Manifestations of culture can be seen in museums.
Culture is the cultivation of the human spirit and the intellectual faculties of man. Originating from the Latin word cultus , its definition has been mutating throughout history: since the time of the Enlightenment , culture has been associated with civilization and progress .
In general, culture is a kind of social fabric that encompasses the different forms and expressions of a given society. Therefore, art, customs, practices, ways of being, rituals, mythology, types of clothing and norms of behavior are aspects that are included in culture.
Another definition establishes that culture is the set of information and skills that an individual possesses. For UNESCO , culture allows human beings the ability to reflect on themselves: through it, man discerns values and seeks new meanings.
It is interesting to note that, in everyday speech , the term culture is often used incorrectly to refer to a person's level of education , both to criticize them for not having risen sufficiently and to congratulate them for the opposite. Sentences like « But what a lack of culture! » or « It is obvious that he has a lot of culture » are not correct, because all human beings integrate into a certain culture.
Culture classifications
Depending on the analytical approach followed, culture can be classified and defined in various ways. For example, there are scholars who have divided culture into topical (includes a list of categories), historical (culture as a social inheritance ), mental (complex of ideas and habits), structural (patterned and interrelated symbols) and symbolic (meanings). arbitrarily assigned that are shared by a society ).
Topical culture is clearly differentiated from historical culture, which allows us to reflect and understand the affective and effective relationship that exists between each group of people and their own past. Its study is based on the events of our history taking time as a parameter. As it is not limited to the observation of historical literature, this type of culture encompasses more than historiography .
Within the concept of topical culture we must include customs , beliefs, religion , traditions, forms of behavior, games and celebrations, among other topics. Its study gives the possibility of grouping different knowledge into well-defined topics that are taken independently.
Transmission from generation to generation
With respect to symbolic culture, it can be added that it is the ability of human beings to incorporate the traditions of each generation and share them with the next. Its name is due to the fact that these elements that are transmitted, which revolve around behavior , are not material: that is why we also speak of non-material or immaterial culture .
Other fundamental points of symbolic culture are values and norms , both strongly linked to groups of people and impossible to apply to everyone. This type of culture can be related to ethics and morality .
The human being, from the moment of his birth until his death, is immersed in a certain community and in a certain social context . Already in his childhood he began to acquire elements of symbolic culture, especially due to the influence of the family in those early years. With the passage of time, all subjects begin to be transmitters of these cultural components, thus reaching new generations.
It cannot be omitted to mention that many social institutions can only exist when there is a shared symbolic culture. Marriage and nationality , beyond their classification based on legal criteria, require that the community "believe" in them and in what these concepts represent, to mention two cases.
Dance, among the cultural traditions of a town.
Culture according to the degree of development
Culture can also be differentiated according to its degree of development: primitive (those cultures with little technical development and that do not tend to innovation), civilized (it is updated through the production of new elements), pre-literate (it has not incorporated writing) and literate (uses both written and oral language ).
The idea of primitive culture arises in anthropology and is usually associated with prehistoric human beings and aboriginal peoples. In this culture neither technological resources nor the development of writing appear, unlike what happens with civilized culture . The distinction between pre-literate and literate culture, meanwhile, is specifically linked to the absence or presence of written language.
In relation to the social structure underlying its production, it is possible to differentiate between popular culture (which emerges from the people and is rooted in values and traditions) and high culture (where sophistication and academicism are relevant). Another distinction has to do with power: from Marxist philosophy, in this way, we usually speak of dominant culture and subaltern culture .
art manifestations
Art manifestations constitute cultural expressions with very varied characteristics. This diversity can be seen in the modes of production, the material supports, the form of reception or consumption and in many other variables.
Take the case of the plastic and visual arts , such as painting , sculpture , photography and architecture . Throughout history, countless works of multiple styles have been produced that are part of the cultural heritage of humanity . Impressionist painting , Renaissance sculpture and Gothic architecture , for example, have generated testimonies that are considered very valuable regardless of eras and borders.
Music is another art of enormous relevance. Rock, classical music , opera , pop , jazz and folk music , among many other genres, move millions of people. The same can be said of literature , both through poetry and prose .
Theatre , dance and cinema , likewise, integrate what is understood as culture. All these disciplines share the fact of combining an aesthetic pretension with a communicative intention, capturing ideas, emotions and feelings of the artists.
Culture, in addition to being an industry in itself, contributes to other sectors of the economy (such as tourism).
Culture as an industry
It should be noted that in modern capitalist societies there is a cultural industry , with a market where cultural goods are offered subject to the laws of supply and demand of the economy. Although in its origins it was mentioned in this way, today the notion is usually used in the plural: cultural industries . It encompasses the creation , demonstration and distribution of cultural goods and services.
Just as education is constituted as a business when knowledge is put up for sale , culture can also be established as a commercial activity . Cultural creators, in this framework, have the copyright of their works and can market them according to their interests.
A writer who sells thousands of copies of his books, a rock group that fills stadiums around the world and a painter whose paintings are valued in millions are protagonists of the cultural industry that generate an important economic movement.
You can even consider the relevance of culture in the tourism sector. Museums , art galleries , monuments and archaeological sites attract a large number of travelers, who buy plane tickets, stay in hotels, pay entrance fees and carry out other actions with effects on the economy.