Culture, like society, could be defined in many different ways. The word “culture” came from the Latin word “cultus” which means “to care”, and from the French word “colere” which means “to till” as in “ground-tilling”. Culture, in the early days, was used to describe lands that are cultivated, grown, and made under controlled conditions. Thus, culture meant the process of making something stable and ready for growth. People in the present time, however, define culture as a compilation of attributes and actions that make up society. It is somehow related to the early definition in a way that when somebody says that a community is cultured, it means that that person sees that particular community as an established society, independent to its …show more content…
that they were understandable only in specific cultural contexts”. While Tylor focused on culture being attained at a certain evolutionary stage in life, “the only way to have culture is to be cultured”, Boas believed that culture (no matter how similar it may seem in different societies) does not have the same roots and causes. He even pointed out in his 1887 article, “Museums of Ethnology and Classification”, that “though like causes have like effects, like effects have not like causes.” He was also the one who coined the term “cultural relativism”, the view that all beliefs, customs and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. Meaning, what is considered morally correct in one society may be considered immoral in another. The concept of what is right and wrong is specific to a particular society. For example, in the Netherlands, prostitution is legal and accepted by the society.. whereas in the Philippines, it is still considered as an illegal and immoral activity. Cultural relativism basically suggests that no culture must be judged since there is no universal standard and every society has their own set of …show more content…
This argument is mainly based on Albert Bandura’s Social Cognition Theory. Although this theory was mostly developed for the educational field (mainly focused on the learning of students and efficiency of teachers), it also happens to deal with social interaction and its relationship to learning. It basically emphasizes the principle that learning and understanding happens in social environments and that what is learned mostly comes from observation. For example, girl A, despite not having the same experience with girl B, can still be able to understand, describe, and somehow interpret girl B’s experience through an interaction with her and a proper observation of her actions and behaviour. Relating this theory to culture, we can say that a person could be able to understand another person’s culture and its meaning by interacting with them and by observing how it works. Thus, through constant interaction and observation, one can be able to describe and interpret others’ meaning despite not being able to experience them first