Antrhopology: A Social Science

Various definitions of culture reflect differing theories for understanding or criteria for evaluating human activity. Edward Burnett Tylor writing from the perspective of social anthropology in the UK in 1871 described culture in the following way: "Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and

Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.

Culture is the characteristics of a group of people defined by language, cuisine, religion social habits music and art. There are many different types of culture including western culture, eastern culture, African culture and many more. Culture is influenced by the groups of people that make up the country (Zimmermann, 2012). The term culture was first used by an English Anthropologist named Edward B. Tyler. It was first mentioned in 1871 in his book named ‘Primitive Culture’. He stated that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Since then culture is the main focus of anthropology.

143). She illustrates how essential culture is to anthropology and how anthropology helps to balance culture, as well as its ties with race. She considers culture and race as opposites. “Culture is learned and can change,” (Abu-Lughod, p. 144), and race is something inborn. Although she can only depict and explain the concept of culture, and how it has become necessary and not the reasons behind it.

During an anthropologist’s fieldwork, anthropologists look over enculturation. Enculturation is a process by which we obtain and transmit culture which is experienced universally among humans. It teaches the individual about their role in the society as well as what kind of behavior is accepted within that culture and lifestyle. Some anthropologists are ethnocentric. They critique other groups relative to their own ethnic group or culture, especially with concern for customs, language, behavior, and religion. The group of people that falls in this

Generally, anthropology can be defined as the study of humanity. This includes every aspect of the human condition: language, history, culture, biology, past and present. Anthropology is all encompassing and due to its breadth, it can be considered both a study in humanities and science. However, anthropology is easily distinguishable from both hard sciences and humanities. The aspects that distinguish anthropology lie mostly in the methodology that anthropologists use to study human beings. Methodology in the anthropological field not only includes the specific kind of data collection, but also the attitude that researchers take on as they approach their research as well as the main ideas they address. Anthropologists aim to study human evolution and culture holistically, comparatively, and relativistically through fieldwork. The way that anthropologists utilize and integrate each aspect of this methodology allows them to add specificity to this broad topic and to set it uniquely aside from all others.

According to the reading, centuries ago people defined culture by their domination of nature, the belief system and their own symbolic representations. The meaning of culture has changed over time as philosophers began to define culture as something much more than nature. The meaning of culture also includes

We define culture as something learned, not inherited- through enculturation (Brannon pg 2), so it is something that is progressive and complex. These characteristics make it hard for culture to ever be completely understandable, but nonetheless it should not be ignored. Culture gives people a way to identify, either through behavior, diet, and other customs at a microscopic level, or a building of relationships to others. Culture’s progressiveness forms new ideas of what our future generations will look like, such as a melting pot of second generation ethnicities bringing forward different behaviors and customs into our

Several factors affect the formation of one’s culture, Palispis, E. (2007) quoted Sir Edward Tylor, “Culture… refers to that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society.” (Palispis, E., 2007) In this context culture is something we acquire from the people we have lived with since we were born, it is not something a person can learn overnight nor can be disposed effortlessly.

Spencer-Oatey (2012) suggested that, Culture is customs, ideas and social behaviour of a particular people or society. Moreover, culture is also defined by arts, and other manifestation of human intellectual achievement (Spencer-Oatey, 2012). Therefore, culture covers broad areas in our society, and culture plays an important role of development of individual’s self-awareness. Cultural self-awareness is gained from birth by developing knowledge by experience, outcome, and the behaviour that seem to form the cultural self-awareness of individuals and makes the whole culture.

Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. It includes ideas, values, and artifacts of groups of people (Schaefer, 2006). Understanding culture can be tricky, ever ask “why do people act the way they do?”, “what made me do that”, “what was I thinking?” Physical abilities, educational background, and social background of how I was raised are important aspects of my life. The environment in which I was raised is very important aspect of my life.

In many anthropological studies, the scientists attempt to define a culture that is unknown to society. They go in and find people that are considered “other.” They pick apart and analyze everything that they find. All of the articles we have read and discussed in class do this. In this paper, I will show you how the directors and anthropologists do this.

The term culture is described as ‘a verb’. However it is explained that culture is difficult to define as it can be associated in different ways by different people. Some people think of culture as a thing while others term it as a set of beliefs,

Culture is one of the major influences on our lives and social interactions; culture is associated with our characteristics of religion, societal norms of behavior; moreover, culture is always changing and the influence increases. With every religion there are traditions and cultures that are a form of art as it involves many characteristics’ of individuals and their beliefs, values, and perspective, for this reason, there are various dynamics in terms of how culture is involved and the influence of our actions, such as media, peers, family, and socializations. Culture is a factor of social environment and what is modeled to us in our early years of development.

It is not easy to define culture because culture is too broad a concept, can be both abstract and specific. However, what is agreed is culture covers all faces of our life as well as direct the way we behave, interact and communicate. (Liu et al., 2011). One popular definition is that “Culture is the total way of life of a group of people, comprising of the deposit of knowledge, experience, belief, values, traditions, religion, and notion of time, roles, spatial relations, worldviews, material objects and geographic territory”. (Liu et al., 2011, p.57). In this essay, I will analyse components and characteristics of culture, and based on that grounds, I will reflect on my own culture-being a Vietnamese. Dodd (1998) considered that culture is made up by three layers which consist of the core layer, the intermediate layer and the outer layer. I will examine what values and beliefs are considered important in my culture. Those are components of the inner core. Then, I will take some examples of the intermediate layer (expression of cultural activities by manifestation) such as communication patterns, customs and festivals.