One of the basic questions in sociology and other humanities research. Culture in a broad sense refers to the sum of all material and spiritual products created by human beings. Culture in the narrow sense refers specifically to spiritual products including language, literature, art and all ideologies.
Etymology The word "culture" in the West comes from the Latin word cultura, which originally means farming and the cultivation of plants. Since the 15th century, the use has been gradually extended, and the cultivation of people's moral character and abilities is also called culture. In ancient Chinese books, "wen" refers to not only characters, articles, and literary talents, but also ritual and music systems, legal provisions, etc. "Hua" means "teaching" and "teaching". From the perspective of social governance, "culture" refers to educating people through ritual and music systems. Liu Xiang of the Han Dynasty said in "Shuo Yuan": "Whenever martial arts flourishes, it is said that they are dissatisfied and their culture is not changed, and then they are punished." The word "culture" here is opposite to "martial arts", which means education. Wang Rong of the Southern Qi Dynasty said in "Preface to Qushui Poems": "Set up the divine principles with scenery and customs, and apply the culture with softness and distance." The word "culture" also means civilized education. The word culture comes from both Chinese and Western sources but reaches the same goal by different means. Today, people use it to refer to the spiritual phenomenon of human society, or generally refers to the sum of all material and non-material products created by human beings. History, anthropology, and sociology often use the concept of culture in a broad sense.
Definition of the concept of culture There is no unified definition of the word culture. In modern times, the first person to clearly define the term culture was the British anthropologist E. B． Taylor. He published the book "Primitive Culture" in 1871. He pointed out: “According to the ethnographic point of view, culture or civilization is a complex whole that includes knowledge, beliefs, art, ethics, laws, customs and any other things that a person as a member of a society acquires through learning. Abilities and habits."
British anthropologist B. K. Malinowski developed Taylor's definition of culture and wrote the book "On Culture" in the 1930s. He believed that "culture refers to a group of traditional artifacts, goods, technologies, ideas, habits and values. This concept encompasses and regulates all social sciences. We will also see that social organization cannot be understood unless it is regarded as part of culture." He further divided culture into material and spiritual, which is called "transformed". The two main components are the environment and the altered human organism.
It is a tradition in British anthropology to study culture from a structural-functional perspective. British anthropologist A. R． Radcliffe-Brown believes that culture is the way of thinking, feeling and activity acquired by a certain social group or social class through contact and interaction with others. Culture is the process by which people acquire knowledge, skills, experiences, concepts, beliefs and sentiments through mutual interactions. He emphasized that culture can only be revealed when the social structure functions. Culture cannot be observed without the social structure system. For example, the relationship between father and son, buyer and seller, ruler and ruled, can only show a certain culture when they interact. French anthropologist C. Lévi-Strauss defined culture in terms of behavioral norms and patterns. He proposed: "Culture is a set of behavioral patterns that are popular among a group of people at a certain period...and are easily distinguished from the behavioral patterns of other groups and show clear discontinuities." British anthropologist R. Firth believes that culture is society. What society is, culture is. In his book "Elements of Social Organization" published in 1951, he pointed out that if society is considered to be composed of a group of people with a specific lifestyle, then culture is a lifestyle. American cultural anthropologist A. L． Kroeber and K. In "Culture: An Examination of a Conceptual Definition" published in 1952, Colakhoun analyzed and examined more than 100 definitions of culture, and then they gave a comprehensive definition of culture: "Culture exists in various implicit and explicit ways. Among the patterns, they are learned and transmitted through the use of symbols, and constitute the special achievements of human groups. These achievements include the various specific styles in which they make things. The basic element of culture is tradition (derived through history and obtained by selection). Ideological concepts and values, among which values ??are the most important.” Krober and Colakhoun’s definition of culture is accepted by many scholars in the modern West.
The various definitions of culture mentioned above have their own strengths and weaknesses, reflecting the historical process of cultural understanding by modern anthropologists, sociologists and social psychologists.
The elements of culture mainly include: ①Spiritual elements, that is, spiritual culture. It mainly refers to philosophy and other specific sciences, religion, art, ethics and values, among which values ??are the most important and are the core of spiritual culture. Spiritual culture is the most dynamic part of cultural elements and the driving force for human creative activities. Without spiritual culture, humans would be indistinguishable from animals. Values ??are the standards by which members of a society evaluate actions and things and select desirable goals from a variety of possible goals. This standard exists in people's hearts and is expressed through attitudes and behaviors. It determines what people appreciate and pursue. What life goals and lifestyle to choose. At the same time, values ??are also reflected in all material and non-material products created by human beings. The types, uses and styles of products all reflect the values ??of the creator.
②Language and symbols. The two have the same nature, that is, expressiveness. In human communication activities, both play a role in communication.
Language and symbols are also means of cultural accumulation and storage. Human beings can communicate only with the help of language and symbols, and only communication and interaction can create culture. And all aspects of culture can only be reflected and taught through language and symbols. Being able to use language and symbols to engage in production and social activities and create a rich and colorful culture is a unique attribute of human beings.
③Standard system. Norms are the rules for people's behavior. They may be established by convention, such as customs, or explicitly stipulated, such as legal provisions, rules and regulations of group organizations, etc. Various norms are interconnected, penetrate each other, complement each other, and simultaneously adjust people's various social relationships. Norms stipulate the direction, methods and styles of people's activities. Specify the objects and methods for the use of language and symbols. Norms are established or formed naturally by human beings to meet their needs and are the embodiment of values. The normative system is explicit. Understanding the culture of a society or group often starts with understanding the norms.
④Social relations and social organizations. Social relations are the basis for the above-mentioned cultural elements. Production relations are the basis of various social relations. On the basis of production relations, various social relations occur. These social relationships are both part of culture and the basis for creating culture. The determination of social relationships must be guaranteed by organizations. Social organizations are entities that realize social relationships. A society must establish many social organizations to ensure the realization and operation of various social relations. Families, factories, companies, schools, churches, governments, military, etc. are all entities that ensure the operation of various social relationships. Social organization includes goals, regulations, a certain number of members and corresponding material equipment, including both material and spiritual factors. Social relations and social organizations are closely linked and become an important part of culture.
⑤Material products. The natural environment transformed by humans and all objects created by humans, such as tools, utensils, clothing, buildings, dams, parks, etc., are all tangible parts of culture. On them are condensed human concepts, needs and abilities.
The general characteristics of culture mainly include: ①Culture is derived or created during the process of human evolution. Natural objects are not culture. Only things that are processed intentionally or unintentionally by humans are culture. For example, spitting is not culture, but spitting into a bowl is culture; water is not culture, but reservoirs are culture; stones are not culture, but stone tools are culture, etc.
②Culture is acquired. Culture is not an innate genetic instinct, but acquired experience and knowledge. For example, men and women are not culture, but "men and women are not close to each other" or the love between men and women is culture; the former is hereditary, and the latter is learned. All aspects of culture, from language, habits, customs, morals to scientific knowledge, technology, etc., are learned.
③Culture is unique. Culture is a social product jointly created by human beings. It must be jointly accepted and followed by all members of a society or group in order to become culture. It's purely personal and private stuff. If personal quirks, etc. are not understood and accepted by members of society, it is not culture.
④Culture is a continuous and dynamic process. Culture is not only the product of a certain society and a certain era, but also a social heritage and a continuous accumulation process. Each generation is born into a certain cultural environment and naturally inherits traditional culture from the previous generation. At the same time, each generation transforms traditional culture according to its own experience and needs, injects new content into traditional culture, and discards outdated and undesirable parts.
⑤Culture has national and specific class characteristics. General culture is spoken in an abstract sense. Real society only has specific cultures, such as ancient Greek culture, Roman culture, ancient Chinese culture, modern Chinese culture, etc. Specific culture is restricted by many conditions, the most important of which are the natural environment and people's social and material living conditions. If there are stones, there can be stone tool culture; if there are tea trees, there can be tea drinking culture; if there are living rooms and leisure time, there can be the salon culture of European aristocrats. Culture has characteristics of the times, regions, nationalities and classes. Since the formation of a nation, culture often appears in the form of a nation. A nation uses a different language, abides by different customs and habits, and develops a different psychological quality and character. This is the expression of national culture. In a society divided into classes, each class has different social status due to different material living conditions. Therefore, their values, beliefs, habits and lifestyles are also different, resulting in cultural differences between classes.
Culture is a complex system composed of various elements. Each part of this system is functionally interdependent and structurally connected to each other, and jointly performs the functions of social integration and social orientation. However, specific cultures sometimes become obstacles to social changes and human development.