Culture * Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. * Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people. * Culture is communication, communication is culture. * Culture in its broadest sense is cultivated behavior; that is the totality of a person's learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social learning. * A culture is a way of life of a group of people--the behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them, and that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. * Culture is symbolic communication. Some of its symbols include a group's skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings of the symbols are learned and deliberately perpetuated in a society through its institutions. * Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other hand, as conditioning influences upon further action. * Culture is the sum of total of the learned behavior of a group of people that are generally considered to be the tradition of that people and are transmitted from generation to generation. * Culture is a collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another. * Elements of Culture

* Culture is a huge topic of study for sociologists. Culture exists anywhere humans exist, and no two cultures are exactly the same. We've started talking about culture in another lesson and discussed its combination of elements that, together, form a people's unique way of life. In this lesson, we are going to take a closer look at those elements, specifically symbols, language, values, and norms. These elements look different across cultures, and many change with time as a society evolves. * Symbols * The first element that exists in every culture is a variety of symbols. A symbol is anything that is used to stand for something else. People who share a culture often attach a specific meaning to an object, gesture, sound, or image. For example, a cross is a significant symbol to Christians. It is not simply two pieces of wood attached to each other, nor is it just an old object of torture and execution. To Christians, it represents the basis of their entire religion, and they have great reverence for the symbol. * We can see more examples of symbols in American culture. Emoticons are combinations of keyboard characters that many use to represent their feelings online or through texting. The American flag represents our entire country. A red light at a traffic intersection is used to relay the message that you need to stop your vehicle. * Language * The second element present in every culture is a language. Language is a system of words and symbols used to communicate with other people. This includes full languages as we usually think of them, such as English, Spanish, French, etc. But it also includes body language, slang, and common phrases that are unique to certain groups of people. For example, even though English is spoken fluently in both America and Britain, we have slang and phrases that mean different things. American French fries are British chips; American cookies are British biscuits, and so on. * Another example of how cultural languages differ beyond vocabulary is the fact that eye contact represents different meanings in different cultures. In America, eye contact suggests that you are paying attention and are interested in what a person has to say. In other cultures, eye contact may be considered rude and to be a challenge of authority. * Values * Another cultural element is a system of values, which are culturally defined standards for what is good or desirable. Members of the culture use the shared system of values to decide what is good and what is bad. For example, in America, we are individualistic - we encourage competition and emphasize personal achievement. A person who accepts a promotion in our culture is praised for their individual hard work and talent. But our values are in stark contrast with the collectivistic values of other cultures, where collaboration is encouraged, and a person's success is only as good as their contributions to the group.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
 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.
Differing Terms
When studying anthropology, it's pretty rare to make it through a lesson without hearing the word cultureor society. In fact, they're so commonly used that most people tend to think they mean the same thing. However, when it comes to using them in official anthropological terms, this is not quite true.
In today's lesson, we'll take a look at these two words and try to nail down their proper use. As we do this, I must admit it's gonna seem like we're sort of splitting hairs when it comes to the differences. However, just in case you're ever stuck sitting at a table with an anthropologist, today's lesson will come in handy!
Culture
To get the ball rolling, we'll start with culture. According to many anthropologists, culture can be defined as the set of learned behaviors and beliefs that characterize a people group. Putting it simply, it's what makes a population into a people group. It's their beliefs, attitudes, and ideals. From their diet, to their religion, to their family structure, to their jobs, to even their entertainment, it's what makes them them.
Adding to this definition, most anthropologists would agree that people sort of define or label themselves through their culture. Think about it. If you go to a party, what usually fills the conversation? It's not deep emotional stuff. Instead, it's things like where people work, what they do in their free time, and maybe even where they choose to worship. Whether we give clues about our national culture of say, being American, or our subculture of being Italian-American, we're still discussing the beliefs and attitudes that make us us.
While at the party, we'll also exhibit our culture. For instance, for those of us who grew up in the Westernized world, we'll probably not remove our shoes at a party. Even though it'd be more comfortable to kick them off and walk around in our socks, we probably won't. However, if the party took place at my aunt's home, who just so happens to be Korean, we would all remove our shoes. You see, in Korean culture it's considered disrespectful and dirty to wear outdoor shoes inside. Although my aunt considers herself part of the national culture of America, she still holds to many parts of her homeland's national culture as well.
Now notice, when talking about culture, we're talking about things that are sort of tangible, almost like objects. They're our language, our technology, and our institutions - things like our churches, our schools, or even our houses. However, culture is also intangible; it's our values and our behaviors. Using an anthropological term, our culture includes our norms, the standards or rules about acceptable behavior. And with this definition finished, we'll move onto our other term, society.
Society
Unlike culture, which encompasses the tangible and intangible things of a people group, society is defined as a group of people who occupy a particular territory and who share a culture. Stating it simply, we would say that a society is a people of a culture. Whereas culture is what makes them them, society is, for lack of a better way of saying it, the actual them. It's the people living and interacting with one another in order to create a culture. It's people bonded together by their shared beliefs, attitudes, languages, and institutions; in other words, by their culture.
In saying all this, it's important to note that people can belong to the same society, while also differing in their, shall we say, layers of culture. For instance, a Hasidic Jew living in New York City and a cowboy from Montana both are part of American society and American culture. However, one identifies himself with the subculture of being a New Yorker and a Jewish American, while the other may have never stepped foot in the Big Apple.

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