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Characteristics of Culture and Human Nature

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Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Role of Culture
  3. Features of Culture
  4. Human Beings and Other Animals
  5. Uniqueness of Human Beings
  6. Summary

Introduction

When we say someone is "highly cultured," we mean that person has certain characteristics that set them apart from others, such as their speech, manners, taste in art, music, or literature. In this context, culture is used to describe specific individual traits. The term "culture" is not used or understood in the social sciences in this sense, though.

When one speaks of a "cultural show," they are referring to a celebration or an evening of entertainment. Culture is associated in this sense with aesthetics or the fine arts, such as dance, music, or theater. The technical definition of the word "culture" also differs from this.

Anthropology and sociology use the concept of culture in particular ways. It alludes to human behavior, feelings, beliefs, and thoughts as well as everything else they have learned about being social beings. The British anthropologist Edward Tylor offered one of the most thorough definitions of the term culture in the 19th century. His definition of culture is "that complex whole consisting of knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other abilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. ".

Role of Culture

There are two distinct but related aspects to culture. On the one hand, it is a manifestation of the inventiveness of humans; on the other hand, it cannot be fully understood without reference to a few traits that are particular to people. These distinctive qualities include the capacity for self-awareness and self-reflection, rationality and creativity, as well as the ability to communicate symbolically or use language.

The realization of capacities and potentialities, however, has been greatly influenced by culture. Because of culture, they were able to survive during the evolutionary process. Cooperation, domestication of plants and animals, the discovery and use of fire, the creation of tools and implements, and the development and use of language all helped people adapt to their surroundings. Modern biologists emphasize that humans actively participated in their own evolutionary history, in contrast to other animals.

Human cooperation provided protection from outside threats and wild animals. By turning it into a group activity, it made wild animal hunting easier. The domestication of plants and animals aided in the environment-adaptation of human communities and groups. Using tools and implements made it simpler to gather food through gathering, fishing, and hunting. The discovery and use of fire provided protection from wild animals. The exchange, accumulation, and transmission of knowledge were all made possible by the development of language. Without culture, it is likely that humans would not have survived the difficult and protracted process of evolution.

Features of Culture

Both a general and a specific sense of the word "culture" are used. When used broadly, it meant the totality of human traits that are distinct from those of other animals and cannot be compared. When used in a specific context, it alludes to the ways of life and behavioral patterns of a community or a group. Examples of cultures that can be mentioned include Chinese culture, Eskimo culture, Hindu culture, etc.

Culture is characterised by the following features:
  • i) It is something that everyone in a particular society or community shares in common. Therefore, culture refers to socially organized groups of people rather than the beliefs and behaviors of individual people. It is primarily a social phenomenon rather than a private or individual one. 
  • ii) Humans learn and acquire culture through social interaction. There are two ways that a person picks up the traits of his or her parents and group. On the one hand, through genetic transmission, over which he or she has no control, she or he inherits the physical traits and features of her or his parents, such as skin tone, stature, hair texture, and eye color. On the other hand, he or she learns and ingests the ideas, attitudes, language, and customs of his or her parents, and through them, of his or her group, through the process of cultural transmission. It follows from the aforementioned observation that differences in language, beliefs, customs, and rituals between various groups and communities are to be understood and explained in terms of learned and acquired cultural differences rather than physical or racial differences, which are inherited genetically. 
  • iii) Culture is not only learned and acquired by people in a social setting; it is also accumulated and passed down from generation to generation through the use of language or symbolic communication. In other words, over a long period of time, a society or a community gathers experiences, knowledge, and skills that are shared by all of its members and are passed down from one generation to the next.

Human Beings and Other Animals

A few decades ago, it was widely accepted that animals cannot learn how to create and use tools, nor can they anticipate future events or perform mathematical operations. These misconceptions about animals have been proven false by contemporary research on animal behavior.

Animal trainers and zoo keepers have long been aware that animals are capable of learning. If you own pets at home, such as dogs, cats, or parrots, you must have noticed this fact as well. A number of animal species are capable of learning behavioral patterns, according to studies in ethology and ornithology (the scientific study of bird behavior). As an illustration, during the first spring of a bird's life, the young learn the species' unique song pattern. From its mother, a young chimpanzee learns to recognize hazardous berries and fruits in the forest.

Numerous bird species exhibit amazing planning and directionality. Their seasonal migration is clear evidence of this. Siberian cranes travel over a distance of several thousand miles to locations like Bombay and Mysore, where the weather is more comfortable for them, when the Arctic's bitter cold becomes too oppressive. When the cold has passed, they quickly return to their natural habitat.

The higher primates, such as monkeys and apes, create and employ simple tools. When the chimpanzee's hand cannot reach completely inside the hollow tree trunks where white ants breed, he pulls a branch from another tree, places it inside, and waits. Chimpanzees in the wild eat these white ants. He pulls out the branch and eats the white ants that are clinging to it.

The emu is an Australian animal that produces large eggs. The Australian buzzard, which loves eggs very much, scares the emu away from its eggs before lifting off with a stone in its claws. When the eggs break due to the stone's impact, it swoops down and ingests the pieces.

The number and shape of chromosomes, the blood's proteins, and the structure of DNA in our genetic material are all strikingly similar to those of chimpanzees and humans. Chimpanzee behavior is being studied by ethnologist Jane Goodall in Tanzania, where they live in their natural habitat. She discovered some intriguing parallels between some aspects of chimpanzee behavior and human behavior. She discovered that chimpanzees have a long childhood, form close family bonds, create and use simple tools, and engage in group hunting just like humans do. Additionally, she discovered communication-related similarities, including gestures and facial expressions.

Uniqueness of Human Beings

Humans and other animals share some biological and physiological functions, so in that sense, they are both members of the animal kingdom. They do, however, stand apart from other animal species in a number of significant ways, which makes them unique in the animal kingdom.

  • 1) Instincts control whether an animal's basic biological urges—such as hunger, thirst, and sex—are satisfied. Instincts have almost completely vanished from human beings. As a result, culture serves to satisfy their biological needs. Animal responses to their surroundings are fixed and stereotyped, whereas human responses to their surroundings are flexible and varied. 
  • 2) Humans are capable of creating tools of a higher caliber than some animal species, despite the fact that some animal species do so and use them. In animals, tools are created and used only temporarily; after they serve their intended purpose, they are abandoned. On the other hand, humans create tools both for use in the here and now as well as for use in the future. In addition, culture enables both sexes to develop their toolmaking expertise over time and pass it down from one generation to the next. As a result, over the course of several thousand years, their ability to make tools has continuously improved. 
  • 3). The female of the human species is the only one who exhibits year-round sexual receptivity. Marriage and social behavior will be significantly impacted by this. 
  • 4) Compared to other animal species, the human child is physically and emotionally reliant on the mother for a much longer period of time. This has an important impact on the roles of women, on the mother-child bond, as well as on the web of kinship in human society. 
  • 5) Humans possess a number of traits that are referred to as "species-specific.". The human brain has evolved specific tools, such as the capacity for hand and voice control, foresight, and planning. The frontal and pre-frontal lobes of the brain are where the brain's primary organization is found and are where people can think about future actions. 
  • 6) A symbolically charged animal, the human being. The only animal capable of self-awareness and introspection is she/he. They are able to develop ideas, meanings, and values that are relevant to everyone thanks to their rational and creative faculties. They are able to transcend the immediate environment in which they are found thanks to their symbolic nature.
  •  7) Language and the ability to communicate symbolically are only capabilities of humans. Language was able to emerge because human vocal cords developed and the speech and hearing centers in the brain were situated close to one another.

Summary

A group or community's members share a common culture. People pick it up and learn it through language. Through instruction and training, it is passed down from one generation to the next. Human beings' distinctive abilities and potentials are expressed through culture. On the other hand, it actively participates in realizing these potentials. The evolutionary survival of the human race has benefited from culture.

Further Reading

  • Bose, N.K. 1971, Cultural Anthropology. Asia Publishing House; Mumbai., 
  • Bronowski, Jacob, 1977. The Ascent of Man. BBC : London. 
  • Hammond, Peter B., 1971 An Introduction to Cultural and Social Anthropology. Macmillan : New York.
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