From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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-	{{Template}}	+	#REDIRECT [[Culture]]
-	'''Culture theory''' is the branch of [[anthropology]] and other related [[social sciences|social science]] disciplines (e.g., [[sociology]]) that seeks to define the [[heuristic]] concept of [[culture]] in [[scientific method|scientific]] terms. In the 19th century, "[[culture]]" was used as a synonym for "[[civilization]]". In the 20th century, [[Anthropology | anthropologists]] began theorizing about culture as an object of scientific analysis. Some used it to distinguish human [[Adaptation (biology)|adaptive strategies]] from the largely [[instinct|instinctive]] adaptive strategies of [[animal]]s, including the adaptive strategies of other [[primate]]s and non-human [[Hominidae|hominid]]s, whereas others used it to refer to symbolic [[representation (arts)|representations]] and expressions of human experience, with no direct adaptive value. Both groups understood culture as being definitive of [[human nature]].	+
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-	According to many [[theory|theories]] that have gained wide acceptance among anthropologists, culture exhibits the way that humans interpret their [[biology]] and their [[social environment|environment]]. According to this point of view, culture becomes such an integral part of human [[existentialism|existence]] that it ''is'' the human environment, and most cultural [[change]] can be attributed to human adaptation to [[history|historical events]]. Moreover, given that culture is seen as the primary adaptive mechanism of humans and takes place much faster than [[human evolution|human biological evolution]], most cultural change can be viewed as culture adapting to itself.	+
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-	Although most anthropologists try to define culture in such a way that it separates human beings from other animals, many human traits are similar to those of other animals, particularly the traits of other primates. For example, [[chimpanzee]]s have big [[brain]]s, but human brains are bigger. Similarly, [[bonobo]]s exhibit complex [[non-human animal sexuality|sexual behavior]], but human beings exhibit much more complex [[human sexuality|sexual behaviors]]. As such, anthropologists often debate whether [[human behavior]] is different from [[animal behavior]] in degree rather than in kind; they must also find ways to distinguish [[cultural behavior]] from [[sociological behavior]] and [[psychological behavior]].	+
-	==See also==	+
-	* [[Cultural studies]]	+
-	* [[Cultural behavior]]	+
-	* [[Culture industry]]	+
-	* [[Critical theory]]	+
-	* [[Dual inheritance theory]]	+
-	* [[Intercultural relations]]	+
-	* [[Popular culture studies]]	+
-	* [[Semiotics of culture]]	+
-	* [[Structuralism]]	+
-	* [[Tartu-Moscow Semiotic School]]	+
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-	{{GFDL}}	+

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Revision as of 18:32, 22 December 2020

1. REDIRECT Culture