Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by

everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.
The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining
culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and
understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a
group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group.
The word "culture" derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin
"colere," which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture. "It
shares its etymology with a number of other words related to actively fostering growth,"
Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told
Live Science.
Very popular, among young people today, are backpacks. This popularity puts students
in a good position to appreciate how anthropology, as a new science, was defended
long ago by Edward B. Tylor. (If any one person deserves recognition as the founder of
anthropology, it is he.) With so many other subjects to study, why, he asked, should
students be burdened with yet another? Well, he answered, a backpack adds yet more
weight to be carried; but it more than pays for itself by making everything else so easy
to carry! Just so, he suggested, anthropology more than pays for itself by pulling things
together, thereby making the educational load not harder but easier to bear (Tylor 1909
[orig. 1881]:v).
Anthropology, in the United States, has four subfields: biological, archaeological,
cultural, and linguistic. Together they comprise the study of humanity. Anthropologys
diversity, which makes it so integrative for students, makes it rather confusing to the
public. (Youre an anthropologist? So where have you been digging?)
Largest of the four subfields, in number of anthropologists specializing in it, is cultural
anthropology. People have followed different ways of life in different times and places;
making sense of this diversity is the central task of cultural anthropology. Its key concept
is culture itself. Tylor gave us the most famous definition. Culture, he wrote, is that
complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (Tylor 1924 [orig.
1871]:1). Cultural evolutionism is a theoretical approach that seeks to describe and
explain long-term processes of culture change. To do this it draws on all subfields.
Cultural evolutionisms great early achievement was the defeat of degenerationism.
According to this theory, human culture had originated at a fairly high level, after which
some cultures degenerated to lower levels while others rose to yet higher ones.
Foremost among scholars putting degenerationism to rest was Edward B. Tylor himself.
Using his extensive knowledge of the anthropological evidence that already had
accumulated by around 1865, Tylor showed that high cultures quite certainly had

originated in a state resembling that of the low cultures still observable in some parts
of the world; and that there was no evidence that any of the latter had come into being
by degeneration from a higher condition of culture (Tylor 1964 [orig. 1865]).
Science does not claim to give absolute certainty. Evidence, however, overwhelmingly
favors the conclusion that up until only ten or fifteen thousand years ago all humans had
lived from the beginning in small, nomadic bands that survived by hunting and gathering
the wild food sources around them. In view of the ingenuity and durability of foraging
culture, anthropologists no longer call it low, our own culture high; but looking past
the ethnocentric terminology, we can see that the conclusion drawn by Tylor and others
has been reinforced by all subsequent findings. Social evolution surely began
everywhere with very small societies; and culture has been transformed in those times
and places where, for reasons still being vigorously investigated, societies grew into
villages, chiefdoms, nations, and empires. Though degenerationism had been motivated
by religion (especially the story of the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis), it did
have testable implications; therefore it could beand wasrejected through the
application of reason to empirical evidence. The defeat of degenerationism was a great
step in science.
Despite this early victory, cultural evolutionisms scientific progress has been slow.
Variables are difficult to define, let alone to measure exactly; there are no laboratories in
which to conduct experiments. Without accomplishments as impressive as those of
physics, chemistry, or biology, cultural evolutionists need to have faith in the ability of
science to illuminate much that remains, for the time being, shrouded in obscurity. Truly
eloquent was Edward B. Tylors expression of such optimism:
Not merely as a matter of curious research, but as an important practical
guide to the understanding of the present and the shaping of the future, the
investigation of the early development of civilization must be pushed on
zealously. Every possible avenue of knowledge must be explored, every door
tried to see if it is open. No kind of evidence need be left untouched on the
score of remoteness or complexity, of minuteness or triviality. The tendency
of modern enquiry is more and more towards the conclusion that if law is
anywhere, it is everywhere. To despair of what a conscientious collection and
study of facts may lead to, and to declare any problem insoluble because
difficult and far off, is distinctly to be on the wrong side in science; and he
who will choose a hopeless task may set himself to discover the limits of
discovery. [Tylor 1924 (orig. 1871):24]

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.

Human infants come into the world with basic drives such as hunger and
thirst, but they do not possess instinctive patterns of behavior to satisfy them.
Likewise, they are without any cultural knowledge. However, they are
genetically predisposed to rapidly learn language and other cultural traits.
New born humans are amazing learning machines. Any normal baby can be

North American children

informally learning the
culture of their parents

placed into any family on earth and grow up to learn their culture and accept it
as his or her own. Since culture is non-instinctive, we are not genetically
programmed to learn a particular one.
Every human generation potentially can discover new things and invent better
technologies. The new cultural skills and knowledge are added onto what
was learned in previous generations. As a result, culture is cumulative.
Due to this cumulative effect, most high school students today are now
familiar with mathematical insights and solutions that ancient Greeks such as
Archimedes and Pythagoras struggled their lives to discover.
Cultural evolution is due to the cumulative effect of culture. We now
understand that the time between major cultural inventions has become
steadily shorter, especially since the invention of agriculture 8,000-10,000
years ago. The progressively larger human population after that time was
very likely both a consequence and a cause of accelerating culture growth.
The more people there are, the more likely new ideas and information will
accumulate. If those ideas result in a larger, more secure food supplies, the
population will inevitably grow. In a sense, culture has been the human
solution to surviving changing environments, but it has continuously
compounded the problem by making it possible for more humans to stay
alive. In other words, human cultural evolution can be seen as solving a
problem that causes the same problem again and again. The ultimate cost of

success of cultural technology has been a need to produce more and more
food for more and more people.
In order to assess and learn the primary characteristics of culture, we must first know and understand the meaning of
culture. So what is culture? Culture, according to the scholar and anthropologist of the 18 th century, Mr. Edward B.
Taylor, culture is that complex whole that includes knowledge, belief art, law, morals, customs, and other capabilities
and habits acquired by man as a member of society. So, based on this definition, we could say that culture depends
heavily on society. It is, in a way, a collection of ways and course of doing things, which is an end result of human
interaction with one another. It is, as you could say, a polished product of human experience. As time moves on,
culture changes and grows more complex than it was before. If we would be lucky enough to be alive when the year
2050, we would be stunned to by the definite change of culture by then. Another important aspect of culture is the use
of material objects; this is more commonly referred to as material culture. Evolution of some of these objects also
makes the evolution of culture much more possible. For example, the computer was unheard of in the time of
Newton, but through human experience, skills and needs, it is very much a common place object today and plays a
very vital part of the existence of our society and culture. Though the evolution of the material culture is relatively
important, much more important aspects are the skills and knowledge we acquire through the usage and application
of these objects in our daily lives. All the skills we acquire, all the knowledge we gain, and all the purposes of these
thing are more commonly referred to as the non-material objects of culture.
And now that we know the essentials of culture, we can now further understand the growth and development
of culture through its primary characteristics.
Culture is learned. Man is not born with culture, but with the ability to learn, acquire, and develop culture through
experience. For example, a child is born not knowing what culture is or how things are done in the eyes of
society. But he learns through imitating, how thing are properly done. He then develops the necessary tools
to go about his daily activities. Also, through the help of language, this is the primary tool for communication;
the elder generation can pass to the younger generation the knowledge and skills they had acquired through
experience. Therefore, because of these things, you could say that culture is learned.
All people have varied culture. There are differently groups of people around the world, and we call these groups
different societies. A society may be a group of people banding together and living in a stable union, and
pooling together their efforts to attain a common objective by collective action. Knowing this, people should
not judge a custom of one society using his own since they both have different societies and culture. For
example, in the Americas, there are many societies in the continent of the Americas; they have developed
different cultures and norms from each society. The differences between societies lie in the rapidity and
complexity of changes occurring within the society. No matter how much the complexity or the advancement
of the said society has gained, it still has a culture unique to itself. Therefore, no culture is far more
advanced or civilized than the other.
Culture is transmitted from generation to generation. This may happen through oral traditions or in writing. It may
be transmitted through everyday conversation, through interaction between the older and the younger, and
even through reward and punishment. Culture is accumulated and whatever the past has learned, the
present and future generation may build on it to produce something better which may aid them more as they
go along the roads of everyday life. For example, when people in the early days wanted to preserve food to

keep them from rotting, they put them in barrels filled with salt or put in seasoning or exposed them under
the sun to dry. By doing that, they are still ensured of having meat which wasnt rotten but lost the flavor of
fresh meat. So, the future generation invented a better way of preserving the meat and its flavor, by freezing
it, and they accomplished that with the aid of the refrigerator.
Culture is a group product. Culture was not designed by man to become what it has become. It is simply the
accumulation of certain practices acquired by man through his interaction with other people. For example,
you and your group may start out on a research. You may find a good method in doing this research with the
help of another group mate. Other members may find a better way of improving the method you used in
doing the research. And in due time, other groups may seem interested in your way of doing your research
and may try to imitate it. Just one person in the group may not be a Man just adapted whatever practice was
most useful to him at the time and then went on to keep that practice as time went further on. Therefore,
culture is not only learned but is also transmitted through human interaction and experience. A generation
may put an imprint upon the one before it, thus, making an accumulation and selective result of group life.
Culture is adaptive. Culture continually renews itself. It is even said that nothing is much more predictable than
death, change, and culture change. Humans have a way of inventing things when he is in very much need of
it. If he finds that the method he uses is no longer obtaining his desired results, he then turns to a new
strategy which may give to him the results he so desires. For example, a teacher may find her class very
rowdy, noisy and out of control. So she tries to shout on the top of her voice just to get the classs attention.
But It would only cause more of the riot, so, she tries another method. She keeps quiet and waits for the
class to settle down. And settle they did. You see, this discovery of hers may result in a new behavior pattern
which satisfies the characteristic mentioned above.

Everyone has a background of a great culture and values which they are really proud of. But of course, limits must be
taken when carrying the business over into another country. One must be able to know when it is right to impose
certain values of their culture on the locales and when not to. International business is a way of bringing your culture
to other places in the world. By doing that you are able to showcase great things about your culture, even bad ones.
But still, knowing the limitations is a good practice for anyone. Its a sign of respect for the culture and values of the
people you are doing business with. We all know that we are a diverse community. We all have societies, and in the
heart of these societies are values that we deeply cherish.
When doing business with people with different backgrounds from yours, you must at least know their
customs, traditions and values in order to not offend your business partners. But that doesnt also mean that you
would entirely forget your values. When you think that this certain practice in your country can bring a positive result
for you and wont, in any way, offend your foreign partners, then dont hesitate to impose it.

http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2008/09/culture-is-adap.html

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 doesnt 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.

Material and NonMaterial Culture

Sociologists describe two interrelated aspects of human culture: the physical objects of the
culture and the ideas associated with these objects.
Material culture refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use
to define their culture. These include homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, churches,
synagogues, temples, mosques, offices, factories and plants, tools, means of
production, goods and products, stores, and so forth. All of these physical aspects of a
culture help to define its members' behaviors and perceptions. For example, technology
is a vital aspect of material culture in today's United States. American students must
learn to use computers to survive in college and business, in contrast to young adults in
the Yanomamo society in the Amazon who must learn to build weapons and hunt.
Nonmaterial culture refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their
culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and
institutions. For instance, the nonmaterial cultural concept of religion consists of a set of

ideas and beliefs about God, worship, morals, and ethics. These beliefs, then,
determine how the culture responds to its religious topics, issues, and events.
When considering nonmaterial culture, sociologists refer to several processes that a
culture uses to shape its members' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Four of the most
important of these are symbols, language, values, and norms.

Values

Values refer to intangible qualities or beliefs accepted and endorsed by a

given society. Values are distinct from attitudes, traits, norms, and needs.
Values share the following characteristics and qualities:
Values tend to be unobservable;
Values tend to be conflated with other social and psychological phenomena;
Values tend to have historical and cultural variability.
Values express an idealized state of being.
Examples of modern U.S. values include achievement; success;
independence; freedom; democracy; scientific discovery; progress; comfort;
education; and ideas of racial, sexual, religious, or gender superiority and
have found ten values shared by 70 cultures spread throughout the world.

These ten values include hedonism, power, achievements, stimulation, selfdirection, universalism, benevolence, conformity, tradition, security.
Values influence individual and group action. Sociologists study the
mechanisms through which values inspire, motivate and influence action in
and by society. Sociologists have found that values must be activated in
individual and group consciousness to effect action. Values, once activated,
lead to varying levels of acceptance for certain actions. Values influence
attention, perception, and interpretation within situations and ultimately
influence the planning of individual and group action. Sociologists study how
individuals learn values. Sociology currently speculates that an individual's
values, shaped through late adolescence, tend to be stable across the life
course (Hitlin & Piliavin, 2004).
Norms

Norms refer to conditions for social relations between groups and individuals,
for the structure of society and the difference between societies, and for
human behavior in general. Norms are shared rules, customs, and guidelines
that govern society and define how people should behave in the company of
others. Norms may be applicable to all members of society or only to certain
subsets of the population, such as students, teachers, clergy, police officers,
or soldiers in warfare. Norms guide smooth and peaceful interactions by
prescribing predictable behavior in different situations. For instance, in the
United States, handshaking is a traditional greeting; in other countries, the
expected protocol upon meeting someone might be to kiss both cheeks, bow,
place palms together, or curtsy. Norms tend to be institutionalized and
internalized. Most social control of individuals through norms is internal and
guided by the pressures and restraints of cultural indoctrination. Individual
cultures sanction their norms. Sanctions may be rewards for conformity to
norms or punishment for nonconformity. Positive sanctions include rewards,
praise, smiles, and gestures. Negative sanctions include the infliction of guilt,
condemnation, citations, fines, and imprisonment (Opp, 1979).

There is a definite difference and distinction between values and norms.

Values are individual or, in some instances, commonly shared conceptions of
desirable states of being. In contrast, norms are generally accepted
prescriptions for or prohibitions against behavior, belief, or feeling. While
values can be held by an individual, norms cannot and must be upheld by a
group. Norms always include sanctions but values never do. Norms tend to be
based on and influenced by common values and they tend to persist even
after the reasons for certain behaviors are forgotten. For instance, the habit of
shaking hands when meeting another person has its origin in the practice of
revealing that the right hand did not conceal a weapon (Morris, 1956).
Types of Norms

Sociologists divide norms into four types: Folkways, mores, taboos, and laws.
These four types of norms are ranked from least restrictive to most
compulsory.
Folkways refer to norms that protect common conventions. Most people in a
society follow traditional folkways but failure to conform to them is considered
neither illegal nor immoral. Examples of common folkways found in the United
States include having turkey for Thanksgiving dinner or mowing ones lawn.
Mores refer to stronger norms with associated moral values. Examples of
common mores found in the United States include prohibitions against
murder, multiple spouses, or desecration of religious symbols.
Taboos refer to the strongest types of mores. Taboos include the belief that
certain activities, such cannibalism, are outside the bounds of cultural
acceptance. Violations of mores and taboos tend to be treated with strong
social disapproval or criminal consequences.
Laws refer to the mores that are formally enforced by political authority and
backed by the power of the state. Laws may enforce norms or work to change
them. Examples of laws that worked to change existing norms include the
liquor prohibition laws of the 1920s or civil rights legislation of the 1950s.

Ultimately, social norms are important, in part, because they enable

individuals to agree on a shared interpretation of the social situation and
prevent harmful social interactions. When individuals transgress against
existing norms, they are engaging in a norm violation. Norm violations refer to
public or private instances of transgression and deviance from culturallysanctioned behaviors (Kiesler, 1967).
A custom is something that's traditionally done. It's an activity. A belief is something people think. It might
be true, it might not be. A value is an ideal or an idea thought to be worthy.
So let's give you one or more from each from the traditional British Navy. Why from that? Because that's
what I'm reading about at the moment and because if you copy it your teacher is going to wonder why you
picked such an obscure culture. This is intended to force you to pick values, beliefs and customs from a
culture more familiar to you.
Customs: Saluting the place on deck where a cross used to be placed in former days. Asking permission
before coming aboard the vessel. Officers wearing uniforms.

Customs are things that humans do regularely. Examples: taking your shoes off before going into a
house. Praying before you eat
Beliefs: Albatrosses are unlucky. Cats aboard are unlucky. Consuming lime juice will combat scurvy. (The
first two are false beliefs, the last is a true one.)
Here are 10 superstitious beliefs that many Filipinos believe can help them deal with life.
1. The phase of the moon is very important when planning very important events.
According to Filipino beliefs, the phase of the moon is crucial when planning something. Thus, it is better
to find a job during the waxing period of the moon rather than during the waning period.
2. A black cat crossing your path means bad luck.
Many people in the Philippines believe that when a cat crosses their path they should go back to their
house and postpone their plan or errand for the day because pushing with the plan may produce bad
results. To some, the black cat means a warning that something dangerous maybe waiting to happen. In
order to be safe, people prefer to stay at home first.

 3. The bride should never try on the wedding dress.

It is believed that if the bride tries on the wedding dress before the wedding takes place, the wedding will
not pursue or something negative will occur.
4. A single woman who sings while cooking will marry a widower.
Single women are often advised not to sing while cooking because they will marry a widower.
5. Combing hair at night means you are inviting the early death of your parents.
The old people forbid combing hair at night because of the belief.
6. Black ants inside the house means good luck.
When black ants are parading inside the house, you should be happy because it means that there is
something good brewing. It could mean money coming or a job promotion.
7. Taking pictures with your boyfriend or girlfriend means engagement will be broken.
If you want to marry your boyfriend or girlfriend then avoid taking pictures with him or her. In some
instances, young men and women who are just playing around with their girlfriend or boyfriend would
invite their sweetheart to take pictures with them in the hope that their relationship will end. Some
surprisingly achieve their wish but others end up marching to the altar.
8. Before moving to a new house; you should bring the following to the house first:
salt, rice, water and a religious image.
According to Filipino beliefs, these things will help bring positive energy to the house which will help the
occupants become successful.
9. You should not sit on a pillow because it will mean slow recovery from an illness.
According to beliefs, a person who sits on his pillow will undergo a slow recovery process when he gets
sick.
10. A child becomes smarter if you trim his hair when he is exactly one year old then
insert his cut hair between books.

According to beliefs of some Filipinos; children are supposed to have their hair trimmed only if they are
already one year old. Some strongly forbid trimming the kids hair if they are not yet one year old.
According to some, it is best if you trim the childs hair and insert the cut hair in books.
These are only superstitious beliefs but many Filipinos make these beliefs part of their day to day life.
Whether they are advantageous or disadvantageous depends on how the person involved sees the
situation. The modern age has made many Filipinos changed their lifestyle including the traditions. Most
of the younger generations do not anymore believe in superstitious beliefs.

Values: Obeying authority. Courage. Upholding traditions.