Sunday, November 14, 2010

What is Culture?

This blog posting is a little different then what I normally do. I was sitting in AP human geography when one of my classmates asked, "What ex actually is culture?" I thought to myself, maybe some other people don't exactly know what it is either. Culture has many different meanings. One refers to an appreciation of good literature, music, art and food. Culture is also a full range of learned human behaviors. According to dictionary.com these are the various definitions. My blog focuses on the 5th meaning.

1.the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters,manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.
2. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.
3. a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture.
4. development or improvement of the mind by education or training.
5. the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group

How are cultures similar and different? 
All cultures have resulted from basic needs shared by all. Every culture has certain things such as a method for getting food and shelter, a way to protect themselves. All cultures also have relationships and religions. Arts and literature is another thing important to culture. Scientific knowledge is also in every culture, as well as knowledge of plants. The details of ones world differ between culture.


http://anthro.palomar.edu/culture/culture_1.htm is a great website explaining culture and talking about the different types as well.


2 comments:

  1. It was a good idea to explain what culture actually is because it such a broad term. It can really refer to almost anything people do. Also that link did a good job of describing culture and its various meaning.

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  2. I really liked the fact that you touched upon the idea of what is culture, and you recognized that we live in a very diverse world, where there are so many cultures. Apparently there's no right or wrong definition for what exactly culture is, but I guess it just has to do with all the different aspects of certain regions and different types of cultures.
    As you said, cultures have resulted from basic needs shared by all, and that is completely true. Although people share basic needs, they don't necessarily share the same culture. Everyone is different and similar in a different way, but when these similar individuals come together, they form their own culture.

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