Culture
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.
"The Stairway to Culture-knowledge"conceptual photo DeviantArt Cristina Alexandra Andries
I agree with this definition culture to me is the knowledge, the behavior one acquires through their social group. Every different group of people have come up with their own way of thinking, their own values, and attitudes based on where they live, what resources they have, and how exposed they are to the world. I say knowledge because when defining the word cultured or to be cultured means to be knowledgeable, educated, cultivated. “Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are merely the products of culture” says Dennis O'Neil. Thus culture is in the mind, it is a psychological phenomenon that Is always changing and so fragile due to the altering human mind and values.
Did I make any sense?
"The Stairway to Culture-knowledge"conceptual photo DeviantArt Cristina Alexandra Andries
I agree with this definition culture to me is the knowledge, the behavior one acquires through their social group. Every different group of people have come up with their own way of thinking, their own values, and attitudes based on where they live, what resources they have, and how exposed they are to the world. I say knowledge because when defining the word cultured or to be cultured means to be knowledgeable, educated, cultivated. “Our written languages, governments, buildings, and other man-made things are merely the products of culture” says Dennis O'Neil. Thus culture is in the mind, it is a psychological phenomenon that Is always changing and so fragile due to the altering human mind and values.
Did I make any sense?
If not please comment I will try to further my argument.
That completely makes sense and i totally agree. I'd like to pose a question: why do we hold some cultures in such a high regard compared to others?
ReplyDeleteLizeth, good analysis, I agree as well.
ReplyDelete& Jerusalem, I like your question! Let me take a stab at it.
For the purpose of my response, let's take the American "culture" for example.
America: the place everyone wants to be, right?
American: the identity everyone wants to have, no?
American culture, that is to say what Corporate America has shaped us to be- as in a culture which highly values entertainment (movies, dining out, video-games, et cetera)-is appealing and highly regarded, so desperately pursued by a large majority of the world because of just that. The more mundane desires of power, wealth, glamour, and popularity are extremely appealing to a lot of people. You want to be American because you are "cool".
Then there are those culture geared towards education, MORALS, selflessness, and overall not as appealing as others. We have the Asian cultures, Middle Eastern, Latin America, and others which, yeah are pictured as exotic vacation locations (alliteration!) but fail to be regarded as anything more than an exotic place to shoot a movie or get married. You know?
So in other words culture is what identifies us and distinguishes our country from another. Since we have talked about culture shaping us as we grow older and being 'held down' by culture I'd like to ask shouldn't we be the ones to influence culture instead of culture influencing us? Should we let culture have that much power to where we become a victim of it?
ReplyDelete-Andrew
Well said lizeth, though i would like to know if you conjured that up on your own, or is it quoted?
ReplyDeleteBecause i too found a great definition by Anthropologist, Edgar B. Tylor; a pioneer in the study of Anthropology or "the general and comparative study of humans behaviour about the existing in groups of few or many individuals" (Wikipedia). Tylors' definition still remains widely cited today and in my opinion it fits the mold of what MY definition of Culture truly is:
"Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, 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"
It is simply all aspects of a certain life that take part in being able to call oneself part of a certain region.
-EsRo.
Alright kiddos the definition (in gray) is a dictionary definition the green is my commentary I quoted the things that are in quotations, cultured is one of my favorite words by the way, just to put it out there. But yes EsRo I was able to analyze and comment on the definition.
ReplyDeleteJerusalem I believe that some cultures are revered more than others because doesn't every body want to be educated polished, well people put high regards on more "civilized" cultures. for example the explorers who came to the Americas believed that their culture was better because the indigenous people acted barbarous with their rituals and to them they were not wise. I hope I answered part of your question, this is a great discussion topic, but then again "why?" always brings about discussion. :)
Commenting on Jose's comment: is materialism part of the American culture, then? And if so, is it why we are such a powerful country? Think of why people work so hard in America. What drives us? Yet, people say that China may end up being more powerful in the world economy, and maybe it is because they have learned to balance what they value a little better than we have.
ReplyDeleteWow. Cultural is the greatest impat that effects everyone. And makes a difference in the types of beliefs that a person has. It is another source that causes problems in socities because of the fact that some people can't be opened to having good different experiences in other culturals becasue they are to ignorant to be open minded.
ReplyDelete