What defines culture. Exploring the true meaning of culture!

Essay by Ltamtam4University, Bachelor'sA, July 2004

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Culture can be very difficult to strictly define due to such a variety of societal aspects. According to the Webster's Mew Dictionary of English Language, culture is the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. Culture is defined in extremely vague terms as a way of life.

Culture passes on from one generation to the next. Many varieties of culture exist. Ethnic cultures such as the African-American culture, Greek culture, Indian culture, and American culture each have their own style in art, values, religion, household structure and food. Each specific generation within America also has their own culture due to their particular age group. The great age of the, "Baby Boomers," will differ from the previous generation. Music, dress, beliefs, and goals are in general contradictory. There is the different culture of a particular age such as the Pre-historic civilization, which has drastically changed due to modernization.

Culture is a particular group of people's way of life. What that culture has idealized, moralized, and valued. Culture defines our learned behavior, whether it be the rules that define the customary ways of our thinking, feeling, social expectations, and / or our community laws.

A very important part of any culture is the social structure within. The social structure is essentially the roles or positions that particular individual or groups in a culture fall into. On a much smaller scale, the social structure exists within a family as well. In a "typical" family, the mothers usually resume the role as the caregiver, while the father plays the provider and the protector. We only need to look around to experience everything that culture contains. Everyday life is a part of culture. Each person has a role in the many different social structures, and each...