Defining “Culture” is much like trying to capture the wind; we feel its presence everywhere, yet pinning it down to a single definition remains a complex academic challenge. At its core, culture represents refined thought, taste, and behavior—an excellence of mind achieved through persistent practice and habit. In simpler terms, it is the collective expression of a region’s people through their food, education, livelihood, music, literature, and social relationships.
The Etymological Roots
The English word “Culture” finds its origin in the Latin past participle Colere, which means “to cultivate.” Its modern usage evolved through Middle French and Middle English (1100–1450), where it originally referred to a “piece of tilled land.” The transition to its current abstract meaning flourished between the late 18th and late 19th centuries.
Interestingly, the Bengali equivalent ‘Sanskriti’ was adopted as a synonym for “Culture” as recently as 1922. Suggested by linguist Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay and borrowed from the Marathi language, the term received its ultimate seal of approval from Rabindranath Tagore.
The Anthropological Perspective
A landmark moment in defining the term came in 1871. In his book Primitive Culture, English anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor provided what is now considered the “classical definition”:
“Culture… is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”
Tylor later clarified in 1881 that culture, so defined, is a possession unique to humankind. This definition served the academic community for nearly half a century.
A Conflict of Definitions
As the study of humans evolved, so did the definitions. In 1952, American anthropologists A.L. Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn published Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions, where they cited a staggering 164 definitions. These ranged from “learned behavior” to “ideas in the mind,” “a logical construct,” and even “a psychic defense mechanism.”
Kroeber and Kluckhohn leaned toward the idea that culture is an “abstraction from behavior.” However, this sparked a debate: if culture is merely an abstraction, how do we categorize tangible things like a wedding ceremony or a clay pot? This psychological approach left a gap that many found difficult to bridge.
Toward a Modern Synthesis
The resolution to this debate was perhaps best offered by Leslie A. White in his 1959 essay, The Concept of Culture. White argued that the problem wasn’t whether culture was “real” or an “abstraction,” but rather the context of scientific interpretation.
Analyzing these historical perspectives, we can conclude that “Culture” is a category of things and events dependent on symbolization (such as articulate speech). It is a uniquely human framework that organizes our world, bridging the gap between our internal thoughts and the external reality of the society we build.