In the 19th century, "culture" was used by some to refer to a wide array of human activities, and by some others as a synonym for "civilization". In the 20th century, anthropologists began theorizing about culture as an object of scientific analysis. Some used it to distinguish human adaptive strategies from the largely instinctive adaptive strategies of animals, including the adaptive strategies of other primates and non-human hominids, whereas others used it to refer to symbolic representations and expressions of human experience, with no direct adaptive value. Both groups understood culture as being definitive of human nature.
According to many theories that have gained wide acceptance among anthropologists, culture exhibits the way that humans interpret their biology and their environment. According to this point of view, culture becomes such an integral part of human existence that it is the human environment, and most cultural change can be attributed to human adaptation to historical events. Moreover, given that culture is seen as the primary adaptive mechanism of humans and takes place much faster than human biological evolution, most cultural change can be viewed as culture adapting to itself.
Although most anthropologists try to define culture in such a way that it separates human beings from other animals, many human traits are similar to those of other animals, particularly the traits of other primates. For example, chimpanzees have big brains, but human brains are bigger. Similarly, bonobos exhibit complex sexual behaviour, but human beings exhibit much more complex sexual behaviours. As such, anthropologists often debate whether human behaviour is different from animal behaviour in degree rather than in kind; they must also find ways to distinguish cultural behaviour from sociological behaviour and psychological behavior.
Acceleration and amplification of these various aspects of culture change have been explored by complexity economist, . In his book, The Nature of Technology, Arthur attempts to articulate a theory of change that considers that existing technologies (or material culture) are combined in unique ways that lead to novel new technologies. Behind that novel combination is a purposeful effort arising in human motivation. This articulation would suggest that we are just beginning to understand what might be required for a more robust theory of culture and culture change, one that brings coherence across many disciplines and reflects an integrating elegance.
Groh, Arnold A. Theories of Culture. Routledge, London. 2020.
Ogburn, William F. Social Change. 1922. Reprint. Dell, New York. 1966.
Rogers, G.F.C. The Nature of the Engineering: A Philosophy of Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 1983.
Schumpeter, Joseph. The Theory of Economic Development. 1912. Reprint. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1966. 1934.
December 02, 2023
culture, theory, this, article, about, culture, cultural, theory, cultural, theory, risk, confused, with, cultural, studies, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messa. This article is about culture For Cultural Theory see Cultural Theory of risk Not to be confused with cultural studies This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations January 2013 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article may be too technical for most readers to understand Please help improve it to make it understandable to non experts without removing the technical details March 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Culture theory is the branch of comparative anthropology and semiotics that seeks to define the heuristic concept of culture in operational and or scientific terms Overview editIn the 19th century culture was used by some to refer to a wide array of human activities and by some others as a synonym for civilization In the 20th century anthropologists began theorizing about culture as an object of scientific analysis Some used it to distinguish human adaptive strategies from the largely instinctive adaptive strategies of animals including the adaptive strategies of other primates and non human hominids whereas others used it to refer to symbolic representations and expressions of human experience with no direct adaptive value Both groups understood culture as being definitive of human nature According to many theories that have gained wide acceptance among anthropologists culture exhibits the way that humans interpret their biology and their environment According to this point of view culture becomes such an integral part of human existence that it is the human environment and most cultural change can be attributed to human adaptation to historical events Moreover given that culture is seen as the primary adaptive mechanism of humans and takes place much faster than human biological evolution most cultural change can be viewed as culture adapting to itself Although most anthropologists try to define culture in such a way that it separates human beings from other animals many human traits are similar to those of other animals particularly the traits of other primates For example chimpanzees have big brains but human brains are bigger Similarly bonobos exhibit complex sexual behaviour but human beings exhibit much more complex sexual behaviours As such anthropologists often debate whether human behaviour is different from animal behaviour in degree rather than in kind they must also find ways to distinguish cultural behaviour from sociological behaviour and psychological behavior Acceleration and amplification of these various aspects of culture change have been explored by complexity economist W Brian Arthur In his book The Nature of Technology Arthur attempts to articulate a theory of change that considers that existing technologies or material culture are combined in unique ways that lead to novel new technologies Behind that novel combination is a purposeful effort arising in human motivation This articulation would suggest that we are just beginning to understand what might be required for a more robust theory of culture and culture change one that brings coherence across many disciplines and reflects an integrating elegance See also editCultural studies Culturology Cultural behavior Culture industry Critical theory Dual inheritance theory Engaged theory Intercultural relations Popular culture studies Semiotics of culture Structuralism Tartu Moscow Semiotic SchoolReferences editGroh Arnold A Theories of Culture Routledge London 2020 Ogburn William F Social Change 1922 Reprint Dell New York 1966 Rogers G F C The Nature of the Engineering A Philosophy of Technology Palgrave Macmillan London 1983 Schumpeter Joseph The Theory of Economic Development 1912 Reprint Harvard University Press Cambridge Massachusetts 1966 1934 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Culture theory amp oldid 1169022227, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
