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Culture: Its Meaning for Science and Everyday Life
| Article
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15885 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
1 / 1989 |
6,818 Words |
| Author
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Kenneth Moore
Kenneth Moore is a professor of anthropology at the University
of Notre Dame, specializing in Mediterranean/Middle Eastern
studies. His published works include Those of the Street: The
Catholic-Jews of Mallorca, Waymarks ed., and a new translation
of Ortega y Gasset's The Revolt of the Masses. |
Concepts are the tools of science. They are the key terms used by the practitioners of science within scientific communities. There they are used with some precision, at least much greater precision than when these same terms are used in the normal conversation of everyday life. The term gravity is a good example. In normal conversation it denotes the force that pulls material objects toward the earth. In science it means much more, as in the formula S=1/2 gt2.
A continuing problem for scientists in the use of concepts is to retain an understanding of them that is clear, precise, and accurate, resisting the often vague and sometimes muddled meanings of everyday conversation. Scientific concepts are used with specific reference to theories and are critical in distinguishing what is relevant when describing empirical reality. In the social sciences we use a whole range of concepts that are also everyday terms in normal conversation. These include not only culture, but also society, institution, integration, group, process, structure, articulation, type, and many more. The entire list would be rather long.
There is seldom total agreement on the meaning of a concept in a scientific community. But there is a core of understanding as to how terms can or should be applied. The core meaning of a concept is often based on an understanding of how it has been used in specific applications in the past in theoretical discussion or in the description or explanation of the observed. It is against the backdrop of a term's specific history that scientists continue to use any specific concept.
It is useful to the thoughtful observer to enter the domain of a specific science to note how terms of everyday use are employed as scientific concepts. In this essay we are going to examine the ways the term culture has been used over the years, thus, we may understand its utility in explaining the human animal and its mode of survival. It is a term that is used not only in anthropology but also in history, sociology, geography, and political science. Its meaning in everyday conversation is not necessarily incorrect, but it is a very limited meaning for so powerful a term.
For most, the term culture denotes the way of life of a particular people. It is understood that there are many and various ways of life--that is, many cultures--in the world. One understands implicitly the way of life in which one has matured or been enculturated. This is a social realm that is familiar and comfortable. One understands that one's culture consists of
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