Culture
E. B. Taylor, an English anthropologist, was the first to coin the term ‘culture’ in the eighteenth century. The study of society becomes incomplete without a proper understanding of the culture of that society because culture and society go together. Culture is a unique possession of man. Man is born and brought up in a cultural environment. Culture is the unique qualify of man which separates him from the lower animals. Culture includes all that man acquires in his social life.
The word “culture” derives from a French term, which in turn derives from the Latin “colere,” which means to tend to the earth and grow, or cultivation and nurture” (Cristina De Rossi). In this sense, culture is the man-made environment and the people living in a society actually grow their way of life over time.
Definition of Culture
1. According to E.B. Taylor, “Culture as that complex whole which includes knowledge belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
2. According to B. Malinowski, “Culture is the handiwork of man and the medium through which he achieves his ends.”
3. According to H. T. Mazumdar, “Culture is the sum total of human achievements material as well as non-material, capable of transmission, sociologically i.e. by tradition and communication, vertically as well as horizontally.”
4. According to Maclver, “Culture is the expression of our nature in our modes of living and our thinking, intercourse, in our literature, in religion, in recreation and enjoyment.”
5. According to Lundberg, culture refers to “the social mechanisms of behaviour and to the physical and symbolic products of these behaviours.”
6. According to S. Koening, “Culture is the sum total of man’s efforts to adjust himself to his environment and to improve his modes of living.”
0 Comments