Characteristics of Culture

‘Culture’ comes from the Latin word cultura which is derive from colere. What does colere mean?

• ‘to cultivate’

• 'to captivate'

• 'to combat'

• 'to comply'

This refers to everything that a person learns as a member of a society.

• Beliefs

• Taboos

• Culture

• Norms

What is culture according to the anthropologists?

• Culture is everything that a person learns as a member of a society.

• The practice of comparing other cultural practices with those of one’s own and automatically finding those other cultural practices to be inferior.

• Preference for the foreign. Characterized by strong belief that one’s own products, styles,or ideas are inferior to those which originate elsewhere.

• Culture are set of learned behaviors, beliefs, attitudes, values and ideals that are characteristic of a particular society or population.

This characteristics of culture includes the material and non material culture.

• Culture is shared

• Culture is everything

• Culture is learned

• Culture affects biology

This characteristics of culture tells us that culture is not permanent. It changes through time.

• Culture is adaptive

• Culture is dynamic

• Culture is maladaptive

• Culture is shared

Culture can also cause problems for the people who subscribe to it. These problems arise when the environment has changed and culture has remained the same. 

• Culture is shared

• Culture is everything

• Culture is adaptive

• Culture is maladaptive

Culture is not biological; we do not inherit it. Much of learning culture is unconscious. We got it from people whom we encounter in our life.

• Culture is everything

• Culture is shared

• Culture is learned

• Culture is dynamic

Humans are born into cultures that have values on beauty and body. As such, they alter their bodies to fit into the physiological norms dictated by culture. 

• Culture affects biology

• Culture is adaptive

• Culture is learned

• Culture is maladaptive

Culture is a tool for survival that humans use in response to the pressures of their environment.

• Culture is adaptive

• Culture is learned

• Culture is shared

• Culture is everything

For a thought or action to be considered cultural, it must be commonly practiced by some population or group of individuals.

• Culture is everything

• Culture is learned

• Culture is dynamic

• Culture is shared