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'''Culture''' (from the [[Latin]] ''cultura'' stemming from ''colere'', meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. In some contexts, a frequent usage of the term ''culture'' is to indicate artifacts in music, literature, painting and sculpture, theater and film.<ref>[[Raymond Williams]] (1976) ''[[Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society]]''. Rev. Ed. (NewYork: Oxford UP, 1983), pp. 87-93 and 236-8. Although some people identify culture in terms of consumption and consumer goods (as in [[high culture]], [[low culture]], [[folk culture]], or [[popular culture]]) <ref>John Befrger ''Ways of Seeing'', anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to [[consumption goods]], but to the general processes which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become embedded. For the, culture thus includes technology, art, science, as well as  moral systems.

'''Culture''' (from the [[Latin]] ''cultura'' stemming from ''colere'', meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. In some contexts, a frequent usage of the term ''culture'' is to indicate artifacts in music, literature, painting and sculpture, theater and film.[[Raymond Williams]] (1976) ''[[Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society]]''. Rev. Ed. (NewYork: Oxford UP, 1983), pp. 87-93 and 236-8. Although some people identify culture in terms of consumption and consumer goods (as in [[high culture]], [[low culture]], [[folk culture]], or [[popular culture]]) <ref>John Befrger ''Ways of Seeing'', anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to [[consumption goods]], but to the general processes which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become embedded. For the, culture thus includes technology, art, science, as well as  moral systems.

[[anthropology|Anthropologists]] most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences [[symbol]]ically. This capacity has long been taken as a defining feature of the humans. However, [[primatology|primatologists]] have identified aspects of culture among humankind's closest relatives in the animal kingdom.<ref>Goodall, J. 1986. ''The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior.''</ref>  As a rule, [[archaeology|archaeologists]] focus on material culture (the material remains of human activity), whereas [[social anthropology|social anthropologists]] focus on social interactions, statuses and institutions, and [[cultural anthropology|cultural anthropologists]] focus on norms and values.  This division of labor reflects the different conditions under which different anthropologists have worked, and the practical need to focus research.  It does not necessarily reflect a theory of culture that conceptually distinguishes between the material, the social, and the normative, nor does it reflect three competing theories of culture.

[[anthropology|Anthropologists]] most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity to classify, codify and communicate their experiences [[symbol]]ically. This capacity has long been taken as a defining feature of the humans. However, [[primatology|primatologists]] have identified aspects of culture among humankind's closest relatives in the animal kingdom.<ref>Goodall, J. 1986. ''The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior.''</ref>  As a rule, [[archaeology|archaeologists]] focus on material culture (the material remains of human activity), whereas [[social anthropology|social anthropologists]] focus on social interactions, statuses and institutions, and [[cultural anthropology|cultural anthropologists]] focus on norms and values.  This division of labor reflects the different conditions under which different anthropologists have worked, and the practical need to focus research.  It does not necessarily reflect a theory of culture that conceptually distinguishes between the material, the social, and the normative, nor does it reflect three competing theories of culture.

==External links==

==External links==

 

*[http://courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/spf301/definitions_of_culture.html Detailed article on defining culture]

*[http://courses.ed.asu.edu/margolis/spf301/definitions_of_culture.html Detailed article on defining culture]

* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-73 ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'':] "culture" and "civilization" in modern times

* [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv1-73 ''Dictionary of the History of Ideas'':] "culture" and "civilization" in modern times