Concept of Culture & Civilisation

Concept of Culture

Introduction – In an anthropological perspective every society has a culture, though in some societies it may be simple, while complex in others. As Culture is an attribute of the genus Homo. It is basic of human life. It rests on biology but is not biological. E.B Tylor in 1871 gave the first definition to the concept of culture. Since then so many have been put forward

Definition –

E.B Tylor (English Anthropologist, founder of cultural anthropology – in his book Primitive Culture (1871) defined that culture or civilisation, taking in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom & other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of the society.”
- Acc to his definition culture is social heritage which is given by a society to its members.
But Acc to Malinowskii we can divide this social heritage into material and non-material or shape and shapeless.
- He defined culture as a total way of life and it includes all the mental, social and physical means which make life run its course.
- In above definitions – two aspects of culture
  - Material aspect– includes house, means of communication (bullock cart, camel cart, bus, plane etc.), clothing, industries, weapons etc.
  - Non material aspect- includes knowledge, belief, values, customs, traditions, law, war etc.
  - But both these aspects are complimentary to each other.
Melville J. Herskovits (American Anthropologist) defines culture as man-made part of environment. Acc to him env is of two types i) natural env and ii) social env. The total social environment of man is his culture b/c it is made by man himself.
- Thus all material & non-material things made by man represent culture.
Ralph Linton (American cultural anthropologist) defined culture as, “the totality of the knowledge, attitudes & habitual a behaviour patterns, shared & transmitted by the members of a particular society.
According to H.T. Mazumdar, “Culture is the total of human achievements, material and non-material, capable of transmission, sociologically, i.e., by tradition and communication, vertically as well as horizontally.”
According to G. Hofstede, “Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.”

Symbolic view of culture

Leslie White defines symbolising as the ability to originate and bestow meaning upon a thing and ability to grasp and appreciate such meaning.
Robert Redfield (American cultural civilisationist) defined culture as the sum total of conventional meaningembodied in artifacts, social structure and symbols.

Functional view of culture: This gives instrumental & humanistic definitions of.

Malinowski defines culture as the instrumentation for satisfaction of needs of man.
R. Brown defines it as social heritage which perpetuates social life.

From above analysis there is no unanimity among the anthropologists so far as the definition of culture is concerned. – But from these definitions we can identify three aspects of a given culture

Culture is a pattern of behaviour – found to be present in the behaviours of the majority of people living in a particular culture ; varies from culture to culture ; condemned if not followed by anyone
Culture is learned, – cultural aspect not found right from birth, but learn as he follows, observes & interact with others
Culture is transmitted from one generation to the next – the process is called Enculturation.

Hence Beals and Hoiser in their work “An introduction to Anthropology” suggested that the term culture as used by anthropologists may be applied as follows:

To the ways of life or designs for living common at any one time to all mankind or
To the ways of living peculiar to a group of societies b/w which there is greater or lesser degree of interaction or
To the patterns of behavior peculiar to a given society.

Nature of Culture

Historically created design for living – first by original ancestor 5mya then added by subsequent generations → cumulative
Unique to Human Species – only one using symbolism & culture b/c capacity to create & use language & symbol ; store, process & use info to level of human complexity not by any other + moral elements also
Culture is Non genetic – As rather than biological heredity part of social hereditary ; animal behaviour is inborn ; human culture is acquired
Culture has unity as well as Diversity – as all humans have it ; this aspect refers unity ; but different groups have different → shows diversity
- As human born with similar biological C but in different portion of plant → diff situation to cope → diff culture

Characteristics of culture

Culture is learned: it is not instinctive or biologically transmitted. It is learned through social interactions.
Culture is social: Human beings learn culture in society. Culture is differentially shared by different people.
Culture is inculcated: Humans alone have a capacity to transmit acquired habits to their children.
Culture is adaptive: Socially transmitted knowledge is a major way to adapt to the environment.
Culture is structured: It has definite structure ; components c/l Traits & complex
Culture is ideational : Shared notions such as ideals, norms etc. by all members of society.‘
Culture is both stable and dynamic ( change oriented)
Culture is integrative as it teaches mutual adjustment along with cultural elements
Culture is gratifying as it fulfills biological and other secondary need. & culture elements can survive only till they satisfy needs

Attributes of Culture – Qualities

overtness & Covertness –
- Overt : easily detectable qualities – artefacts, actions, utterances (Speech, song)
- Covert : qualities not easily detectable by outsides – sentiments, beliefs, fears & values i.e abstract ideas
Explicit & Implicit – based on people’s awareness of existence of cultural items ; explicit cultural items can be verbalised or criticised not other
Ideality & Reality – I. Of culture → how people should behave ; actual way of behave | there is generally a discrepancy b/w two
Ethos & Eidos
- Ethos – affective or emotional quality of culture expressed in series of beliefs, thoughts & behaviour → it determine what people should have , do think, feel it ; Apollonian & Dionysian ethos
- Eidos : formal appearance of culture derived from constituent; is cognitive
Organic & Super-organic – organic as ultimately rooted in biological nature. ( if not thinking, acting feeling → No) ; once created acquire super-organic quality by virtue of which culture exists on a level above that of the individual who create & carry it. It is to the extended – It outlines the particular generation of people who carry it & so persists from gen → gen
Universal & Unique – as every 옷 experience it ; uniqueness implies regional variations

Functions of Culture

Makes a man human being
Provides solution to complicated situations –
Provides traditional interpretation to certain solutions – thr these justifies the behaviour of humans in society
Keeps social relationships intact – solidarity rests on its foundation – by presenting the sense of likeliness or commonality
Broadens the vision of individual – as compels his to think in terms of society as a whole – “espirit de corps”
Creates & satisfies new needs –

Conclusion – Thus to conclude we can say that culture is inseparable part of human life though there is no unanimity in its definition.

Components or Parts of culture

Question : Write notes on cultural traits and culture complex

In each culture we come across a structure or organization. This structure came into existence due to organization of different small units of culture which are interrelated & interdependent on each other in order to maintain equilibrium in culture.

Cultural traits: smallest & indivisible unit of culture. Further division of traits becomes meaningless. Ex
- material traits are like house, TV, clothing etc. and
- non-material traits are symbols, words, customs etc. ; abstract things
Culture complex: Organization of different cultural traits together gives rise to culture complex.
- Ex culture complex of religion involves rites & rituals like aarati, pooja, prasad, floral offering etc.
Culture pattern: It consists of no. of cultural complexes ; ↠ unique configuration + with system of internal r/l ↠ pattern of culture
- Ex: Indian cultural pattern consists of Gandhism, spiritualism, joint family system, caste system etc.

Few variations

Cultural Universals – traits necessary to all members of the society. E.g Incest Taboo
Cultural Alternatives – imply different activities for achieving the same en. E.g religious beliefs
Cultural specialities – elements of culture which are shared by some but not all the groups within a society.

These universal components are found in all cultures but their forms are different. Though it not merely a loose accumulation of part. It is holistic phenomenon & whole is greater than the sum of the part of culture.

Cultural Process

A cultural process implies a specific continuous action by which produces a situation or a change. It includes

An action that promotes human survival
An action that promotes human adjustment
Action that changes the way of life or resists change in the way of life.

Features

Thus cultural process promote adjustment of people to env & adjusment among themselves.
These also bring change in a specific part of culture or in all the parts.
Change can be anything like change in technological skills, economic life, social org. & political life etc.
The cultural process may set a chain reaction of change in society.
As culture system is like web, if any change in part occurs, change happen also in the entire structure of culture.

Types of Cultural Process

Cultural Evolution – socio-cultural change in definite direction e.g simple to complex i.e homogeneity to heterogeneity
- Continuous process of diversification & integration.
- Change in form, structure, Organization of society or culture
- By means of invention, discovery, by alteration of existing items & by diffusion
Cultural Diffusion – in it cultural elements, cultural complexes or aspects pass from one group to another, from one society to another.
- Differ from evolution in nature & complexity ; as less complex then evolution & its nature is to spread or transmit not change like evolution
- May aid in evolution
- It may involve indirect contact b/w two cultures
- May occur without continuous contact b/w these cultures
- Traits / complexes of one society spread to another. Whole culture of a society doesn’t spread to another.
Acculturation – when societies having diff cultures come in intensive, direct or mediated contact with subsequent major changes in original culture of one of the two societies involved.
- involves direct or mediated but first hand contact b/w two cultures
- Only when contact is relatively continuous other wise no.
- In it whole of the culture of one society is being replaced/ displaced by culture of another society.
Transculturation – involves exchange of cultural items (traits, complexes) when two formerly different cultures come in continuous first hand contact with one another.
- Different from diffusion as involve mutual transfer not unidirectional flow
Enculturation process by which growing child learns the culture of it society. I.e its is learning process by which culture is passed from one generation to the other generation.
- Ongoing process in every culture – whereby culturally inexperienced members learn traits from the culturally experienced persons & develop personality traits
- Important to the survival in a society.
- Different from diffusion as in diffusing there is flow from culture to cultures ; but in it there is flow within culture but from one gen to other gen.

Is Culture Unique To Human ?

Concept of Civilisation

Civilisation is the stage of human social development and organization which is considered most advanced. A civilization is also defined as any complex society characterized by urban development, social stratification imposed by a cultural elite, symbolic systems of communication (for example, writing systems), and a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment.

Various approaches to study of Civilization

Socio-linguist’s approach
- Initially the idea of progress was associated with the term ; to indicate particular level of progress
- L.H. Morgan in his book ‘Ancient Society’ in 1877 proposed the scheme of entire society as ‘Savagery to Barbarism to Civilisation‘.
- The characteristics of each stage are
  - Savagery
    - H&G economic organisation.
    - Nomadic life and no territorial regard.
    - They don’t live in community life.
    - Subsistence or below subsistence living.
  - Barbarism
    - Cultivation & domestication of animals and plants.
    - Control of man on the supply of his food (Hallmark of Barbarism).
    - Rural community with territorial limits (rural revolution).
    - Surplus economy.
  - Civilisation
    - Invention of script and metallurgy: craftsmanship
    - Trade and commerce ,urban centre as trading centre (urban revolution: V.G. Childe)
    - Social stratification imposed by cultural elite.
    - Population growth and specialization of labour.
    - Utilitarianism or accumulation of utilities making life more comfortable.
    - Technological and material achievement (quantification of achievement).
    - Civil government to control the area.

These are the scales used for measurement of progress. Thus socio-linguists tried to explain the concept of Civilization as a stage in the development of human culture. They prefer to refer it to as material culture.

Historian’s view of Civilization
- Historically, a civilization was a so-called ‘advanced’ culture in contrast to more supposedly primitive cultures. In this broad sense, a civilization contrasts with non-centralized tribal societies, including the cultures of nomadic pastoralists, egalitarian horticultural subsistence, Neolithic societies or hunter-gatherers.
- Historians made certain conclusions about origin, growth and demise of Civilization. According to them there were 21 civilizations preceding modern Western Civilization.
- Specific factors in a geographical region give rise to emergence of Civilisation.
- E.g. Indus Valley Civilization, Egyptian Civilization etc.

Anthropological approach of Civilization
1. Comprehending the concept of Civilization in contrast to culture.
2. Two ways of concern with Civilization:
  1. Meaning of Civilization
    - Civilization is a stage in the development of human culture. It is concerned with:
      - material culture and its products
      - trends of technologies
      - creation of equipments to add comfort and luxury
    - It is referred to as an external outfit, a sort of cover of technological trends around which people of different cultures organise their lifestyles.
  2. Contents of Civilization
    - The theory of material & non-material cultures gave rise to distinction of Culture and Civilization.
    - Acc to McIver: Civilization is what we possess- material aspect and Culture is what we are in terms of values, non-materialistic achievements subjective aspect.
    - Civilization is something objective and Culture by and large refers to differences in values and attitudes etc.

Conclusion: Thus all these approaches of study of Civilization make study of Civilization comprehensive but anthropological approach is more holistic as it compares Civilization o with Culture.

Components of Civilisation – are generally physical & technological

it represent external structure
It involves techniques of human adjustment with nature
It is the results of process of natural selection & social selection.

Thus the component of civilisation are external & objectives. So the study of civilisation includes study of housing, means of communication, dress, industries, weapons etc.

Culture & Civilisation

Introduction – Both culture & civilisation are are closely related as both have been developed by the same human process. Both are complementary to each other. Culture needs a civilisation for further growth. Civilisation needs culture even for its vital force & survival i.e the two are interdependent. So the anthropologist study both material civilisation & non material culture.

Interdependence – the Articles of civilisation called Artefacts are influenced by culture c/l menifacts. Products of civilisation in turn influence culture.

Interactive – culture responds to the stages of technological development. Civilisation is a vehicle of culture.

Every change in culture & its valuations has its repercussions on the civilisation, structure. In short civilisation is the driving force of the society & culture is its steering wheel.

Difference B/w Culture & Civilisation

Introduction– Inspite of close relationships b/w culture & civilisation, the two are very much different. Civilisation is concerned with the physical & external equipment of a community to ensure physical requirements. Culture, on the other hand, is concerned with internal growth i.e culture is internal & subjects while civilisation is external & subjective

Culture & civilisation are different in the following respects

Civilization has a precise standard of measurement but not culture:
- The universal standard of civilization is utility b/c civilization is a means.
  - As can also prove which is superior & inferiors ex car & bullock cart
- Culture has no similar qualitative or quantitative std of M b/c culture is an end in itself.
  - Ex no comparison of panting of Picasso
- The elements, ideals, values and thoughts etc., of culture change in accordance with the time and space.
Civilization is always advancing, but not culture: concerning culture, it cannot be asserted that art, literature, thoughts or ideals of today are superior to those of the past.
Civilization is transmitted without effort, but not culture:
- Objects comprehended by civil → utility | external life of man→ easily adapted from one generation to another or from one country to another
- culture is not communicated & adapted with equal facility b/c it is related to an inner tendency and can be adapted only after the appropriate inner development.
- It is communicated only to the likeminded. One cannot appreciate art without the quality of an artist nor can any one enjoy music without the sensitivity of a musician.
Civilization is borrowed without change or loss, but not culture: When civilization is borrowed by a country or a generation other than its originator, it does not suffer any deterioration, loss or change. Railway, motor cars, airplanes, machines etc. are borrowed as they are, but the elements of culture such as religion, art, literature, thought, ideals etc., can never be borrowed in their original character.
Culture is internal and an end while civilization is external and a means: Civilization is inclusive of external things while culture is related to internal thoughts, feelings, ideals and values. Civilization is the means for the expression and manifestation of culture. Civilization is the body while culture is the soul. This implies that civilization is what we have and culture is what we are.