This work in writing is comprised by three different essays with three statements of theses including: (1) The concept of culture assists anthropologists in their understanding and study of people and societies; (2) The traditional pastoral Culture is more likely to engage in trade with other members of society than is the traditional foraging culture; and (3) The giving of gifts among those in the Dobe or !Kung culture is driven by need, therefore, gift-giving in the Dobe culture is based on that which the receiver is in need of and the gift given will be of the nature that fulfills the need of the receiver.
Cultural Studies
Concept of Culture and How it Assists Anthropologists in Their Study and Understanding of People and Societies
The concept of culture assists anthropologists in their understanding and study of people and societies.
The word culture is derived from the Latin word 'cultura' that is derived from the verb 'colo' that means, "to tend, to cultivate, and to till." (Sage Publishers, n.d., p.10) The expression of the word would be a reference to the "cultivation of the human character." (Sage Publishers, n.d., p.10)
Culture
Culture, to the cultural anthropologist is stated to be "neither secure, nor a residual. It is a social phenomenon that manifests itself quite clearly." (Sage Publishers, n.d., p.10) White (2007) states that by culture, what is mean is "an extrasomatic, temporal continuum of things and events dependent upon symboling." (p. 3 cited in Sage Publishers, n.d., p.10) Kluckhohn (1951) is cited as stating as follows:
Culture consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reacting, acquired and transmitted mainly 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. (p. 86, no. 5)
Hofstede (2001) states that culture is "shared mental software, the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another." (Sage Publishers, n.d., p.11) It is important to define a culture's boundaries and contents in order to avoid confusion. The concept of culture includes such as behaviors, beliefs, morals, ethics, and is inclusive of the various areas of that cultures religious, economic, political, and societal systems all of which have their own symbolism and historical basis for such beliefs and behaviors.
II. Conceptualization of Culture
It is reported that Rohner (1984) emphasized two distinctions in the conceptualization of culture and specifically stated is: (1) there is a contrast between culture as a system of behaviors vs. A culture as a set of meaning; (2) there are scholars called realists who attribute an independent existence to culture vs. others, call nominalists who view it as a subjective human construct. (Sage Publishers, n.d., p.12)
Summary and Conclusion
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