The Various Descriptions and Understandings of Human Culture Essay

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Human Culture -- What is Human Culture?

According to the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) at the University of Minnesota, many social scientists see culture as " ... consisting primarily of the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies" (Banks, 1989). But that is a short-sighted approach, according to Banks Professor of Diversity Studies at the University of Washington. The true reality of culture -- any culture -- is not its "artifacts, tools, or other tangible cultural elements," but rather how people in the group employ and embrace those tools, artifacts and other cultural elements (Banks). In other words, how people within a culture interact with their surroundings. What human culture boils down to are the symbols, the perspectives, and values " ... that distinguish one people from another" (Banks). In essence, people in different cultures interpret the importance of behaviors, symbols, and artifacts differently, which gives each culture its identity.

An example of a human culture differences is the culture of African-Americans. Professor McGoldrick (2006) writes that the values of European groups have tended to be seen as "normal" and the values of cultures like the African-American culture are seen as "ethnic"; and "ethnic" has come to mean a culture that has been marginalized, McGoldrick explains.

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African-Americans view death as "the most important life cycle transition," while Asian Indians, Italians, and Poles "tend to emphasize weddings" as the most important life cycle transition" (McGoldrick). Jews, on the other hand, are a culture that celebrate bar mitzvah as a key life cycle transition, McGoldrick explains.

How is Human Culture Transmitted?

In the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, the authors take issue with authors and scholars that say that cultural transmissions as "a Darwinian process" (Mouden, et al., 2014). In fact, the article asserts that there is no "generally agreed formal framework" that helps sort out and define natural selection and other important concepts; hence, the authors present a case that puts forward the idea that "cultural natural selection maximizes cultural fitness," and that is a world apart from "genetic fitness," which those who buy into Darwinian concepts vis-a-vis cultural transmission would put forward (Mouden, 231). The authors go on to state that cultural transmission cannot be modeled as an evolutionary process. Rather, each individual within a culture inherits more than a genotype; individuals within cultures inherit "socially learned information" (Mouden, 231).

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