The Concept of Culture - Essay Example

of Teacher Submitted Cultural Anthropology Introduction There are several concepts for the word culture and howto define it has fascinated many anthropologists (O'Neil, p.1; Miller 9). It can refer to an appreciation of art, food, literature and music. Most people use it to refer to "high culture," Shakespeare's Beethoven's symphony, Michelangelo's sculptures, gourmet cooking, imported wines, or maybe even a colony of bacteria for a biologist (Scupin 43). Even today, discussions still takes place between animal scientists and cultural anthropologists on whether culture is only for man or for animals as well. However, in Anthropology, the concept of culture is already essential for centuries. Edward Tylor, the pioneer English anthropologist proposed that cultures are systems of human behaviour and thought that obey natural laws and can be studied scientifically (Kottak 62). His definition offers a complete overview of the subject matter of anthropology and is widely quoted by many. This essay now defines culture and its characteristics. People in cultures mostly have the same human cultural traits (O'Neil, p. 5). However, many human beings have different ways of expressing these traits that result from varying cultures and traditions. This essay used to compare the classification of two lifestyle patterns in North American Indian regions': the culture of foragers and the culture of horticulturalists to discuss and analyze the similarities and differences of both cultures in relation to their way of food production, way of living and the like. In his book Primitive Culture, Edward Tylor defined culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" (Kottak 62; Scupin 43). He emphasized on the last phrase "acquired by man as a member of society" for he believed that culture is not only acquired through biological inheritance but living and being part of a society as well for they are more exposed to cultural tradition. His definition also suggests that culture includes all aspects of human activity-tools, weapons, fire, agriculture, animal domestication, metallurgy, writing, airplanes, computers, penicillin, nuclear power, rock-and-roll, video games, designer jeans, religion, political systems, science, sports, and social organizations. It involves every activity from the fine arts, popular entertainment, development of new technology and even everyday behaviour. The process by which a person learns his or her culture is called enculturation (Kottak 62). An individual acquires any cultural tradition because of the capacity of a human being to learn. Though animals learn from experience or from other members of their group, the cultural learning only develops within the human capacity to create symbols or signs. Cultural learning signifies that people have the ability to create, remember, and deal with ideas. According to Kottak, culture is learned ("Cultural Anthropology" 63). People begin to internalize an established group of meanings and symbols that people use to define their world, express their emotions, and create their judgments. This can be done through a process of conscious and unconscious learning and interaction with others. People transmit culture through observation where most children modify their own behaviour in accordance to what their culture entails as right or wrong or bad or good. Culture is proven to be acquired unconsciously because of the cultural tradition that they do automatically without a direct instruction to maintain them. Anthropologists stated that cultural learning is intricate among humans and though humans differ in their emotional and mental abilities, people can still learn their cultural tradition. Culture is also shared for it is a quality not only of individuals but of individuals as members of groups as well (Kottak 63). People who grow up in the same culture have shared their beliefs, values, memories, and expectations that linked them together. This process called enculturation unites people by providing them with common experiences. Culture is also transmitted from the generation of today's parents to the generation of their children. Parents and children are the agents in the enculturation process and though certain values and beliefs change through time, there are some practices that are maintained. People naturally share their values with a lot of people and they tend to share with those who are similar to them socially, economically, and culturally (Kottak 64). Kottak simplified it in a familiar statement: "Birds of a feather flock together," meaning people of the same culture live together. Culture is symbolic in a sense that it confers meaning, whether verbal or nonverbal, on a thing or event and lets people understand and appreciate these meanings (Kottak 65). For example, the Holy water symbolizes the Roman Catholicism. Reality portrays that the water is not essentially holier than any other liquids nor is holy water different from ordinary water. The holy water is just illogically associated with a particular meaning for the culture of Catholics, who also share the same beliefs, values and experiences based on learning that is transmitted from generation to generation. Another characteristic of culture is that it is all-encompassing-including much more than refinement, taste, sophistication, education and appreciation of the arts (Kottak 66). Anthropologists believed that in order to understand more about culture, features that are trivial and unworthy of serious study such as television, fast-food restaurants, sports and games must also be considered as an integral part of culture (Kottak 67). Culture is also integrated meaning it is a set of patterned systems where one part of the system is closely related to the other parts--when a part of the system changes, other parts also changes (Kottak 67). One example is the attitude and behaviour towards marriage when living in together and having divorce are getting common today. Culture is also integrated because cultures train their members to share values, ideas, symbols, judgments and personality traits. An example would be the core values work ethic and individualism that has been integrated in American culture across generations. Some patterns of a particular culture can affect the patterns of other cultures. Many communities and societies of the world today are being integrated into larger systems (Kottak 162). About 12, 000 to 10, 000 years ago, the source and increase of food production has provoked larger social and political systems to be formed and thus caused major changes in human life. Adaptive strategy is the term used by Yehudi Cohen to describe a society's economic production. Cohen created a typology of societies based on the relationship between their economies and their social features: foraging, horticulture, agriculture, and pastoralism. This classification is further divided into two: the band societies, which include the foragers or hunter-gatherers and the tribe societies, which include the horticulturalists, agriculturalists and pastoralists (Scupin 194). According to Scupin, almost 99 percent of humanity's life span is used in living as foragers ("Cultural Anthropology" 170). It is the basic type of socio-cultural system for about one million years that make it the most enduring and persisting adaptation humanity has even reached. The early societies or the foraging societies did not survive by producing their own food but they hunt, gather and scavenge for their food instead (Scupin 170). Their means of survival is based on the hunting of animals and gathering of vegetation. The basic social and political unit of foraging societies is the band. Early hunting and gathering societies existed in almost all of the major biomes of the world compared to those modern band societies which existed only in marginal environments such as deserts, tropical rain forests, and arctic areas which are all apt to intensive agriculture. Most hunter gatherers share one characteristic in common: mobility and they make use of what is available in their environment well for their survival purposes (Scupin 174). Depending on the resources, groups have to move from one area to another like the Mbuti Pygmies who had to reside in certain areas during the rainy season and other areas during the other seasons in a carefully planned manner in order to lessen labour while increasing essential resources. Foragers make use of only simple technology such as sharpened stick for digging up, tubers or getting honey out of hives (Scupin 176). They also use net bags, bark, wooden bowls, dogsleds, lances, fish spears, bows and arrows, harpoons, traps, fishhooks, and soapstone lamps used with whale and seal oil for heating and cooking. Some societies, like the Inuit or Eskimo use complex foraging tools formed with the use of bones, stones, skin, wood, and ice. Large boats called Umiaks and kayaks or canoes are also used for whaling, sealing and transportation. The form of economics in band societies is a reciprocal economic system (Scupin 177). It favours the concept of reciprocity where goods and services are shared because of the immediate consumption of resources. Collective and private property are less strict and important when it comes to pets, ornaments, clothing, and items of technology such as bows, knives, scrapers, and blowguns but private property only allows the owners to have full property rights (Scupin 178). The social organization in foraging societies is based on family marriage, kinship, gender, and age (Scupin 180). There are two basic social organizations in foraging societies: nuclear family and band. There are many nuclear families for their location, distribution and exchange is easier compared to bigger families though extended families still happens in bands containing 20 to 100 members depending on the environmental space and capacity. Members have the right to leave and join the society in particular situations. The most common type of marriage is monogamy where the bride is usually much younger than the groom (Scupin 181-182). Foragers also practice cross-cousin marriage, patriarchal residence, foster group solidarity, bride service where males would spend a lot of time with the girl's parents' band, and wife exchanged. Divorce, on the other hand, could easily be done in hunting and gathering societies. Gender and age is extremely important in the social hierarchy and concerning the division of labour within society (Scupin 183-184). While most men do the hunting and gathering, women do the nursing and bearing of children. Some foraging societies prefer an egalitarian relationship between men and women where they have more or less equal status compared to other societies. As of age, children's role is simply of playful activity and excitement while the elderly group focuses on survival, work patterns and babysitting of the young generation. In foraging societies, each band is politically independent with its own internal leadership (Scupin 186). Most leaders in this society are males though females could also perform important leadership roles. They are chosen because of their degree of skills in hunting, food collecting, communication, decision-making, or other personal abilities. Because foraging societies are egalitarian societies, there is no need to exercise their power or control over others. There is no social stratification and leaders must lead by influence and rather than by force. All members of the society practice reverse dominance where the whole group would control anybody who exercises political power and authority over them. Thus, foraging societies have strong cultural values that are focused on individual autonomy. The religions in band societies are called "cosmic religions" which are closely related to nature (Scupin 188). It concerns the natural cycles of seasons, inorganic matter such as rocks, water, mountains and other natural environment features. It is also expressed through animism or the belief that spirits live within all inorganic and organic substances. Scupin defined horticulture "a form of agriculture in which people use a limited, nonmechanized technology to cultivate plants" ("Cultural Anthropology" 195). One form of horticulture is the slash-and-burn cultivation where food is produced without the intensive use of land, labour force, or complex technology. Around 250 million around the world are engaged in the slash-and-burn cultivation mainly in tropical rain forests. It begins by clearing an area of land, cutting down trees, setting them on fire, planting various crops afterwards and harvesting them. The land is left unplanted for 3-15 years and the cultivated shifts to a new location. Slash-and-burn horticulturalists, like the Yanomam Amazon are observed to be less nomadic and more sedentary than foragers. Technology in horticulturalist societies used sharpened digging sticks and wooden hoes for planting in small gardens (Scupin 199). Horticulturalists also use crude stone or wooden axes to bring down the trees in the primary forest and some use blowguns and bows and arrows. One kind of horticulturalists called the Pacific Islanders use many specialized kinds of shells and woodworking tools for making jewelry, knives, rasps and files because they had no metal or clay. People also follow the concept of reciprocity like foraging societies do. They practice inter-village cooperation, marital exchanges, political and military alliances (Scupin 200). They have money as their medium of exchange of goods and services in a form of shell necklaces or livestock, cloth, salt, feathers, animal teeth, and sometimes women. Unlike foraging societies, there is ownership of property, especially land, and access to property is greatly determined by status. There is no exclusive right to use property, except in family and wider kinship groupings. Social organization in tribe societies is based mainly on kinship (Scupin 201). The rules concerning kinship, marriage, and other social systems in this society are more elaborate than in foraging societies. Unlike foragers who remain separate in bands, horticulturalists develop social relationships that are fixed and permanent. Marriage within horticulturalists is exogamous which are done outside their lineage (Scupin 204-205). They exercise cross-cousin marriages, parallel-cousin marriages, polygyny where male marries two or more females, bride wealth where the groom transfers his wealth to the bride, fraternal polyandery where brothers share a wife, and patrilocal residency. Divorce, on the other hand, depends on bride wealth where the higher the wealth, the higher the chance for the relationship to be stable (Scupin 208). Gender and age are also extremely important elements of the social structure in tribal societies (Scupin 208). Though patriarchy, women also influence the political and economic dynamics of the society. Age is important in order for people to acquire norms and cultural knowledge. Concerning elders, their role is to make use of their control of property to reinforce their status. Similarly with foraging societies, horticulturalist societies have dispersed political systems. The authority is distributed equally among a number of individuals, groups and associations (Scupin 213). Solidalities or associations, classified as kinship and nonkin solidalities or lineages and clans as the most common, existed in tribal societies. Leaders are chosen to lead according to their personal abilities and qualities like leaders in foraging societies are chosen. According to Scupin, the religions in tribal societies are also "cosmic religions" ("Cultural Anthropology" 220). Their concepts, beliefs, and rituals are combined with the natural environment, seasonal cycles and all living organisms. Animism and shamanism are common religious traditions in tribal societies. Art and music is of utilitarian and ceremonial functions. Conclusion Edward Tylor's definition of culture still encompasses what culture is about: "Culture.. that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society" (Kottak 62; Scupin 43). The process where culture is acquired is called enculturation. This process explains that culture is learned and passed from one generation to the next. The experiences, memories, values, and beliefs are shared within people who acquire the same culture. Cultural is learned through the use of symbols that only humans have the capacity of. It is all-encompassing for everyone is cultured, not just people of high and expensive education. Thus, societies are integrated and patterned according to their prevailing economic forces, social patterns, key symbols and core values. Band societies or foraging societies have some similarities and a lot of differences with tribal societies or horticulture societies. First, in terms of mobility, foragers engage in a more mobile, and nomadic lifestyle compared to horticulturalists. Second, they both societies use a variety of tools made of different materials such as wood, stones, clay, metal, rocks, ice, and sand for hunting or cultivating their food. Third, both societies have developed economic patterns that depend on cooperative behaviour that embraces the concepts of reciprocity and sharing of resources. Fourth, both societies have social organization that is centered on kinship, age, and gender. They value multifamily bands or extended families though marriage is done differently. Unlike tribal marriages, foragers are monogamous. But both societies practice bride wealth exchanges during marriage and mostly patriarchal. Age mattered in determining people's status in societies where young individuals live to learn more about society while the elders are respected for their knowledge and teaching skills. Fifth, both societies prefer political organizations that are decentralized in order to avoid feuds and disputes. Leaders in both societies are chosen according to their skills in personal qualities instead of permanent qualities. Lastly, religion is based on animism, shamanism, witchcraft, and sorcery-or anything to do with their natural environment including animals, plants, and human beings. Both of their art and music forms reflect their spiritual aspects of their culture. References Kottak, Conrad P. Cultural Anthropology. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Miller, Barbara D. Cultural Anthropology. 3rd ed. United States of America: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005. O'Neil, Dennis. "What is Culture" Human Culture. 26 May 2006. Palomar College, San Marcos, California. 6 December 2008 . Scupin, Raymond. Cultural Anthropology: A Global Perspective. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2003. Read More