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-There are two contradictory views of [[culture]]. The first holds that culture is the [[perfection|''very best'']] a society produces, the second holds that culture is ''everything'' a society produces, even [[everyday]] and ugly phenomena (see [[elements of culture]]). In this article [[Nobrow|''both'' views are right]]. +'''culture''' is that which distinguishes life in one group from life in another group{{cn|date=August 2012}}, including language, beliefs, morality, norms, customs, institutions, and physical objects, among other qualities.
-At the extreme ends, both [[high culture]] and [[low culture]] are [[minority culture]]s; the combined influences and the [[cross|cross fertilization]] of both 'high' and 'low' strains constitute [[popular culture|mainstream]] culture. In this sense, mainstream culture equals culture. +When culture ({{lang-la|[[wikt:cultura|cultura]]}}, lit. "cultivation") first began to take its current usage by Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries (having had earlier antecedents elsewhere), it connoted a process of [[plant cultivation|cultivation]] or improvement, as in [[agriculture]] or [[horticulture]]. In the 19th century, it came to refer first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through [[education]], and then to the fulfillment of [[nationalism|national aspirations or ideals]]. In the mid-19th century, some scientists used the term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity. For the German [[nonpositivist]] [[sociologist]] [[Georg Simmel]], culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been [[objectification|objectified]] in the course of history".
-== Thesis == +
-Culture is an ambiguous term in the sense that without a qualifier, the term usually refers to high culture. To avoid this bias, both strains [[high culture]] and [[low culture]] need to be examined in equal proportion in order to find the true nature of culture, closer to [[mainstream]] or [[popular culture]] than most researchers have been willing to admit.+
- +
-== Some dichotomies ==+
-*[[high culture]] vs [[nobrow|nobrow culture]] vs [[low|low culture]]+
- +
-*[[cultural optimism]] vs [[cultural pessimism]]+
- +
-*[[popular]] and [[mainstream]] vs [[subculture]] and [[underground]]+
- +
-*[[genre fiction]] vs [[literary fiction]]+
- +
-*[[art music]] vs [[popular music]]+
- +
-*[[originality]] vs [[genre]]+
- +
-*[[art film]] vs [[exploitation film]]+
- +
-*[[haute couture]] vs [[street fashion]]+
- +
-*"[[body genre]]s" vs "[[mind genre]]s"+
 +In the 20th century, "culture" emerged as a concept central to [[anthropology]], encompassing all human phenomena that are not purely results of human genetics. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with [[symbol]]s, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively.
 +A distinction is current between the physical artifacts created by a [[society]], its so-called [[material culture]] and everything else, the intangibles such as language, customs, etc. that are the main referent of the term "culture".
== Definition == == Definition ==
The word '''''culture''''' comes from the Latin root ''[[colere]],'' (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor). In general it refers to human activity; different definitions of ''culture'' reflect different theories for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. In 1952 [[Alfred L. Kroeber|Alfred Kroeber]] and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of over 200 different definitions of ''culture'' in their book, ''Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions''. The word '''''culture''''' comes from the Latin root ''[[colere]],'' (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor). In general it refers to human activity; different definitions of ''culture'' reflect different theories for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. In 1952 [[Alfred L. Kroeber|Alfred Kroeber]] and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of over 200 different definitions of ''culture'' in their book, ''Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions''.
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[t]he fatal ambiguity of the word "culture" itself--which simultaneously has an organic, biological resonance (growing plants, germ cultures etc) yet also signifies the antithesis of earthy natural-ness (the civilized, the non-instinctual, the artificial, the sublimated). --[[Simon Reynolds]], ''Springerin'', 2001 [t]he fatal ambiguity of the word "culture" itself--which simultaneously has an organic, biological resonance (growing plants, germ cultures etc) yet also signifies the antithesis of earthy natural-ness (the civilized, the non-instinctual, the artificial, the sublimated). --[[Simon Reynolds]], ''Springerin'', 2001
 +
 +== Some dichotomies ==
 +*[[high culture]] vs [[nobrow|nobrow culture]] vs [[low|low culture]]
 +
 +*[[cultural optimism]] vs [[cultural pessimism]]
 +
 +*[[popular]] and [[mainstream]] vs [[subculture]] and [[underground]]
 +
 +*[[genre fiction]] vs [[literary fiction]]
 +
 +*[[art music]] vs [[popular music]]
 +
 +*[[originality]] vs [[genre]]
 +
 +*[[art film]] vs [[exploitation film]]
 +
 +*[[haute couture]] vs [[street fashion]]
 +
 +*"[[body genre]]s" vs "[[mind genre]]s"
 +
 +
== Bibliography == == Bibliography ==

Revision as of 22:38, 22 August 2012

1872 photograph of the western face of the Greek Parthenon
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1872 photograph of the western face of the Greek Parthenon
"Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec" in the clothes of Moulin Rouge showgirl Jane Avril, photo by Nadar, 1894.
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"Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec" in the clothes of Moulin Rouge showgirl Jane Avril, photo by Nadar, 1894.
Rue de la Colonie (1900) - Eugène Atget
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Rue de la Colonie (1900) - Eugène Atget

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culture is that which distinguishes life in one group from life in another groupTemplate:Cn, including language, beliefs, morality, norms, customs, institutions, and physical objects, among other qualities.

When culture (Template:Lang-la, lit. "cultivation") first began to take its current usage by Europeans in the 18th and 19th centuries (having had earlier antecedents elsewhere), it connoted a process of cultivation or improvement, as in agriculture or horticulture. In the 19th century, it came to refer first to the betterment or refinement of the individual, especially through education, and then to the fulfillment of national aspirations or ideals. In the mid-19th century, some scientists used the term "culture" to refer to a universal human capacity. For the German nonpositivist sociologist Georg Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history".

In the 20th century, "culture" emerged as a concept central to anthropology, encompassing all human phenomena that are not purely results of human genetics. Specifically, the term "culture" in American anthropology had two meanings: (1) the evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively and creatively; and (2) the distinct ways that people living in different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences, and acted creatively.

A distinction is current between the physical artifacts created by a society, its so-called material culture and everything else, the intangibles such as language, customs, etc. that are the main referent of the term "culture".

Contents

Definition

The word culture comes from the Latin root colere, (to inhabit, to cultivate, or to honor). In general it refers to human activity; different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding, or criteria for valuing, human activity. In 1952 Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of over 200 different definitions of culture in their book, Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions.

Presently, the UNESCO defines culture as the "set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society or a social group". Culture encompasses "in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs".

Popular use of the word culture in many Western societies can reflect the stratified character of those societies. Many use the word culture to refer to elite consumption goods and activities such as fine cuisine, art, and music. Some label this as "high" culture to distinguish it from "low" culture, meaning non-elite consumption goods and activities.

Culture as civilization

Many people today have an idea of "culture" that developed in Europe during the 18th and early 19th centuries. This notion of culture reflected inequalities within European societies, and between European powers and their colonies around the world. It identifies "culture" with "civilization" and contrasts it with "nature." According to this way of thinking, one can classify some countries and nations as more civilized than others, and some people as more cultured than others. Some cultural theorists have thus tried to eliminate popular or mass culture from the definition of culture. Theorists such as Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) or the Leavisites regard culture as simply the result of "the best that has been thought and said in the world” Arnold contrasted mass/popular culture with social chaos or anarchy. On this account, culture links closely with social cultivation: the progressive refinement of human behavior. Arnold consistently uses the word this way: "... culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world".

In practice, culture referred to élite activities such as museum-caliber art and classical music, and the word cultured described people who knew about, and took part in, these activities. These are often called "high culture", namely the culture of the ruling social group, (Bakhtin, 1981)to distinguish them from mass culture or popular culture.

From the 19th century onwards, some social critics have accepted this contrast between the highest and lowest culture, but have stressed the refinement and of sophistication of high culture as corrupting and unnatural developments that obscure and distort people's essential nature. On this account, folk music (as produced by working-class people) honestly expresses a natural way of life, and classical music seems superficial and decadent. Equally, this view often portrays Indigenous peoples as 'noble savages' living authentic unblemished lives, uncomplicated and uncorrupted by the highly-stratified capitalist systems of the West.

Today most social scientists reject the monadic conception of culture, and the opposition of culture to nature. They recognize non-élites as just as cultured as élites (and non-Westerners as just as civilized) -- simply regarding them as just cultured in a different way. Thus social observers contrast the "high" culture of élites to "popular" or pop culture, meaning goods and activities produced for, and consumed by the masses. (Note that some classifications relegate both high and low cultures to the status of subcultures.)

Ambiguity of the word culture

[t]he fatal ambiguity of the word "culture" itself--which simultaneously has an organic, biological resonance (growing plants, germ cultures etc) yet also signifies the antithesis of earthy natural-ness (the civilized, the non-instinctual, the artificial, the sublimated). --Simon Reynolds, Springerin, 2001

Some dichotomies


Bibliography

See also


Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Culture" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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