The Meaning Of Culture

Culture is a term which is brandished with little regard to its actual meaning, likely due to the fact that there are hundreds of definitions trying to capture the essence of culture. One such definition, provided in a social psychology textbook, states that culture is 'the enduring behaviours, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next' (Myers & Spencer, 12). While this is a workable explanation of culture, in that it captures the fact that culture is enduring (rather than transitory), shared by a large group and passed down through enculturation, all it states regarding the makeup of culture is that it consists of behaviours, idea, attitudes and traditions. This may seem like an all-encompassing collection of traits, but some (such as technology) are markedly absent, while others (like language and arts) are poorly encompassed by those listed. There is also some controversy regarding whether culture exists solely in humans; a less exclusive definition would include what cultural anthropologists insist on calling "behavioural variation" in primates (Stanford, 111), but this may just be a semantic defense of the anthropologist's traditional territory.

A second definition, provided by British anthropologist Sir Edward Bunnet Tylor, claims 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' (qtd from Haviland, Fedorak, Crawford & Lee, 36). Sir Edward was clearly attempting to generate a definition that would be workable in as many applications as possible, but in doing so he erred. While he has listed a whole string a descriptive nouns, his definition lacks mention of the cohesiveness of culture (even when the incredible variations are accounted for), being interpretable as applicable to only one man. It also suffers from ambiguity - does one man's belief in aliens reflect culture? While it could be argued that crop circles and U.F.O. sightings are cultural phenomenon, Sir Edward's definition fails to capture the breadth and depth of that sort of application of the term belief, as he does for all his nouns, and thus also for the term culture itself.

Finally, the meaning of culture presented by a cultural anthropology textbook is 'the shared ideals, values, and beliefs that people use to interpret experience and generate behaviour and that are reflected by their behaviour' (Haviland et al, 36). Although the text does acknowledge that no definition is perfect, this one comes close. It mentions the fact that culture is shared, and highlights the fact that behaviour and values are often drastically different. Some problems include the fact that this definition of culture lacks mention of enculturative forces, or art, technology and language (unless these facets can be construed to be belonging to behaviour). All three definitions left out reference to culture as a (mal)adaptive force, or as unified, ever changing, multifaceted mosaic of individual differences.

Culture has played a significant role in my life. Looking at it from the standpoint of the social psychology definition of culture, I have received the behaviours, ideas, attitudes, and traditions not only of my parents, but I have also integrated these influences from all of Canadian, North American, and Western civilization. For example, I grew up in an industrialized nation, and so have adopted the behaviours that are expected of white suburban sons of privilege. I came to college because it was an expected behaviour. I plan on going to University and receiving a doctorate, an idea which is highly dependent upon my socioeconomic status within my culture. I am male, not a visible minority (and in fact my family has been in Canada long enough to have lost any 'old world heritage' they may have brought with them), and I speak the predominant language of my culture, and thus I am afforded every advantage socially, educationally, and in the workforce.

When looking at how culture has touched my life from the perspective of Sir Edward Tylor, who mentioned both art and law, it is clear that it played a predominant role. As a young teenager I was quite reckless and had difficulty submitting to authority. One night I decided to go 'car hopping' to try to steal money or cigarettes from unlocked cars, and at the first car I tried I discovered spray-paint. Of course, my natural reaction was one of blissful joy, and I proceeded to use my artistic expression to 'tag' such cultural classics as 'fuck' and 'shit' on the road. After this brief foray into an artistic outlet just risquй enough in my culture to be appealing at that age, I had my first brush with the law, and was placed under citizens arrest, given a stern talking to by the cops, and then dropped off to my parents' home with no further consequences. Things might have been different if I were female, or a visible minority; community service or youth diversion might not have been unlikely.

Lastly, the third definition says that culture generates behaviour and is reflected by behaviour. Surely this helps explain my disastrous high-school