In modern times, the British anthropologist E.B. Taylor was the first to give a clear definition of the word culture. He published the book Primitive Culture at 187 1. He pointed out: "From the perspective of ethnography, culture or civilization is a complex whole, which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, ethics, laws, customs and any other abilities and habits acquired by people as members of a society through learning."
British anthropologist B.K. Malinowski developed Taylor's definition of culture and wrote "On Culture" in 1930s, arguing that "culture refers to a group of traditional objects, commodities, technologies, ideas, habits and values, and this concept contains and regulates all social sciences. We will also see that social organizations cannot be understood unless they are regarded as part of culture. " He further divided culture into material and spiritual components, namely "transformed environment and changed human organism".
It is a tradition of British anthropology to study culture from the perspective of structure and function. A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, a British anthropologist, believes that culture is a way of thinking, feeling and activity acquired by a social group or social stratum in contact with others. Culture is a process in which people acquire knowledge, skills, experience, thoughts, beliefs and emotions through mutual communication. He emphasized that culture can only be revealed when the social structure works, and culture cannot be observed without the social structure system. For example, the relationship between father and son, the relationship between buying and selling, and the relationship between ruler and ruled can only show a certain culture when they communicate. French anthropologist C Levi-Strauss defined culture from the perspective of behavioral norms and patterns. He put forward: "Culture is a set of behavior patterns, which is popular among a group of people in a certain period of time, … and easily differs from other people's behavior patterns, showing obvious discontinuity". British anthropologist R Firth believes that culture is society. Culture is society. In his book Elements of Social Organization published by 195 1, he pointed out that if a society is composed of a group of people with a specific lifestyle, then culture is a lifestyle. American cultural anthropologists A.L. kroeber and K. colac Hong analyzed more than 65,438+000 cultural definitions in "Culture: An Investigation of a Concept Definition" published in 65,438+0952, and then they gave a comprehensive definition of culture: "Culture exists in various hidden and explicit ways, and can be learned and spread by means of symbols, which constitutes a kind of human group. These achievements include all kinds of specific styles of goods they manufacture. The basic elements of culture are traditional concepts and values (derived from history and obtained through choice), among which values are the most important. " The cultural definitions of Ge Yihao and Clark Hong have been accepted by many modern western scholars.
To sum up, we know that culture has several elements, mainly including: ① spiritual elements, that is, spiritual culture. Mainly refers to philosophy and other specific science, religion, art, ethics and values, of which values are the most important and the core of spiritual culture. Spiritual culture is the most dynamic part of cultural elements and the motive force of human creative activities. Without spiritual culture, human beings cannot be distinguished from animals. Values are the criteria for social members to evaluate behaviors and things and choose desirable goals from various possible goals. This standard exists in people's hearts and is expressed through attitudes and behaviors. It determines what people advocate, pursue and choose what life goals and lifestyles. At the same time, the value is also reflected in all the material and intangible products created by human beings. The types, uses and styles of products all reflect the values of the creators.
② Language and symbols. Both of them have the same nature, that is, ideographic, and they both play the role of communication in human communication activities. Language and symbols are also the means of cultural accumulation and storage. Humans can only communicate by means of language and symbols, and only communication and interaction can create culture. And all aspects of culture can only be embodied and taught through language and symbols. Being able to use language and symbols to engage in production and social activities and create rich and colorful culture is a unique attribute of human beings.
③ Standard system. Social behavior norms are the norms of people's behavior, which are established by convention, such as customs, and also expressly stipulated, such as legal provisions, rules and regulations of organizations, etc. Various norms are interrelated, permeated and complemented each other, and jointly adjust people's various social relations. Social behavior norms stipulate the direction, way and style of people's activities, as well as the objects and methods of language and symbols. Norms are established or naturally formed by human beings to meet their own needs, and they are the concretization of values. The normative system is dominant, and understanding the culture of a society or group often begins with understanding the norms of social behavior.
④ Social relations and social organizations. Social relations are the basis of the above cultural elements. The relations of production are the basis of various social relations. On the basis of production relations, various social relations have emerged. These social relations are not only a part of culture, but also the basis of creating culture. The determination of social relations depends on the organization. Social organizations are entities that realize social relations. A society should establish many social organizations to ensure the realization and operation of various social relations. Family, factory, company, school, church, government, army, etc. Are entities that ensure the operation of various social relations. Social organizations include goals, articles of association, a certain number of members and corresponding material equipment, including both material factors and spiritual factors. Social relations and social organizations are closely linked and become an important part of culture. Culture has the characteristics of times, regionality, nationality and class. Since the formation of a nation, culture has often appeared in the form of a nation. It is the expression of national culture that a nation uses a common language, observes common customs and habits, and develops common psychological quality and character. In a stratified society, due to the different material living conditions and social status of each class, their values, beliefs, habits and lifestyles are also different, thus resulting in cultural differences between classes.
⑤ Material products. The natural environment transformed by human beings and everything created by human beings, such as tools, utensils, costumes, buildings, dams, parks, etc. Are all tangible parts of culture. People's ideas, needs and abilities are condensed on them. Each generation was born in a certain cultural environment and naturally inherited the traditional culture of the previous generation. At the same time, each generation transforms traditional culture according to its own experience and needs, injects new content into traditional culture and abandons those outdated and undesirable parts.
⑤ Culture has nationality and specific class nature. General culture is abstract, but there are only concrete cultures in the real society, such as ancient Greek culture, Roman culture, ancient China culture and modern China culture.
So, what is the traditional culture of China? That is, Confucianism in the pre-Qin period represented the understanding of people and society and the pursuit of social behavior norms, that is, "benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith." Confucianism emphasizes and pursues "courtesy", that is, establishing a common value of human society to adjust and restrain people's social behavior, because "law" is only used to punish serious violations of social behavior norms and cannot play an educational role. If we can abide by the norms of social behavior and choose the best way of behavior with integrity and wisdom, we can make people not break the law. The law forces people's social behavior, while the code of conduct is only an education and constraint. There are various social behavior norms, such as those of rulers and ordinary people, and all regions, nationalities and even families have their own social behavior norms. The code of conduct does not require aristocrats to have exactly the same social behavior as ordinary people, but requires people to be good at choosing the best behavior to achieve their goals. However, the best way to behave is to abide by certain social behavior norms. If you don't choose the best behavior, the rulers will fall, the rich will lose everything, and ordinary people will break the law, thus failing to achieve their goals. Therefore, choosing the best behavior requires wisdom, and wisdom comes from learning, that is, it takes a little longer to learn the social behavior norms in the family, in the family and around the neighbors from an early age, that is, choosing the best behavior among various social behavior norms requires more social behavior norms and social axiom interpretation systems. This is the essence of China's traditional culture and the real quality education.