Raymond Williams argues that ‘Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language’ (1983: 87). With reference to at least one of the key readings other than the extracts from Williams that you’ve studied in weeks 1-5, discuss (1) why Williams argues this and (2) some of the different ways in which culture has been defined.
Culture is one of the most difficult words to define as there are so many modern and traditional meanings that come across as being the ‘true’ definition. Williams said that it is because ‘it is now used in important concepts in intellectual disciplines and systems of thought’, however a more modern way of putting this is that it is part of spiritual development and a way of life. Arnold describes culture as a ‘study of perfection’, which, if you look at the dictionary definition of culture, applies to it; ‘Noun: The arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively’, referring to high culture.
High culture, as Leavis put it is ‘the use of such language’, meaning the appreciation of finer living. Finer living means people who visit the theatre, art galleries, drink fine wines; are socially higher than the majority of society who most of the time cannot afford to live like that, they would swap the theatre for a cinema, the art gallery for ‘Madame Tussards’ and the wine bar for a nightclub. Such definition of the word culture makes it seem like a class division; something that Shakespeare picked up on. Nigel Lawson says that ‘Shakespeare embodies a hierarchical vision in society in which everyone knows their place and keeps to it’, which implies that lower social classes cannot enjoy the high culture lifestyle, rendering this definition obsolete as the definition of culture must include the majority.
When Williams described culture as a ‘way of life’ he meant that culture is ordinary and that every human society has its own shaped purposes and meanings. ‘The making of a society is the finding of common meanings and directions and its growth is an active debate; an amendment under the pressures of experience, contact and discovery, writing themselves into the land.’ – Williams. However, to describe culture as a way of life in modern terms you must look at ‘popular culture’, which does include the majority of society. Stuart Hall had three definitions of ‘popular culture’, common sense; the things the masses consume and enjoy, descriptive/anthropological; all the things the people do or have done and resistance; activities or objects that are in tension with dominant culture. This as a whole is a better definition than the dictionary one, or even high culture definitions as it addresses the things that make pleasure and conflict in society, which is the way people live and the surroundings that they live in, which can be called culture.
However culture is somewhat dominated by what we see, not just what we do which are what the above mentioned definitions are about. Sturken and Cartwright suggest that we live in a ‘visual culture’ they said that ‘we live in cultures that are increasingly permeated by visual images with a variety of purposes and intended effects. These images can produce in us a wide array of emotions and responses. We invest the images we create and encounter on a daily basis with significant power’. They suggest that in a way, images that we see, subconsciously or not, effect our views and behaviour in life which has been defined as our culture, whether it be a fast food advertisement or a poster about poverty. So to say that visual culture is not a huge part of the definition of culture would be wrong. Relationships and day to day interaction is a big part of our behaviour and therefore our ‘culture’. Sturken and Cartwright say that we are constantly practicing ‘looking’. ‘Everyday we are in the practice of looking to make sense of the world. Through looking, we negotiate social relationships and meanings. Looking is a practice much like speaking or writing. Looking involves learning to interpret and like other practices, looking involves relationships of power.’ – Sturken and Cartwright. They suggest that if we do not look, we will not behave the same therefore affecting our ‘culture’.
Williams argues that culture is one of the most complicated words in the English language because there are so many things effecting the different definitions. People have defined it as ‘high culture’, ‘a way of life’, ‘popular culture’ and ‘visual culture’, however without all of these separate definitions acting together, we can never fully define the word ‘culture’. Even after these definitions there are other influences acting on it and it means that Williams statement was right. Different people depending on where your from define it as something different as the word has a different meaning to them.