Characteristics of culture

CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

SALMERO, MARIA ALENA ROSE S.

Most fundamental characteristics of culture:

1. Culture is always a product of human behavior

2. It is always transmitted through learning

3. It always gratifies human needs4. It always tends toward integrating a

society.

CULTURE IS SHARED AND TRANSMITTED

It is shared by and is transmitted to and among the members of a social group..

Generally , man transmits culture by means of ideas

The acquired learning of culture is passed on to succeeding generations primarily through language, but other symbolic means of communications are utilized

CULTURE IS LEARNED AND ACQUIRED

It has to be understood that not all things shared generally by a population are cultural.

Culture is not instinctive It is acquired by each person through the

senses and from experiences. Each individual must learn through

himself. No one is born equipped with a particular

language, or knowledge of religious beliefs

CULTURE IS SOCIAL

Culture is a group product developed by many persons interacting in a group.

It is social due to man’s natural tendency of sociability and gregariousness.

CULTURE IS IDEATIONAL

Man forms ideas and uses them to assign meanings to his environment and experiences

Symbols are symbolized

CULTURE GRATIFIES HUMAN NEEDS

An individual is likely to utilize habitually a cultural technique which gratifies him in some way.

The patterns of culture continues to persist if they continue to satisfy man’s need

Biological needs are components of culture

CULTURE IS ADAPTIVE

All culture is dynamic They change over time These changes may be in form of

discoveries, inventions, or cultural borrowings.

CULTURE TENDS TOWARD INTEGRATION

Means that the elements or traits that makes up that culture are not just a random assortment of customs but are mostly adjusted to or consistent with one another.

A culture may be integrated for psychological reasons. The traits of culture - attitude, values, ideals, and rules for behavior – are stored after all, in the brains of individuals.

CULTURE IS CUMULATIVE

Through the ages, the people of any given place are able to retain certain features of their culture that are significant in their relationship and interactions with their fellow human beings.

ADAPTATIONS OF CULTURE

Principal ways in which this process of culture adaptation occurs

Parallelism – independent development of a culture characteristics in two widely separated cultures

Diffusion – much more common process of patterns and traits passing back and forth from one culture to another

Fission – a process that can be traced historically when a long established society breaks up into two or more independent units

Convergence – is the fusion of two or more cultures into a new one which is somewhat different from its predecessors.

FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE

Culture as a category

Culture as a tool in prediction

More specific functions of culture:

Culture serve as “trademark” or special feature that distinguishes one society from another.

Culture brings together, contains, and interprets the values of a society in a more or less systematic manner.

Culture provides one of the most important bases for social solidarity

Culture provides a blue-print of, as well as the materials for social structure.

The culture of any society is the dominant factor in establishing and molding the social personality

The culture of a society provides behavioral patterns