Culture
(from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to
cultivate,") generally refers
to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that
give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect
different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for
evaluating, human activity. In some contexts, a frequent usage
of the term culture is to indicate artifacts in music, literature,
painting and sculpture, theater and film. Although some people
identify culture in terms of consumption and consumer goods (as
in high culture, low culture, folk culture, or popular culture)
[2][verification needed], anthropologists understand "culture" to
refer not only to consumption goods, but to the general processes
which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social
relationships and practices in which such objects and processes
become embedded. For the, culture thus includes technology, art,
science, as well as moral systems.
Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to
refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and
communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity has
long been taken as a defining feature of the humans. However,
primatologists have identified aspects of culture among humankind's
closest relatives in the animal kingdom. As a rule, archaeologists
focus on material culture (the material remains of human activity),
whereas social anthropologists focus on social interactions,
statuses and institutions, and cultural anthropologists focus
on norms and values. This division of labor reflects the different
conditions under which different anthropologists have worked,
and the practical need to focus research. It does not necessarily
reflect a theory of culture that conceptually distinguishes
between the material, the social, and the normative, nor does
it reflect three competing theories of culture.
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Contents
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| Farhang, culture, has always been the focal point of Iranian civilization.
Painting of Persian women musicians from Hasht-Behesht Palace ("Palace
of the 8 heavens"). |
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Ways of looking at culture
Culture as civilization
Many people today have an idea of "culture" that
developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
This notion of culture reflected inequalities within European
societies, and between European powers and their colonies around
the world. It identifies "culture" with "civilization" and
contrasts it with "nature." According to this way
of thinking, one can classify some countries as more civilized
than others, and some people as more cultured than others.
Some cultural theorists have thus tried to eliminate popular
or mass culture from the definition of culture. Theorists such
as Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) or the Leavisites regard culture
as simply the result of "the best that has been thought
and said in the world”Arnold contrasted mass/popular culture
with social chaos or anarchy. On this account, culture links
closely with social cultivation: the progressive refinement
of human behavior. Arnold consistently uses the word this
way: "...
culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of
getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us,
the best which has been thought and said in the world".
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| An artifact of "high culture": a painting by Edgar Degas. |
In practice, culture referred to élite activities
such as museum-caliber art and classical music, and the word
cultured described people who knew about, and took part in,
these activities. These are often called "high culture",
namely the culture of the ruling social group,[5] to distinguish
them from mass culture or popular culture.
From the 19th century onwards, some social critics have accepted
this contrast between the highest and lowest culture, but have
stressed the refinement and of sophistication of high culture
as corrupting and unnatural developments that obscure and distort
people's essential nature. On this account, folk music (as
produced by working-class people) honestly expresses a natural
way of life, and classical music seems superficial and decadent.
Equally, this view often portrays Indigenous peoples as 'noble
savages' living authentic unblemished lives, uncomplicated
and uncorrupted by the highly-stratified capitalist systems
of the West.
Today most social scientists reject the monadic conception
of culture, and the opposition of culture to nature. They recognize
non-élites as just as cultured as élites (and
non-Westerners as just as civilized) -- simply regarding them
as just cultured in a different way. Thus social observers
contrast the "high" culture of élites to "popular" or
pop culture, meaning goods and activities produced for, and
consumed by the masses. (Note that some classifications relegate
both high and low cultures to the status of subcultures.)
Culture as worldview
During the Romantic era, scholars in Germany, especially
those concerned with nationalist movements — such as the
nationalist
struggle to create a "Germany" out of diverse principalities,
and the nationalist struggles by ethnic minorities against
the Austro-Hungarian Empire — developed a more inclusive notion
of culture as "worldview." In this mode of thought,
a distinct and incommensurable world view characterizes each
ethnic group. Although more inclusive than earlier views, this
approach to culture still allowed for distinctions between "civilized" and "primitive" or "tribal" cultures.
By the late 19th century, anthropologists had adopted and
adapted the term culture to a broader definition that they
could apply to a wider variety of societies. Attentive to the
theory of evolution, they assumed that all human beings evolved
equally, and that the fact that all humans have cultures must
in some way result from human evolution. They also showed some
reluctance to use biological evolution to explain differences
between specific cultures — an approach that either exemplified
a form of, or segment of society vis a vis other segments and
the society as a whole, they often reveal processes of domination
and resistance.
In the 1950s, subcultures — groups with distinctive characteristics
within a larger culture — began to be the subject of study
by sociologists. The 20th century also saw the popularization
of the idea of corporate culture — distinct and malleable within
the context of an employing organization or a workplace.
Culture as symbols
The symbolic view of culture, the legacy of Clifford Geertz
(1973) and Victor Turner (1967), holds symbols to be both
the practices of social actors and the context that gives
such
practices meaning. Anthony P. Cohen (1985) writes of the "symbolic
gloss" which allows social actors to use common symbols
to communicate and understand each other while still imbuing
these symbols with personal significance and meanings.[6] Symbols
provide the limits of cultured thought. Members of a culture
rely on these symbols to frame their thoughts and expressions
in intelligible terms. In short, symbols make culture possible,
reproducible and readable. They are the "webs of significance" in
Weber's sense that, to quote Pierre Bourdieu (1977), "give
regularity, unity and systematicity to the practices of a group."
Thus, for example:
"Stop, in the name of the law!"—Stock phrase uttered
to the antagonists by the sheriff or marshal in 20th century
American Old Western movies
Law and order—stock phrase in the United States
Peace and order—stock phrase in the Philippines
Culture as a stabilizing mechanism
Modern cultural theory also considers
the possibility that (a) culture itself is a product of stabilization
tendencies
inherent in evolutionary pressures toward self-similarity
and self-cognition of societies as wholes, or tribalisms.
See Stephen Wolfram's A new kind of science on iterated
simple algorithms from genetic unfolding, from which the
concept
of culture as an operating mechanism can be developed,[8]
and Richard Dawkins' The Extended Phenotype for discussion
of genetic and memetic stability over time, through negative
feedback mechanisms.
Culture and evolutionary psychology
Researchers in evolutionary psychology argue that the mind
is a system of neurocognitive information processing modules
designed by natural selection to solve the adaptive problems
of our distant ancestors. According to evolutionary psychologists,
the diversity of forms that human cultures take are constrained
(indeed, made possible) by innate information processing
mechanisms underlying our behavior, including:
Organizational Culture & Change
When one wants to change something in the culture
of a company one has to keep in consideration that
this is a long term project.
Corporate culture is something that is very hard to change
and employees need time to get used to the new way of
organizing. For companies with a very strong and
specific culture it will
be even harder to change.
Cummings & Worley (2005, p. 491 – 492) give the following
six guidelines for cultural change, these changes are in line
with the eight distinct stages mentioned by Kotter (1995, p.
2)3.
1. Formulate a clear strategic vision (stage 1,2 & 3
of Kotter, 1995, p. 2)
In order to make a cultural change effective a clear
vision of the firm’s new strategy, shared values
and behaviours is
needed. This vision provides the intention and direction
for the culture change (Cummings & Worley, 2005, p.490).
2. Display Top-management commitment (stage 4 of Kotter,
1995, p. 2)
It is very important to keep in mind that culture change
must be managed from the top of the organization,
as willingness
to change of the senior management is a very important
indicator (Cummings & Worley, 2005, page 490). The top of the organization
should be very much in favour of the change in order to actually
implement the change in the rest of the organization. De Caluwé & Vermaak
(2004, p 9) provide a framework with five different ways of
thinking about change.
3. Model culture change at the highest level (stage 5 of
Kotter, 1995, p. 2)
In order to show that the management team is in favour
of the change, the change has to be notable at first
at this level.
The behaviour of the management needs to symbolize
the kinds of values and behaviours that should be
realized in the rest
of the company. It is important that the management
shows the strengths of the current culture as well,
it must be made clear
that the current organizational does not need radical
changes, but just a few adjustments. (See for more:
(Deal & Kennedy,
1982; Sathe, 1983; Schall; 1983; Weick, 1985; DiTomaso, 1987)
4. Modify the organization to support organizational change
The fourth step is to modify the organization to
support organizational change.
5. Select and socialize newcomers and terminate deviants
(stage 7 & 8 of Kotter, 1995, p. 2)
A way to implement a culture is to connect it to organizational
membership, people can be selected and terminate in
terms of their fit with the new culture (Cummings & Worley, 2005,
p. 491).
6. Develop ethical and legal sensitivity
Changes in culture can lead to tensions between organizational
and individual interests, which can result in ethical
and legal problems for practitioners. This is particularly
relevant
for changes in employee integrity, control, equitable
treatment and job security (Cummings & Worley, 2005, p. 491).
Cultures by region
Many regional cultures have been influenced by contact
with others, such as by colonization, trade, migration,
mass media
and religion.
Africa
Though of many varied origins, African culture, especially
Sub-Saharan African culture has been shaped by
European colonialism, and, especially in North
Africa, by Arab and Islamic culture.
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| Hopi man weaving on traditional loom in the USA. |
Americas
The culture of the Americas has been strongly influenced
by peoples that inhabitated the continents before
Europeans arrived;
people from Africa (the United States especially
has a large African-American population, most of
whom are descended from
former slaves), and the immigration of Europeans,
especially Spanish, English, French, Portuguese,
German, Irish, Italian
and Dutch.
Asia
Despite the great cultural diversity of Asian nations,
there are, nevertheless, several transnational
cultural influences.
Though Korea, Japan, and Vietnam are not Chinese-speaking
countries, their languages have been influenced
by Chinese and Chinese writing. Thus, in East Asia,
Chinese writing
is generally agreed to exert a unifying influence.
Religions, especially Buddhism and Taoism have
had an impact on the
cultural traditions of East Asian countries (see
section on Eastern religion and philosophy, below).
There is also
a shared social and moral philosophy that derives from
Confucianism.
Hinduism and Islam have for hundreds of years exerted cultural
influence on various peoples of South Asia. Similarly, Buddhism
is pervasive in Southeast Asia.
Pacific
Most of the countries of the Pacific Ocean continue
to be dominated by their indigenous cultures, although
these have generally
been affected by contact with European culture.
In particular, most of Polynesia is now strongly
Christian. Other countries,
such as Australia and New Zealand have been dominated
by white settlers and their descendants, whose
culture now predominates.
However Indigenous Australian and Maori (New Zealand)
cultures are still present.
Europe
European culture also has a broad influence beyond
the continent of Europe due to the legacy of colonialism.
In this broader
sense it is sometimes referred to as Western culture.
This is most easily seen in the spread of the English
language
and to a lesser extent, a few other European languages.
Dominant influences include ancient Greece, ancient
Rome, and Christianity,
although religion has declined in Europe.
Middle East and North Africa
The Middle East generally has three dominant and
clear cultures, Arabic, Persian and Turkish, which
have influenced each other
with varying degrees during different times. The
region is predominantly Muslim although significant
minorities of Christians
and smaller minorities of other religions exist.
Arabic culture has deeply influenced the Persian and Turkish
cultures through Islam; influencing their languages, writing
systems, art, architecture and literature as well as in other
areas. The proximity of Iran has influenced the regions closer
to it such as Iraq and Turkey, traces of language can be found
in the Iraqi and Kuwaiti dialects of Arabic as well as the
Turkish language. The 500 years of Ottoman rule over most of
the Middle East has had a heavy influence over the Arabic culture,
this may spread as far as Algeria but can be found to a heavier
degree in Egypt, Iraq and the Levant.
Belief systems
Religion and other belief systems are often integral
to a culture. Religion, from the Latin religare, meaning "to bind fast",
is a feature of cultures throughout human history. The Dictionary
of Philosophy and Religion defines religion in the following
way:
... an institution with a recognized body of communicants
who gather together regularly for worship, and accept
a set of doctrines offering some means of relating
the individual
to what is taken to be the ultimate nature of reality.
Religion often codifies behavior, such as with the 10 Commandments
of Christianity or the five precepts of Buddhism. Sometimes
it is involved with government, as in a theocracy. It also
influences arts.
Eurocentric custom to some extent divides humanity into Western
and non-Western cultures, although this has some flaws.
Western culture spread from Europe most strongly to Australia,
Canada, and the United States. It is influenced by ancient
Greece, ancient Rome and the Christian church.
Western culture tends to be more individualistic than non-Western
cultures. It also sees man, god, and nature or the universe
more separately than non-Western cultures. It is marked by
economic wealth, literacy, and technological advancement, although
these traits are not exclusive to it.
Abrahamic religions
Judaism is one of the first, recorded monotheistic
faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions
still practiced today.
The values and history of the Jewish people are a major
part of the foundation of other Abrahamic religions
such as Christianity,
Islam, as well as the Bahá'í Faith. However,
while sharing a heritage from Abraham each has distinct arts
(visual and performance arts and the like.) Of course some
of these are regional influences among the nations the religions
are present in, but there are some norms or forms of cultural
expression distinctly emphasized by the religions.
Christianity was the dominant feature in shaping European
and the New World cultures for at least the last 500 to 1700
years. Modern philosophical thought has very much been influenced
by Christian philosophers such as St. Thomas Aquinas and Erasmus
and Christian Cathedrals have been noted as architectural wonders
like Notre Dame de Paris, Wells Cathedral and Mexico City Metropolitan
Cathedral.
Islam's influence has dominated much of the North African,
Middle and Far East regions for almost 1500 years, sometimes
mixed with other religions. For example Islam's influence can
be seen in diverse philosophies such as Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Tufail,
Ibn Khaldun and Averroes as well as poetic stories and litariture
like Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, The Madman of Layla, The Conference
of the Birds and the Masnavi in addition to art and architecture
such as the Umayyad Mosque, Dome of the Rock, Faisal Mosque,
Hagia Sophia (which has been a Cathedral and a Mosque) and
the many styles of Arabesque.
Judaism and the Baha'i faiths are usually minority religions
among the nations but still have made distinctive contributions
to the cultures of the nations and regions. Of Judaism, people
of note include Albert Einstein and Henry Kissinger and musicians/performers
like Paula Abdul, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Bob Dylan. Of the Bahá'í faith,
consider the Bahá'í House of Worship as well
as musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and thinkers like Alain LeRoy
Locke, Frederick Mayer and Richard St. Barbe Baker.
The mainstream anthropological view of ‘culture’ implies
that we most people experience a strong resistance
when reminded
that there is an animal as well as a spiritual aspect
to human nature.
Eastern religion and philosophy
Philosophy and religion are often closely interwoven
in Eastern thought. Many Asian religious and philosophical
traditions
originated in India and China and spread across Asia
through cultural diffusion and the migration of peoples.
Hinduism is
the wellspring of Buddhism, the Mahayana branch of
which spread north and eastwards from India into
Tibet, China, Mongolia,
Japan and Korea and south from China into Vietnam.
Theravada Buddhism spread throughout Southeast Asia,
including Sri Lanka,
parts of southwest China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,
and Thailand.
Indian philosophy includes Hindu philosophy. They contain
elements of nonmaterial pursuits, whereas another school of
thought from India, Carvaka, preached the enjoyment of material
world. Confucianism and Taoism, both of which originated in
China have had pervasive influence on both religious and philosophical
traditions, as well as statecraft and the arts throughout Asia.
During the 20th century, in the two most populous countries
of Asia, two dramatically different political philosophies
took shape. Gandhi gave a new meaning to Ahimsa, a core belief
of both Hinduism and Jainism, and redefined the concepts of
nonviolence and nonresistance far beyond the confines of India.
During the same period, Mao Zedong’s communist philosophy became
a powerful secular belief system in China.
Folk religions
Folk religions practiced by tribal groups are common
in Asia, Africa and the Americas. Their influence
can be considerable;
may pervade the culture and even become the state
religion, as with Shintoism. Like the other major
religions, folk religion
answers human needs for reassurance in times of trouble,
healing, averting misfortune and providing rituals
that address the
major passages and transitions in human life.
The "American Dream"
The American Dream is a
belief, held by many in the United States, that through
hard work, courage, and
self-determination,
regardless of social class, a person can gain a better
life. This notion is rooted in the belief that
the United States
is a "city upon a hill, a light unto the nations," which
were values held by many early European settlers and
maintained by subsequent generations.
This concept is mirrored in other cultures, such as in the
case of the Great Australian Dream, although this refers more
closely to home ownership by the same means.
Marriage
Religion often influences marriage and sexual practices.
Most Christian churches give some form of blessing to a marriage;
the wedding ceremony typically includes some sort of pledge
by the community to support the relationship. In marriage,
Christians draw a parallel with the relationship between Jesus
Christ and His Church. The Roman Catholic Church believes it
is morally wrong to divorce, and divorcées cannot remarry
in a church marriage (without a formal annulment of the previous
marriage).
Cultural studies
Cultural studies developed in the late 20th century,
in part through the re-introduction of Marxist thought
into sociology,
and in part through the articulation of sociology and
other academic disciplines such as literary criticism.
This movement
aimed to focus on the analysis of subcultures in capitalist
societies. Following the non-anthropological tradition,
cultural studies generally focus on the study of
consumption goods (such
as fashion, art, and literature). Because the 18th-
and 19th-century distinction between "high" and "low" culture
seems inappropriate to apply to the mass-produced and mass-marketed
consumption goods which cultural studies analyses, these scholars
refer instead to "popular culture".
Today, some anthropologists have joined the project of cultural
studies. Most, however, reject the identification of culture
with consumption goods. Furthermore, many now reject the notion
of culture as bounded, and consequently reject the notion of
subculture. Instead, they see culture as a complex web of shifting
patterns that link people in different locales and that link
social formations of different scales. According to this view,
any group can construct its own cultural identity.
Currently, a debate is underway regarding whether or not culture
can actually change fundamental human cognition. Researchers
are divided on the question.
Cultural change
A 19th century engraving showing Australian "natives opposing
the arrival of Captain James Cook" in 1770.Cultures, by
predisposition, both embrace and resist change, depending on
culture traits. For example, men and women have complementary
roles in many cultures. One gender might desire changes that
affect the other, as happened in the second half of the 20th
century in western cultures. Thus there are both dynamic influences
that encourage acceptance of new things, and conservative forces
that resist change.
Three kinds of influence cause both change and resistance
to it:
forces at work within a society
contact between societies
changes in the natural environment.
Cultural change can come about due to the environment, to inventions
(and other internal influences), and to contact with other
cultures. For example, the end of the last ice age helped lead
to the invention of agriculture, which in its turn brought
about many cultural innovations.
In diffusion, the form of something (though not necessarily
its meaning) moves from one culture to another. For example,
hamburgers, mundane in the United States, seemed exotic when
introduced into China. "Stimulus diffusion" refers
to an element of one culture leading to an invention in another.
Diffusion of innovations theory presents a research-based model
of why and when individuals and cultures adopt new ideas, practices,
and products.
"Acculturation" has different meanings, but in this
context refers to replacement of the traits of one culture
with those of another, such has happened to certain Native
American tribes and to many indigenous peoples across the globe
during the process of colonization. Related processes on an
individual level include assimilation (adoption of a different
culture by an individual) and transculturation.
Cultural invention has come to mean any innovation that is
new and found to be useful to a group of people and expressed
in their behavior but which does not exist as a physical object.
Humanity is in a global "accelerating culture change period",
driven by the expansion of international commerce,
the mass media, and above all, the human population
explosion, among
other factors. The world's population now doubles in
less than 40 years.
Culture change is complex and has far-ranging effects. Sociologists
and anthropologists believe that a holistic approach to the
study of cultures and their environments is needed to understand
all of the various aspects of change. Human existence may best
be looked at as a "multifaceted whole." Only
from this vantage can one grasp the realities of culture
change.
- Art Galleries
- Archives and Museums
-
Organisations
-
Others
- Alliance Française
- Art, Culture and Language Department, Delhi
- Arts and Culture Department, Meghalaya
- British Council
- Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), Chennai
- Centre for Performing Arts, University of Pune
- Connemara Public Library, Chennai
- Culture Department, Orissa
- Debate for a Resurgent India
- Directorate of Archaeology, Uttar Pradesh
- International Film Festival of India (IFFI)
- Kannada and Culture Department, Karnataka
- Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library
- Max Mueller Bhavans
- Ministry of Culture
- National Bal Bhavan
- National Culture Fund
- National Electronic Register of Jain Manuscripts
- National Mission for Manuscripts
- National Museum Institute (NMI)
- Rabindra Bharati University
- Roerich and Devika Rani Roerich Estate Board
- Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute
- Sports, Youth and Cultural Activities Department, Gujarat
- Sun Temple, Konark
- United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
- Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata
