Culture: Beacon of the Future

1987

This chapter was written for a book published in 1988. It was conceptualised and published as a response to the concepts of culture that was being put forward by the then Apartheid government of South Africa, and was intended to counter these conceptions. The central concept of the paper is that culture is a human resource, not the possession of a ‘people’, or of government, and that we need to distinguish between the anthropological (and humanist) notion of culture as a human resource and heritage, one that can and must be shared, and the idea that cultures are bounded, static ‘wholes’. It has had wide currency and influence since its publication in 1988.

Culture is a complex and ever-changing phenomenon in various cultures. From the etymological developments, we could understand that culture has the power to create new things or it can change things into new. This paper is an exploration of culture and understanding its meanings and manifestations in the society.

2011

Drawing from the above quote this paper looks at how culture is being viewed as the basis of, and tool for, human development, and it examines how cultural and socio-cultural factors affect the practice of development. In effect, in this short perspective I want to ask a series of questions. What is the impact of culture on social and economic arrangements? What is the role of culture and diversity in an increasingly globalised and homogenised world? How can cultural policies go beyond the promotion of the arts and protection of cultural heritage to be more integral to social policy, as well as help stimulate creativity in all aspects of society and the economy?

A brief essay on the culture concept from the perspective of a diaspora-Iranian.

2021

The paper discusses culture in modern society. Scientists are trying to define the concept of culture, but there is a great disagreement between the authors, which only confirms that this is a very complex phenomenon. The spread of cultural contacts in the modern world, communication and knowledge contribute to the rapprochement of nations. The globalization of culture has positive and negative<br> sides. The possibility of losing cultural identity lies in the growing danger of assimilation - the absorption of a small culture by a larger one, the dissolution of the cultural characteristics of a national minority in the culture of a great nation.

Lyceum Institute, 2022

In this seminar, we shall introduce the philosophy of culture, defining what culture is and where the study of culture fits into philosophy. We will then explore how there exists a speculative dimension to the philosophy of culture (i.e., explaining how culture exists in reality through human subjectivity and how it is determined by human nature), as well as a practical dimension (i.e., cultural values). After establishing the principles of this study, we will then look to its application to Western culture, in particular, the transition between the three major epochs of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modernity. We will then analyze modern culture in particular with an eye toward its trajectory into the next age. Finally, we shall conclude with a practical examination of what the philosophy of culture (as we have studied throughout the course) tells us about the present age and our expectations in this life.

2014

Both trained psychologists as well as lay people often mean different things when they discuss culture. It is a commonly used and more commonly misused word. Many use the words “culture, ” “ethnicity, ” and “race, ” as if they mean the same thing. Culture is often defined as a way of life of a group of people. However, this definition is quite simplistic; culture is more of a complex, multi-layered concept. The word culture comes from the Latin word colo –ere, which means to cultivate or inhabit. The term culture was first used in the social sciences by an anthropologist, Edward B. Tylor in 1871 (Tylor, 1974), who defined culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. ” Since Tylor’s initial definition, various individuals and organizations have offered perspectives that emphasize a more comprehensive view as shown in the examples that follow: Culture is a config...

Culture is considered as a key term in anthropology, now in critical mode, and to be worked through powerful tropes that lead to issues in politics, interpretation, translation, stereotype and racism. Anthropology is described as a cultural system itself, with a large supporting institutional apparatus, not unlike the culture industry as critiqued by Adorno and the Frankfurt School. The high mass culture/high culture distinction is considered and some distortions explained (away). Street culture and culture as (development) resource are evaluated, leading to an assessment of culture as souvenirs, trinkets and the ephemera of tourism as a modern commodity fetish. How this measures up to political struggles is again considered in the light of work by critics such as Fanon and those engaged with anti-imperialist struggles worldwide.

Applied Developmental Science