Culture meaning and Its Elements

Culture

A culture is a way of life of group of people the behaviours, beliefs, values and symbols that they accept, generally without thinking about them and that are passed along by communication from one generation to next. Simply we can say that culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, language, religion, social habits, music and arts.

Meaning of culture

1. Etymology:  Culture is derived from Latin word ‘Cultura’ and its meaning is cultivating, tilling, maintaining and tending to.
2. E B Taylor: “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society.
3. The Cambridge English Dictionary: “Culture is the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, particular group of people at a particular time.” 
4. Mahatma Gandhi: “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”
5. Wendell Pierce: “Culture is the intersection of people and life itself. It’s how we deal with life, love, death, birth, disappointment.. all of that is expressed in culture.” 
6. Thomas Wolfe: “Culture is the arts elevated to a set of beliefs.”
7. Jawaharlal Nehru: “Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.”
8.  Henry Cloud: “A culture is like a immune system. It operates through the law of systems, just like a body. If body has an infection, the immune system deals with it. Similarly a group of enforces its norms, either actively or passively.”

Elements of culture

Following are the elements of Culture.

1.    Language
     Language is a medium through which a person express his ideas and emotions to others. Different cultures having same language doesn’t mean that they speak that particular language in same way, their tone and way of expressing things may be different.

2.   Religion                                                                                                  Religion plays a vital role in shaping the culture. Take a look at history many wars were fought on the name of religion. Religion has power to change the culture with the passage of time.

3.    Belief                                                                                                      Beliefs are something that is considered to be true. Different sect in culture having different beliefs. These beliefs are transmitted from one generation to other. Hindus believes in rebirth and karma, water of Ganga is sacred for Hindus. Sikhs bear a long beard and hair and wear bangle in one hand believes in Guru and Keeping Dagger. Muslims believe in Allah, the Day of Judgment and Quran and Christians wear cross in their neck.

4.    Group Behaviour                                                                                   Culture includes the group behavior patterns such as customs, traditions, laws, legends, fashion and myths.

5.   Region                                                                                                      People living in different region have different language and different culture. People living in specific area share same language and belief. Punjabi’s and Marathi’s  having different culture and beliefs and their way of talking is also different.