Tasks:

1. The following are but some possible contemporary definitions of the term culture. Discuss them with your colleagues.
To what extent do they match your own definition(s) of the term? Which of these definitions seem to you the most
appropriate? Motivate your answers.
Culture is the whole way of life of a group of people.
Culture is the total set of beliefs, attitudes, customs, behaviours, social habits, etc., of the members of a
particular society.
Culture is the way the social relations of a group are structured and shaped, but it is also the way those relations
are experienced, understood and interpreted.
Culture is the entire range of institutions and artefacts which make up our symbolic universe.
The culture of a group or class is the peculiar and distinctive way of life of the group or class, the meanings,
values and ideas embodied in institutions, in social relations, in systems of beliefs, in mores and customs, in the
uses of objects and material life.
Culture is the process of social exchange of utterances, concepts, categories, beliefs, values, stories,
experiences. It is the domain in which the society represents to itself its distinctive character the domain of
the social imaginary. This exchange, of course, does not proceed on purely equal basis. Some concepts, values
and beliefs gain wider currency than others, not necessarily because they are intrinsically superior, but because
they are propounded by those with power to ensure the widest dissemination.
2. Now examine the above definitions in detail by mentioning the strong and weak points of each. Which is the most
comprehensive? Which allows for the greatest freedom of interpretation? Motivate your answers.
3. Explain the meaning(s) of the following terms/phrases:
artefact;
symbolic universe;
social imaginary;
social exchange;
material life.
4. Agree/disagree with the following statements:
there are at least two different understandings/meanings of the term culture: one refers to a particular group of
people (a nation, for instance as in national culture); the other is much wider in meaning, as it represents a
typically human activity/preoccupation;
the terms culture and civilisation have distinct, although related, meanings and uses;
culture is not only a system of relationships, but also the way they are experienced and understood; culture is
primarily a matter of interpretation;
it would be better to place the term culture between inverted commas, since we cannot reach at a
comprehensive and absolute definition of it;
every age will produce not only its own culture, but also the suitable approaches to it;

there cannot be a proper understanding of the previous meanings of culture because of the current
understanding(s) of the term; therefore it is futile to study the cultural products of previous ages.

there cannot be an absolute understanding of the meaning of culture, therefore all our current appreciations of
previous cultural products are counterproductive;

at least one of the meanings of culture is a product of power and manipulation;

the term culture does not allow for quantification;
culture does not allow for quantification.
5. Define the terms high culture and low culture. Is there any difference between low, popular and sub-culture? How
would you attempt at a proper definition of these three? How do they relate to culture in general?