARDINTEGRATION

16.  Means that the elements or traits that makes up that culture are not just a
random assortment of customs but are mostly adjusted to or consistent with one
another. A culture may be integrated for psychological reasons. The traits of
culture - attitude, values, ideals, and rules for behavior – are stored after all, in
the brains of individuals.

17. CULTURE ISCUMULATIVE

18.  Through the ages, the people of any given place are able to retain certain
features of their culture that are significant in their relationship and interactions
with their fellow human beings.

19. ADAPTATIONS OFCULTURE

20. Principal ways in which thisprocess of culture adaptationoccurs Parallelism

– independent development of a culture characteristics in two widely separated
cultures Diffusion – much more common process of patterns and traits passing
back and forth from one culture to another

21.  Fission – a process that can be traced historically when a long established
society breaks up into two or more independent units Convergence – is the
fusion of two or more cultures into a new one which is somewhat different from
its predecessors.

22. FUNCTIONS OFCULTURE

23.  Culture as a category Culture as a tool in prediction

24. More specific functions ofculture: Culture serve as “trademark” or special

feature that distinguishes one society from another. Culture brings together,
contains, and interprets the values of a society in a more or less systematic
manner.

25.  Culture provides one of the most important bases for social solidarity
Culture provides a blue-print of, as well as the materials for social structure.
The culture of any society is the dominant factor in establishing and molding the
social personality The culture of a society provides behavioral patterns
 Chapter 8: The Characteristics of Culture

The Concept of Culture:

If you ask 100 anthropologists to define culture, you’ll get 100 different definitions.
However, most of these definitions would emphasize roughly the same things: that
culture is shared, transmitted through learning and helps shape behavior and beliefs.
Culture is of concern to all four subfields and while our earliest ancestors relied more
on biological adaptation, culture now shapes humanity to a much larger extent.
  One of the earliest definitions of culture was put forth by Tylor in 1871: “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.”
 The book defines culture as, “a society’s shared and socially transmitted ideas, values and
perceptions, which are used to make sense of experience and generate behavior and are
reflected in that behavior (147).”
 Culture is universal among all human groups and even exists among some primates.
 All cultures have to provide for the physical, emotional, and social needs of their
members, enculturate new members, resolve conflicts and promote survival for their
members.
 Society must balance the needs of the whole with the needs of the individual. If
individual needs are continually suppressed, social systems can become unstable and
individual stress can become too much to handle. Every culture has its own methods of
balancing the needs of society in relation to individual needs.
 Subcultures are groups with distinct patterns of learned and shared behavior (ethnicities,
races, genders, age categories) within a larger culture. Despite these distinctive traits,
members of subcultures still share commonalities with the larger society. Subcultures
exist in most state level systems because those systems are pluralistic, they encompass
more than one ethnic group or culture.

Characteristics of Culture

Culture has five basic characteristics: It is learned, shared, based on symbols,

integrated, and dynamic. All cultures share these basic features.

 Culture is learned. It is not biological; we do not inherit it. Much of learning culture is

unconscious. We learn culture from families, peers, institutions, and media. The process
of learning culture is known as enculturation. While all humans have basic biological
needs such as food, sleep, and sex, the way we fulfill those needs varies cross-culturally.
 Culture is shared. Because we share culture with other members of our group, we are able
to act in socially appropriate ways as well as predict how others will act. Despite the
shared nature of culture, that doesn’t mean that culture is homogenous (the same). The
multiple cultural worlds that exist in any society are discussed in detail below.
 Culture is based on symbols. A symbol is something that stands for something else.
Symbols vary cross-culturally and are arbitrary. They only have meaning when people in
a culture agree on their use. Language, money and art are all symbols. Language is the
most important symbolic component of culture.
 Culture is integrated. This is known as holism, or the various parts of a culture being
interconnected. All aspects of a culture are related to one another and to truly understand
a culture, one must learn about all of its parts, not only a few.
 Culture is dynamic. This simply means that cultures interact and change. Because most
cultures are in contact with other cultures, they exchange ideas and symbols. All cultures
change, otherwise, they would have problems adapting to changing environments. And
 because cultures are integrated, if one component in the system changes, it is likely that
the entire system must adjust.

CULTURE AND ADAPTATION

Biological adaptation in humans is important but humans have increasingly come to

rely upon cultural adaptation. However, not all adaptation is good, and not all cultural
practices are adaptive. Some features of a culture may be maladaptive, such as fast
food, pollution, nuclear waste and climate change. However, because culture is
adaptive and dynamic, once we recognize problems, culture can adapt again, in a
more positive way, to find solutions.

ETHNOCENTRISM AND THE EVALUATION OF CULTURE

The diversity of cultural practices and adaptations to the problems of human existence
often lead some to question which practices are the best. Ethnocentrism is when one
views their own culture as the best and only proper way to behave and adapt.

 Since most humans believe their culture is the best and only way to live, there are small
amounts of ethnocentrism everywhere in the world.
 Small doses help to create a sense of cultural pride and to build strong, cohesive groups.
 But taken to extremes, and certainly when it includes an unwillingness to be tolerant, it
can be destructive. Ethnocentrism is at the heart of colonization and genocide.
 Cultural anthropologists have, however, pushed for cultural relativism, the principle that
all cultures must be understood in terms of their own values and beliefs, not by the
standards of another. Under this principle, no culture is better than any other and cultures
can only be judged on whether they are meeting the needs of their own people.

Multiple Cultural Worlds

Most individuals are members of multiple cultural worlds. Culture exists at several
levels. We typically refer to smaller cultures within a larger culture as subcultures.
People have some type of connection to that subculture but must also be able to
operate effectively within the larger culture. Some of the diversity we see across
subcultures is based on class, race, ethnicity, age, and gender. Social stratification is
often the result of our recognition of these worlds as different and a belief that they
are somehow inferior to our own or to the larger culture.
  Class is a social category based on people’s economic position in society. Not all
societies exhibit class differences; ones who do not are called egalitarian. Class societies
are hierarchical, with one class having more access to resources than others. Class is a
recent feature of culture, as all early humans lived in egalitarian bands or tribes.
 Race (in a cultural sense) is the socially constructed meanings assigned to the perceived
differences between people based on physical traits (skin color, facial features, hair
types). What differences we recognize and the meanings we assign those differences are
all culturally determined and not biologically created. These physical features do not
determine a person’s actions or explain their behavior.
 Ethnic group refers to people who identify themselves as a distinct group based on
cultural features such as common origins, language, customs and beliefs. Ethnic groups
can be historically constituted (a group of people who shared a territory, language or
religion) or they can be more recently claimed (African Americans). Just because people
choose to see themselves as members of a specific ethnic group doesn’t mean that all
members of that group are the same or share beliefs and values. Ethnicity, because it is a
marker of group membership, can be used to discriminate.
 Indigenous peoples, “are groups who have a long-standing connection with some
territory that predates colonial or outside societies prevailing in the territory.” Indigenous
peoples are groups that were in a territory before Europeans or colonists arrived, thus
Native Americans are an indigenous group. They are frequently called First Peoples, and
often suffer from discrimination.
 Gender refers to the cultural meanings assigned to the biological differences between the
sexes. Most societies only have masculine or feminine cultural roles, but some have a
third, or even a blended, gender. Gender roles vary widely cross-culturally. Closely tied
to gender roles are issues relating to homosexuality. In many cultures around the world,
there is discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation.
 Age is both a biological fact as well as being culturally constructed. While we can reckon
how many years old an individual is (biological age), what that means in terms of rights
and responsibilities is culturally constructed. Most societies have obligations and
responsibilities that are assigned based on individuals reaching specific ages. Think of
driving, drinking, and voting.
Valuing & Sustaining Diversity
Anthropologists recognize the importance of diversity and thus try to help maintain or prevent
the extinction of cultures. By describing, documenting and even advocating for cultures they
study, anthropologists help to contribute to continued cultural survival and diversity.