HLTA02H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Genetic Linkage
CHAPTER 4: CULTURES AND MEANINGS OF HEALTH
GILLET ET AL.
What is Culture?
•200 different definitions of culture—no a universal definition#
•Culture: widely defined, contested term. As culture is dynamic, there is no universal term to
define it. For the purpose of this text, culture is the learned, shared, transmitted behaviours
that influence members of a given culture sharing group
•Origins of the word can be traced back to agriculture contexts, where the term referred to
the cultivation of crops and other harvestable goods#
•Not until 18th cent. That it was extended to reflect a state of refinement or development that
humans aspired to achieve#
•Based on this idea, those who were “cultured” had refinement in thought, beliefs and
actions#
•Effects of culture would allow one to evolve form barbaric, uncivilized state to a civilized
member of society—member of culture elite#
•This historical context of culture highlights the importance of group membership#
•Edward Taylor— one of the earliest people to define culture #
• Defines culture from a anthropology perspective #
•Culture: is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belied, art, law, morals,
customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society#
•Critiques: it is too broad; assumes that ones capabilities are a result only of ones cultural
upbringing; it ignores the role of biology in determining behaviour#
•Important: this definition suggest holistic elements of learning, sharing and socializing
that are necessary for culture to exist—which is consistent with our more modern
definitions of culture #
•Building on the idea of group membership, T.S Elliot—argued that culture was linked to
religion
•Culture: may even be described simply as that which makes life worth living. It includes all
the characteristic activities and interests of a people#
•His view was that culture could not develop outside of the context of religion, as peoples
religious beliefs determined their behaviour #
•From his perspective, group membership was dependent on a belief system s/a
Christianity #
•His work highlights again that not everyone has the same culture or is part of a culture
sharing group#
•His belief was that the secularization of society would lead to a loss of religion and
therefore a loss of culture—again emphasizing the belief that culture is an essential
element of learning, sharing and transmitting beliefs about behaviour#
•One of the most cited definitions of cultures comes from Kroeber & Kluckhohn
•Culture: culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behaviour acquired
and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups,
including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of
traditional( i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas especially their attached values;
culture systems may, on the other hand, be considered as a product of action, on the
other as conditioning elements of further action#
•The term culture is often used in line with political or ideological agendas, and it is unlikely
that there will ever be a consensus in terms of what culture is or means#
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