Cont Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Cont - Assignment Example Anthropology studies the origin and behavior of man. The study does not have any restrictions with regards to the time period, location or specific features that man can be analyzed. Anthropology studies man from its beginnings to all the manifestations and discrepancies that brought it to its present stature (Dash 2004). Culture is defined as â€Å"the integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristics of the members of a society and that are not the result of biological inheritance† (Dash 2004). Several published texts have mentioned a number of cultural characteristics. Some of them are not agreeing on the exact number of the characteristics of culture. The number varies from 4 up to 6 or even more. These texts however agree on some of the characteristics. First of it would be that culture is learned. When a person is born, he enters a place already filled with culture. There are cultures that can trace its origin from centuries ago. Since birth until the last day of a person’s life, he tends to seek and define the new world that he is now a part of. The world is a confusing place as it is filled with numerous sensations that may have or may not have meaning yet it is influencing lives. There are also various ways of learning culture. The most common way is through communication (Samovar et al, 2009). Another characteristic is that the culture is shared. This even incorporates within its teachings the first characteristic. It is said that the key element of culture is that it should be shared by the people who belong to the same nation. This characteristic compliments the goal of the first which states that culture is learned. To communicate is to share and communicating is a form of teaching. When something is being taught, people learn what is being taught. These 2 characteristics go hand in hand in transmitting cultures from one generation to another