Definitions of Culture

“Culture is... hard for people to define, but everybody knows it when they see it,” says

Eric Michael Johnson as he argues with Sperber that even primates, and not exclusively man,

have culture (Johnson). During the early twentieth century, such arguments would not be

considered, because all definitions revolve around human activity. But even then, there were

disputes on exactly what culture is.

However, like how culture evolves through time, so does its usage. Events, people, et al.

influence the use of the word. Especially as mass media penetrates human life more deeply

through online means, the word ‘culture’ has been thrown around carelessly (Elliot 87 for

analysis and example). It is therefore necessary to create a concrete definition.

This paper is divided into two: the first reviews the etymology of the word and the

evolution of its definition; and the second presents distinguished and contextual definitions of

culture, related academic studies and manifestations after a clear distinction of its boundaries.

I History of ‘Culture’

i. Etymology

The word ‘culture’ is Middle English in origin. It is from either the French word culture

or directly from Latin cultura, literally meaning ‘growing’ or ‘cultivation’. Then, the word was

used to describe the cultivation of soil. This inspired the more modern term, which meant the

“cultivation [of the mind, faculties, and manners]” (“culture”).

Burnette Tylor in 1871, although it did not penetrate any standard English dictionaries until fifty

years later. He borrowed ‘kultur’ from German because of his hesitation to use ‘civilization’.

During his time, the word was recognized and grew out of its older meaning (Kroeber 11). The

definition is published in the first volume of his series Primitive Culture, and is as follows:

“Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole

which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and other capabilities and

habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor 1).

In Tylor’s definition, culture and civilization were synonymous, and the word applies

solely to endeavors of man as part of a community. Anthropologists and sociologists created

works supporting or criticizing Tylor’s series, but for the meantime, it gave the academia a

framework to work with (Kroeber 11-15).

ii. Ties with ‘Civilization’

The word civilization, however, is much older than culture in terms of English, French, or

German. It originated from Latin civis, citizen, giving rise to civitas, city-state, and civilitas,

citizenship (Wundt 3). According to Wundt, Jean Bodin, 1530-96, first used civilization in its

modern sense. Following him were authors such as Grimm, Kant, Arciniegas, et al., which

defined ‘civilization’ in different manners (Kroeber 16).

In 1945, Johan Huizinga gave a discussion on the Dutch term beshcaving, literally

shaving or polishing, and its relation to civilization and culture. It came up in the late eighteenth

century with the sense of cultivation, but in the twentieth century was increasingly displaced by

cultuur. Previous uses such as this caused confusion between culture and civilization in various

languages (Kroeber 18-19).

Apilado of University of the Philippines, Diliman defines culture as “the characteristics or

features of a particular group,” and civilization as the “culture that has reached a high level of

development” (Apilado). Daniel G. Bates futher emphasizes this on his book, saying that

civilization is “a complex society that has cities, social structures, and government” and that

culture is merely “an aspect of a civilization.” “It is possible for a culture to exist without a

civilization, but a civilization cannot exist without a culture” (Bates).

II Definitions of Culture

After the distinctions are created between culture and civilization, more problems came

into light. At the end of the 30’s, Margaret Mead put into contrast ‘culture’ and ‘a culture’.

“Culture means the whole complex of traditional behavior which has been developed by the

human race and is successively learned by each generation [...] a culture is less precise. It can

mean the forms of traditional behavior which are characteristic of a given society, or of a group

of societies, or of a certain race, or of certain area, or of a certain period of time” (Mead 17). In

other words, the definition of culture is unclear—and it must be so that

(1) [anthropology] a culture of a society can be compared to that of another’s society, and

possibly, look at it in the perspective of human culture in general, and

(2) [in other broad terms] the boundaries of culture could be solidified with respect to

different academic studies.

i. In general anthropology

In the case of anthropology, therefore, culture has been introduced as “the concept

denoting the object of study of cultural anthropology” (Birukou). It refers to societies defined in
national or ethnic terms. However, the concept has been recently used for describing knowledge

and behavior of other groups like in the concepts of corporate culture or organizational culture

(O’Reilly 88, Harrison, Mulder viii). Globalization also made interactions between cultures

more frequent. This blurred boundaries between cultures, but also lead for the demand of

culturally aware professionals. In Peoples and Bailey’s anthropology textbook, they took into

account the shift into meaning with the definition as follows:

“Culture is the socially transmitted knowledge and behavior shared by some group of

people” (Bailey 23).

ii. In the social sciences

After the distinctions are created between culture and civilization, more problems came

into light. Scholars created definitions that fit within a particular subject, to include areas that are

normally not ‘cultural’, or to omit those that usually are. Kroeber and Kluckhohn, in particular,

compiled these definitions in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. The book

contains ‘nearly three hundred’ definitions for culture—categorized into six, with three further

subcategorized into ten. In his disclaimer, he inputs that the definers are a mix of anthropologists,

sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, one chemist, one biologist, one economist, one

geographer, one political scientist, and several philosophers operating within the social science

area. With a huge number of definitions from a large group of people, there are bound to be

inconsistencies. Nonetheless, below are some definitions that are not mentioned before in the

paper that encapsulate the category and idea of culture.

GROUP A: DESCRIPTIVE

Broad Definitions
 - (Wissler, 1920: 3.) ... all social activities in the broadest sense, such as language,

marriage, property system, etiquette, industries, art, etc. ...

- (Boas, 1930: 79.) Culture embraces all the manifestations of social habits of a

community, the reactions of the individual as affected by the habits of the group in

which he lives, and the products of human activities as determined by these habits.

- (Thumwald, 1950: 104.) [Culture:] The totality of usages and adjustments, which

relate to family, political formation, economy, labor, morality, custom, law, and ways

of thought. These are bound to the life of the social entities in which they are

practiced and perish with these; whereas civilizational horizons are not lost.

GROUP B: Historical

Emphasis on Social Heritage or Tradition

- (Park and Burgess, 1921: 72.) The culture of a group is the sum total and organization

of the social heritages, which have acquired a social meaning because of racial

temperament, and of the historical life of the group.

- (Linton, 1936: 78.) ... the social heredity is called the culture. As a general term,

culture means the total social heredity of mankind, while as a specific term a culture

means a particular strain of social heredity.

- (Parsons, 1949: 8.) Culture... consists in those patterns relative to behavior and the

products of human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation

to generation independently of the biological genes.

GROUP C: Normative

c-1 Emphasis on Rule or Way

behavior whose use is sanctioned under given conditions by the members of a

particular society.

- (Kluckhohn, 1952: 86.) “A culture” refers to the distinctive way of life of a group of

people, their complete “design for living.”

c-2 Emphasis on ideals or Values Plus Behavior

- (Bidney, 1947: 376.) AN integral or holistic concept of culture comprises the

acquired or cultivated behavior, feeling and thought of individuals within a society as

well as the patterns or forms of intellectual, social, and artistic ideals which human

societies have professed historically.

- (Sorokin, 1947: 313.) The cultural aspect of the superorganic universe consists of the

meanings, values, norms, their interaction and relationships, their integrated and

unintegrated groups (systems and congeries) as they are objectified through overt

actions and other vehicles in the empirical sociocultural universe.

GROUP D: PSYCHOLOGICAL

d-1 Emphasis on Adjustment, on Culture as a Problem-Solving Device

- (Young, 1942: 35.) Culture consists of common and more or less standardized ideas,

attitudes, and habits, which have developed with respect to man’s recurrent and

continuous needs.

- (Turney-High, 1949: 5.) In its broadest sense, culture is coterminous with everything

that is artificial, useful, and social employed by man to maintain his equilibrium as a

biopsychological organism.

d-2 Emphasis on Learning

individual in conformity with a group...

- (Aberle, et al, 1950: 102.) Culture is socially transmitted behavior conceived as an

abstraction from concrete social groups.

- [(Keesing, 1981: 68) Culture... refers... to learned, accumulated experience. A

culture... refers to those socially transmitted patterns for behavior characteristic of a

particular social group (Keesing 68).]

d-3 Emphasis on Habit

- (Murdock, 1941: 141) ... culture, the traditional patterns of action, which constitute a

major portion of the established habits with which an individual enters any social

situation.

d-4 Purely Psychological Definitions

- (Roheim, 1934: 216.) By culture we shall understand the sum of all sublimations, all

substitutes, or reactions formations, in short, everything in society that inhibits

impulses or permits their distorted satisfaction.

GROUP E: STRUCTURAL

Emphasis on the Patterning or Organizaition of Culture

- (Willey, 1929: 207.) A culture is a system of interrelated and interdependent habit

patterns of response.

- (Turney-High, 19949: 5.) Culture is the working and integrated summation of the

non-instinctive activities of human beings. It is the functioning, patterned totality of

group-accepted and transmitted inventions, material and non-material.

conditioned emotional responses, and patterns of habitual heavier which the members

of that society have acquired through instruction or imitation and which they share to

a greater of less degree.

GROUP F: GENETIC

f-1 Emphasis on Culture as a Product or Artifact

- (Young, 1942: 36.) A precipitate of man’s social life.

- (Kluckhohn, 1952: 86.) Culture designates those aspects of the total human

environment, tangible and intangible, that have been created by men.

f-2 Emphasis on Ideas

- (Ford, 1949: 38.) ... culture may be briefly defined as a stream of ideas that passes

from individual to individual by means of symbolic action, verbal instruction, or

imitation.

f-3 Emphasis on Symbols

- (White, 1943: 335.) Culture is an organization of phenomena—material objects,

bodily acts, ideas, and sentiments—which consists of or is dependent upon the use of

symbols.

These meanings are extensive and focuses on different aspects. However, it can be

derived that all of them imply that culture is (1) transmitted through non-genetic means, (2)

learned, and (3) a means of adaptation. Another common denominator is humanity. Ostwald, for

example, defines culture as “that which distinguishes men from animals” (Kroeber 139). As

biologists began to study animals more deeply, they realise that culture is not strictly applicable

to only humans. Researches about primates and dolphins suggest that they, too, have habits and
traditions passed non-genetically within their species (Johnson). Thus, definitions are tailored to

suit species with an intelligent culture. A distinguished one is as follows:

“Culture is information capable of affecting individuals’ behavior that they acquire from

other members of their species through teaching, imitation, and other forms of social

transmission ... by information, we mean any kind of mental state, conscious or not, that

is acquired or modified by social learning and affects behavior”(Richerson).

The definitions can also be localized, as shown here as a description of culture in the

Philippine context:

“[Culture is] how members of the contemporary... classes look at life and how they

understand it. [...] culture is seen as knowledge... informing the practice of everyday life

[that] is only partly conscious” (Mulder viii).

III Manifestations of Culture

The different definitions stated above were then used extensively, echoed and parroted by

researchers, and modified to suit whatever. This helped organize the ideas and manifestations of

culture and arrange them accordingly.

When one says manifestations, one thinks immediately of the products or artifacts of

culture under the cultural definition of GROUP F: GENETIC (Kroeber 90). These refer to

human endeavors as part or affected by culture such as the arts, literature, music, sports, gaming,

entertainment, language, etc. These are elements of a human ‘culture’ that displays a certain

culture of a certain society (Elliot 102). Here are the elements arranged by their depth:

• Symbols are words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning which is

only recognized by those who share a particular culture. New symbols easily develop, old
 ones disappear. Symbols from one particular group are regularly copied by others. This is

why symbols represent the outermost layer of a culture.

• Heroes are persons, past or present, real or fictitious, who possess characteristics that are

highly prized in a culture. They also serve as models for behavior.

• Rituals are collective activities, sometimes superfluous in reaching desired objectives, but

are considered as socially essential. They are therefore carried out most of the times for

their own sake (ways of greetings, paying respect to others, religious and social

ceremonies, etc.).

• The core of a culture is formed by values. They are broad tendencies for preferences of

certain state of affairs to others (good-evil, right-wrong, natural-unnatural). Many values

remain unconscious to those who hold them. Therefore they often cannot be discussed,

nor they can be directly observed by others. Values can only be inferred from the way

people act under different circumstances.

Another manifestation of culture is their categories based on interpretations. Culture, in

earlier anthropological texts, is based on nationality and ethnicity (stated above). These cultural

differences reflect differences in thinking, social action, and ‘mental programs’ (Hofstede). Geert

Hofstede then later famously identified five dimensions of culture in his study of national

cultures, and are as follows (Hofstede):

• Power distance: Different societies find different solutions for social inequality. Although

invisible, the "boss-subordinate relationship" is functional and reflects the way inequality

is addressed in society. According to Mulder's Power Distance Reduction theory,

subordinates will try to reduce the power distance between themselves and their bosses,

and bosses will try to maintain or enlarge it. A high score suggests that there is an
 expectation that some individuals wield larger amounts of power than others. A low score

reflects the view that all people should have equal rights.

• Uncertainty avoidance: In order to cope with uncertainty about the future, organizations

deal with technology, law, and rituals in two ways - rational and non-rational - with

rituals being the non-rational.

• Individualism vs. collectivism: Society's expectations of individualism and collectivism

are reflected by the employee inside the organization. Capitalist market economy fosters

individualism and competition. Research indicates that someone who highly values duty

to his or her group does not necessarily give a low priority to personal freedom and self-

sufficiency.

• Masculinity vs. femininity: Societies may be predominantly male or female in terms of

cultural values, gender roles, and power relations.

• Long- vs. Short-Term Orientation: Long-term orientation can be interpreted as dealing

with society's search for virtue. Societies with a short-term orientation generally have a

strong concern with establishing the absolute truth. They are normative in their thinking,

exhibit great respect for traditions, a relatively small propensity to save for the future, and

a focus on achieving quick results.

Other manifestations of culture are the different types of it, or the classification of

cultures inside cultures. One could be part of several cultures at a time and with globalization,

interactions between cultures became more frequent. As stated before, this blurred boundaries

between cultures, and created more cultural subsets (Birukou, Long-Crowell). Long-Crowell

discussed subcultures in length, and remarkable notes are as follows:

have distinct norms and values that make them a sub-section of society.

 High Culture - linked with the elite; culture exclusively for the small percent of the

society. It is often associated with the arts such as opera, ballet and classical music, sports

such as polo and lacrosse, and leisure pursuits such as hunting and shooting.

 Popular Culture - borrows ideas from high culture and popularizes it, making it available

for the masses; also known as ‘low culture’. It is depicted to be a product of the media

dominated world; that it is a positive force because it brings people of different

backgrounds together in a common culture.

 Multiculturalism - cultural diversity; different ethnic groups living alongside each other.

 Global Culture - a key feature of globalization; emerged due to patterns of migration,

trends in international travel and the spread of the media, exposing people to the same

images of the same dominant world companies.

These terms help explain the phenomena of cultural diversity within a culture, and the

possibility of there being a single human culture.

There are numerous ways to view culture that vast definitions have been created to

encompass its wide field. Part of what makes culture difficult to define lies in its multiple

meanings. However, the difficulties are not merely conceptual. Its usage is attached to political

or ideological agendas that can still be seen today (Avruch 6-7). However, because of this,

culture became and could become relatively easier to define. The solution therefore is to either

use a broad definition, or state a specific one to be used.

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