What is Culture? Essay examples

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.

Anthropologists have always had their discrepancies with the word culture and its background significance. There have been numerous definitions that have filtered through the field, yet not one that everyone can accept or agree with. Franz Boas, an anthropologist in the early 20th Century, and his students, had a difficult time figuring out the objective of what culture is. Culture is about learning and shared ideas about behaviour. Although Boas and his students had a slightly different idea in mind. They ultimately reached a conclusion, a definition of culture in their view that is a contradiction in terms. Boas sates that, “ culture was expressed through the medium of language but was not reducible to it;

Anderson, K. (2013). The Difference Between Macro and Microeconomics | Mint.com. Retrieved October 13, 2013, from https://www.mint.com/the-difference-between-macro-and-microeconomics/

During the late 1800s, the eminent German philosopher, Karl Marx sought to create an equilibrium between the social strata by abolishing social classes. His doctrine, Marxism, is based on the idea that the means of production is the foundation of society, and ownership of this dictates the fate of the civilization. Marx attempted to place the means of production, including factories, into control of the people who operated the means of production(proletariat), and not just the owners of it (bourgeois). In Marx’s vision, society is driven not by spirituality, but by material objects. The proletariat and bourgeois may have ambivalent views on the division of wealth, but ultimately, the owners of the means of production make the decision. The

During the late 1800s, the eminent German philosopher, Karl Marx sought to create an equilibrium between the social strata. His doctrine, Marxism, is based on the idea that the means of production is the foundation of society, and ownership of this dictates the identity of the civilization. Marx attempted to place the means of production, such as factories, into control of the people who oversaw the production(proletariat), and not just the owners of the companies (bourgeois). In Marx’s vision, society is driven not by spirituality, but by material objects. The proletariat and bourgeois may have ambivalent views on the division of wealth, but ultimately, the owners of the means of production make the decision. The bourgeois conducts the proletariat

Culture by definition is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any type of social group that has its own distinct culture. To me that definition couldn't be more spot on but let's go more in depth over the past few months in my English class we have been trying to learn what our culture is and what part culture plays in our daily lives so in this essay I will be sharing with you what I think culture is what it means to me and how I think it impacts our way of living and the way we look at each other as human beings and how we treat each other and how all this makes up my culture

An essential idea conveyed by Marx is that capitalism explains the exploitation of the proletarians by the bourgeoisie. He evens starts on page 39 with stating that history is the record of the struggles of classes [“the history of all hitherto…”]. The struggle of classes he talks about are the proletarians between the bourgeoisies. He explains the conflicting relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletarians, where the proletarians must unite and deconstruct the system ruled by bourgeoisies. The wrong doings penetrated upon the working class are listed and large. There are certain people are getting rich off the labor of so many individuals. This allowed me to have a deeper understanding of Cultural Materialism because in this we see the benefitted are the Bourgeoisie that repeatedly have exploited the working class for economic gain. On page 59, Marx clarifies this by mentioning that “The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all the other proletariat parties:

In an era dominated by rapid capitalist development and also who had been shaped by Heagle’s philosophy, had provoked the publication of Marx’s ‘The Communist Manifesto’ in collaboration with Frederic Engels to demonstrate his social and historical perspective towards economic growth. Capitalism is the socioeconomic system where social relations are based on commodities for exchange, particularly private ownership of the means of production and the exploitation of labour (Viewed 26 August 2017 ). Marx believed that class antagonism existed between the Bourgeois (higher-middle class) and the Proletariat (working class), which resulted in the exploitation of labour. Despite, Proletariat’s having been paid wages for their labour, the Bourgeoise

There is deep substance and many common themes that arose throughout Marx’s career as a philosopher and political thinker. A common expressed notion throughout his and Fredrick Engels work consists of contempt for the industrial capitalist society that was growing around him during the industrial revolution. Capitalism according to Marx is a “social system with inherent exploitation and injustice”. (Pappenheim, p. 81) It is a social system, which intrinsically hinders all of its participants and specifically debilitates the working class. Though some within the capitalist system may benefit with greater monetary gain and general acquisition of wealth, the structure of the system is bound to alienate all its

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,

According to Marx, political views and cultural ideas simply reflect economic divisions and struggles. Relating to the issue of exploitation, the economic base – the exploitative way it produces its goods – creates the superstructure – its non economic institutions and systems

The concept of culture is something that defines many aspects of one’s life. From physical objects to different ways of thinking, culture adds significance to human life and makes groups of people distinct from one another. Culture is essentially a group of people who come together with similar interests and points of view. According to the Center for Advanced Language Acquisition of the University of Minnesota, “culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.” From a more sociological perspective, culture is a way in which people come together in order to fulfill their needs. These shared patterns and ideas identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.” Culture is one of the things that sets the United States apart from the rest of the world. Not that the rest of the world is not cultural, but the circumstance here is different. Many people of different cultural backroads come to this country in search of a better life. As a consequence, the United States has become a place where many cultures merge together like a colossal pot soup.

Culture can be interpreted in multiple ways and have many different meanings to different individuals. Consequently, it is because of those facts that a definition is so hard to create. To some, culture results from consumed meanings by a social group (Lewis, 2008). Others view culture as something based on economics and servitude (Marx, as cited by Lewis, 2008). Hebdige ambiguous concept

Culture is a group of people’s way of thinking, and is passed down and expressed through their art; art first appeared in the Paleolithic area with homo sapiens.

The definition of culture offered in one textbook is “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society.”