Culture is defined as the ______ of members of a social group.

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What is Culture?

CARLA’s Definition

For the purposes of the Intercultural Studies Project, culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.

Other Definitions of Culture

Banks, J.A., Banks, & McGee, C. A. (1989). Multicultural education. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

"Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies. The essence of a culture is not its artifacts, tools, or other tangible cultural elements but how the members of the group interpret, use, and perceive them. It is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized societies; it is not material objects and other tangible aspects of human societies. People within a culture usually interpret the meaning of symbols, artifacts, and behaviors in the same or in similar ways."

Damen, L. (1987). Culture Learning: The Fifth Dimension on the Language Classroom. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

"Culture: learned and shared human patterns or models for living; day- to-day living patterns. these patterns and models pervade all aspects of human social interaction. Culture is mankind's primary adaptive mechanism" (p. 367).

Hofstede, G. (1984). National cultures and corporate cultures. In L.A. Samovar & R.E. Porter (Eds.), Communication Between Cultures. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

"Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another." (p. 51).

Kluckhohn, C., & Kelly, W.H. (1945). The concept of culture. In R. Linton (Ed.). The Science of Man in the World Culture. New York. (pp. 78-105).

"By culture we mean all those historically created designs for living, explicit and implicit, rational, irrational, and nonrational, which exist at any given time as potential guides for the behavior of men."

Kroeber, A.L., & Kluckhohn, C. (1952). Culture: A critical review of concepts and definitions. Harvard University Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology Papers 47.

" Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other as conditioning elements of further action."

Lederach, J.P. (1995). Preparing for peace: Conflict transformation across cultures. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.

"Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them" (p. 9).

Linton, R. (1945). The Cultural Background of Personality. New York.

"A culture is a configuration of learned behaviors and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society" (p. 32).

Parson, T. (1949). Essays in Sociological Theory. Glencoe, IL.

"Culture...consists in those patterns relative to behavior and the products of human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation to generation independently of the biological genes" (p. 8).

Useem, J., & Useem, R. (1963). Human Organizations, 22(3).

"Culture has been defined in a number of ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings" (p. 169).

Noun In this new view, genes allow the human mind to learn, remember, imitate, imprint language, absorb culture and express instincts. Matt Ridley, Time, 2 June 2003 Such an explanation seems sensible to a technologically advanced and ruthlessly competitive culture like our own, where anybody who fails to get at least a college degree … risks spending a life busing tables or telemarketing. Natalie Angier, New York Times, 2 July 2002 Underlying the question "Is this as good as it gets?" was a female j'accuse—against a consumer culture where values like caring had been severely discounted. Susan Faludi, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2001 a study of Greek language and culture Her art shows the influence of pop culture. It's important to learn about other cultures. The company's corporate culture is focused on increasing profits. an area that has been criticized for its lack of culture Verb The virus is cultured in the laboratory from samples of infected tissue. culture bacteria in laboratory dishes See More

Recent Examples on the Web

Garcia had one more motive for celebrating Oaxacan culture. Los Angeles Times, 2 Nov. 2022 Hernandez is an award-winning culture writer and podcast host from Lynwood in Southeast Los Angeles. Janelle Bitker, San Francisco Chronicle, 2 Nov. 2022 These leftover beneficiaries of that culture of corruption that ruined the UAW must be replaced with true representatives of the rank and file. Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press, 2 Nov. 2022 The league is in the process of adding a chief financial officer and head of people and culture. Emily Olsen, USA TODAY, 2 Nov. 2022 All ages are invited to this workshop, which emphasizes music and art from African culture and is inspired by '90s stomp videos, where unconventional items were used to create music. Arkansas Online, 2 Nov. 2022 Along with the outpouring of sadness from artists like Sza, Ciara, Keke Palmer, Chloe Bailey and others, some artists and rappers are blaming hip-hop and rap culture for Takeoff’s death. Char Adams, NBC News, 2 Nov. 2022 Karunatilaka’s story drifts across Sri Lankan history and culture with a spirit entirely its own. Ron Charles, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2022 Relating folk culture to death and transfiguration, Bercot transcends the triviality of most contemporary filmmaking. Armond White, National Review, 2 Nov. 2022

Mythology is integral to culture in Lithuania; the country’s steeped in Baltic pagan traditions that thousands still practice to this day. Stephanie Vermillion, Outside Online, 30 June 2022 Cher Cher is a very important person, and not just because of her contributions to culture and fashion. Chris Kornelis, New York Times, 28 July 2022 Think of what practices will fit your company’s culture the best and propose the team start implementing them gradually. Anton Pavlovsky, Forbes, 11 Aug. 2022 The next step to studying these gargantuan bacteria is for scientists to figure out how to culture them in labs. Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 25 June 2022 If this isn’t testament to culture’s ongoing fascination with supermodels, what is? Laird Borrelli-persson, Vogue, 12 Sep. 2022 The past few years have been difficult, with challenges including the coronavirus pandemic that forced some of the most drastic shifts in teaching and learning, and instances of school violence and culture war clashes. Hannah Natanson, Washington Post, 20 Aug. 2022 Teachers in Texas are leaving in droves, citing low pay, feeling undervalued, health and safety concerns, and culture war pressures. Ellen Mcgirt, Fortune, 16 Aug. 2022 Forte, credited as an integral part of the revitalization of the Argentine horror scene, spoke with Variety in advance of the screening on connecting to culture, the Argentine genre cinema circuit and finding a kindred soul in Díaz. Holly Jones, Variety, 18 July 2022 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'culture.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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