The connotations of culture and civilization are often easily confused. German academic circles believe that civilization belongs to material, technical and objective; Culture is spiritual, religious and subjective. Some scholars in the former Soviet Union believe that civilization uses material forms to illustrate higher spiritual values. For example, "sickles and plows, trains and planes, bathrooms and toilets, etc." It is the fruit of civilization. Cultural achievements are mainly manifested in moral consciousness and corresponding activities, as well as in philosophical-humanistic thoughts and artistic creation. It can be seen that culture is greater than civilization. Culture in a broad sense includes the sum of all spirits and materials created by human beings through their own labor.
The types of culture are generally distinguished from three aspects: time, space, industry and folklore. In terms of time, people divide the cultures of different nationalities into three types: animal husbandry culture, agricultural culture and industrial and commercial culture. Or divided into agricultural culture, industrial culture, post-industrial culture and so on; Some are divided into ancient culture, medieval culture, modern culture, modern culture and contemporary culture. Romanian philosopher a? Tanis believes that there have been two revolutions in interpersonal communication, the first is "written culture corresponding to the appearance of characters", and the second is "communication culture" realized through the contemporary communication system. It shows that the relationship between culture and historical development has both continuity and stages. As far as space is concerned, people divide region and national culture, culture and region or natural environment into types. For example, some people in China divide culture into China culture and foreign culture; Oriental culture, western culture. Oriental culture is divided into China culture, Indian culture, Japanese culture, Arabic culture, Korean culture and so on. Western culture is divided into French culture, British culture and German culture. In terms of industry, people divide culture into food culture, clothing culture, architecture culture, daily necessities culture, medical culture, sports culture and tourism culture. Folk culture refers to the folk tradition and popular culture of a nation or country. For example, the Spring Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival in China.
Some western scholars divide the nature of culture into two categories: evaluation culture and non-evaluation culture. Evaluation culture is divided into superior culture and inferior culture. Superior culture generally refers to advanced science and technology, developed education, excellent service and values that emphasize independence and oppose dependence, attach importance to reality, appreciate creativity and enterprising spirit, and oppose ruthlessness and lack of enterprising spirit. Bad culture refers to drug abuse, prostitution, homosexuality, high crime rate, decadent ideas and other cultural dross. Some people call it abnormal culture, opium culture and so on. Non-evaluation culture is a neutral culture, including celebrations, etiquette, taboos, hairstyles and so on. For example, people in China eat with chopsticks, while westerners use knives and forks. Chopsticks and knives and forks have their own advantages and disadvantages, and there is no strict distinction between good and bad. Neutral culture is a symbol of ethnic division, which helps to maintain social unity and stability and enhance social cohesion. The same culture is advanced in this era. After a few centuries, it may become backward.