Course:Edcp 474 306 2010/Defining Culture

A particular society at a particular time and place; "early Mayan civilization"

The tastes in art and manners that are favoured by a social group

Acculturation: all the knowledge and values shared by a society.

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

Excellence of taste in the fine arts and humanities, also known as high culture

An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behaviour that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning

The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group

When the concept first emerged in 18th- and 19th-century Europe, it connoted a process of cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture. In the nineteenth century, it came to refer first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals. In the mid-nineteenth century, some scientists used the term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity.

Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively In the 19th century, humanists such as English poet and essayist Matthew Arnold (1822–1888) used the word "culture" to refer to an ideal of individual human refinement, of "the best that has been thought and said in the world

"Culture" is identified with "civilization"

Matthew Arnold contrasted "culture" with "anarchy;" other Europeans, following philosophers Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, contrasted "culture" with "the state of nature." In 1870 Edward Tylor (1832–1917) applied these ideas of higher versus lower culture to propose a theory of the evolution of religion. According to this theory, religion evolves from more polytheistic to more monotheistic forms. In the process, he redefined culture as a diverse set of activities characteristic of all human societies. This view paved the way for the modern understanding of culture.

In the 20th century "culture" emerged as the central and unifying concept of American anthropology, where it most commonly refers to the universal human capacity to classify and encode their experiences symbolically, and communicate symbolically encoded experiences socially. American anthropology is organized into four fields, each of which plays an important role in research on culture: biological anthropology, linguistics, cultural anthropology and archaeology. Insert non-formatted text here

EFFECTS OF CULTURE-CONTACT ON THE CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN LIFE Dr. Mrs. A. A. Jekayinfa http://www.unilorin.edu.ng/unilorin/publications/jekayinoluwa/BOOK%202.EFFECTS%20OF%20CULTURE-CONTACT%20ON%20THE%20CONTEMPORARY.htm

Culture according to Ekeh (1989) is a "construct (with diverse applications).used in an attempt to analyze and interpret events and ideas in a broad spectrum of areas of society". In its broadest sense, culture embraces the total repertoire of human actions which are socially transmitted from generation to generation. Tyler (1871) defined culture as a configuration of institutions and modes of life. He defined culture as 'that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society. Mussen.(1963), on his own defined culture in terms of reservoir of knowledge that is characteristic ways of thinking and feeling, attitudes, aspirations and ideals. Foster (1962) defined culture as 'the common learned way of life shared by members of a society, consisting of the totality of facts, techniques, social institutions, attitudes, beliefs, motivations and systems of values known to a group. The Comparatives Education Study and Adaptation Centre (CESAC)(1979) simply defined culture as the way people live which consists of a system of ideals, values, beliefs, knowledge and customs transmitted from generation to generation within a social group. One of the common characteristics of the above definitions includes the fact that culture is learned, acquired, transmitted or diffused through contact or other media of communications

FACTORS INFLUENCING CULTURE

There are many factors that can-influence culture in a society. Some of these factors include:

Physical Environment: Physical environment influences culture. For example, the Yoruba live on land and this influences them to have legends and beliefs centered on land, agriculture and earth gods. On the other hand, the Ijaw people who live in riverine area, centre their legends on water, fishes and water goddesses.

Occupation: the nature of work of people influences their culture, especially their mode of dressing, eating and thinking. While the Fulani pasturalists place a high value on cattle and pasture, the Igbo or Yoruba has no such values for cattle and pasture bin on agriculture and trading.

Ethnocentrism: The culture in which a person grows up affects his personality. It affects the ways he views problems and the environment and his manner of choosing wife, getting married, raising children and caring for the aged. People tend always to judge the cultures of others in terms of their own. Generally, people feel that their culture is superior or better than any other culture. They believe that another culture is good provided it does what their culture does. For example, they feel that their own language is the best language and people who speak the same language show a higher degree of trust and love for one another. The feeling of the superiority of one's culture as compared to others is known as ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is not good because it hinders friendship and understanding between people and different cultures. No culture is superior to another.

Culture Relativism: There is no universal standard which man can use to evaluate culture as either good or bad. We can understand other peoples' customs only when we relate these customs to their culture, this is known as culture relativism. When we relate people's customs to their culture, we shall be able to know what their culture is all about. For instance, it is wrong to say that because the Muslims do not eat pork, they are more civilized than the Christians are. We should be objective in our assessment of others, and in other to be objective, we need to interpret other people's customs and behaviours in the context of their own culture. Culture relativism helps to judge and interpret others' customs objectively. It removes biases and promotes mutual understanding and peaceful living together.

Sub-Culture. This is when a minority culture is practised within a larger culture. In complex industrial societies, there are sizable number of people who share certain values, customs and beliefs with that larger culture, even when they have their own customs called subculture which they share within their own ethnic group but not with the rest of the society. In Nigeria for example, the Sabon-gari areas of the Yorubaland, Igboland, etc. contain minority people who retain their own subculture within the larger culture. Similarly, the foreigners living in Nigeria retain their own subculture e.g. language, food, dress, etc. which they share within themselves, while they still share part of the larger culture in order to keep their existence in Nigeria.

Language: Language is the pivot of culture because it allows human beings to express themselves in a way which can be understood by others. No society exists without the language of its own. All human cultures are based on language and all human languages even including those of non-literate people are sufficiently complex to transmit the full totality of a human culture. Language, whether verbal or non¬verbal enables man to acquire the culture of his society.

Video Links:

Definition of Culture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WBg6LnQ5rM&feature=related

A Shared Culture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DKm96Ftfko

Another Definition of Culture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iCVUNGiN-I&feature=related