Antrhopology: A Social Science

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

Culture embraces all the manifestations of social behavior of a community, the reactions of the individual as affected by the habits of the group in which he lives, and the product of human activities as determined by these habits.

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.

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

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

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

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.

Culture is an “operational code” shared by members of a particular society, a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that members of society use to cope with their world and with one another. Members of a society share their culture; there is no “culture of one”, it is learned through a process called enculturation, and changeable through social interactions between people and groups. Culture is patterned, meaning that people in a society live and think in ways forming definite, repeating patterns.

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.

Individuals in the world are all linked by different means. There are relationships formed and identities created. Culture is one such force that helps to explain the mindsets of people and the actions they do for the groups they associate themselves with. Culture is a feature in society that is shared amongst contributing individuals. It also changes and evolves throughout time (Innocente 2016).

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 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.

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.

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.