Culture

• Culture


  A description of a particular way of life, which expresses certain meanings and values not only in art and learning but also in institutions and ordinary behavior
• Culture


  The way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time
• Manifestations of Culture


  • Symbols
  • Heroes
  • Rituals
  • Values
• Symbols


  Words, gestures, pictures, or objects that carry a particular meaning which is only recognized by those who share a particular culture
• New symbols easily develop, old ones disappear
• Symbols from one particular group are regularly copied by others
• Symbols represent the outermost layer of a culture
• Heroes


  Persons, past or present, real or fictitious, who possess characteristics that are highly prized in a culture and serve as models for behavior
• Rituals


  Collective activities, sometimes superfluous in reaching desired objectives, but are considered as socially essential and carried out most of the times for their own sake
• Values


  Broad tendencies for preferences of certain state of affairs to others (good-evil, right-wrong, natural-unnatural)
• Values can only be inferred from the way people act under different circumstances
• Symbols, heroes, and rituals are the tangible or visual aspects of the practices of a culture
• The true cultural meaning of the practices is intangible and revealed only when the practices are interpreted by the insiders
• Cultural Relativism


  The view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own culture and the ability to understand a culture on its own terms and not to make judgments using the standards of one's own culture
• Absolute Cultural Relativism


  Everything that happens within a culture must and should not be questioned by outsiders
• Critical Cultural Relativism


  Questions about cultural practices in terms of who is accepting them and why, and recognizes power relationships
• Ethical Relativism


  The view that truth is variable and not absolute, and what constitutes right and wrong is determined solely by the individual or by society
• Subjective Ethical Relativism


  The truth of moral principles is relative to individuals, and whatever you believe is right for you personally is completely up to you to determine
• Conventional Ethical Relativism


  The truth of moral principles is relative to cultures (or society), and what is right for you as an individual is dependent upon what your particular culture believes is right for you