The Origin of Culture

One of the truly amazing qualities of being human is the diversity found among our species. We are animals, remember, and in many ways we are all the same. It is our culture that makes us who we are, possibly more than anything else. By being a member of a specific group, we define ourselves as individuals. The cultural possibilities seem endless. In the age of the Internet, it may be hard to imagine a time in which people were not all connected. How did the world become so diversified?

What is culture?

Culture can be defined as a set of standards, ideas, and behavioral patterns shared by members of a society that are accepted or known as proper or typical for that society. In other words, everything you think, feel, and do is a product of your culture, at least to some degree. Even pieces of art are part of a society’s culture, though it is the symbolism of such objects that has cultural meaning. Although different cultures are often divided by geographical location and/or ethnicity, culture is not necessarily defined by such boundaries.

By standard definitions, there are three main characteristics of culture. It is shared, learned, and symbolic.

Culture is shared: People living in a society together share a common culture; it is this shared set of ideals, values, and behaviors that give the actions of individuals meaning within the group. Individuals occupying a specific locality create a society; in turn, society collectively creates and maintains culture. Societies preserve culture through knowledge, traditions, and physical objects such as buildings and works of art. Variations within a shared culture (differences between gender roles, for example) do exist, but these variations are also given specific meaning in the context of culture.

Culture is learned: We are not born with culture; it is not biologically inherited. The children of a society learn culture through the environment in which they grow up as well as the teachings of adults. This process of transmitting culture from one generation to the next is called enculturation and happens in every human society.

Culture is symbolic: Humans create and transmit culture through their ability to interpret symbolic meaning. Aspects of culture, including religion, art, economic systems, and even language, are understood through symbols that the human mind can attribute meaning to. People use many different types of symbols to convey complex thoughts and ideas to one another; this is how culture is maintained and transmitted.