Culture

In class during this previous week we have studied the idea of culture in a very in depth way. Anthropologists define culture as everything that occurs in a society and all of the customs and practices handed down from generation to generation. One thing that I learned from looking deeper into culture as a whole is the fact that there are so many subdivisions and different types of culture. One example of divisions found in culture is shown in the distinct difference between different classes of culture in the middle ages, such as the difference between elite culture which consisted of things such art, literature, and classical music (elite culture was sometimes referred to as "high culture") and folk culture which consisted of things such as street carnivals, tavern drinking, and folktales. One very important factor in the difference between these two cultures is the fact that members of the elite culture could enjoy folk culture, but folk culture could not enjoy elite culture.

Another thing that I learned about culture during this past week was the fact that there are so many different types and variations of it. One type of culture that I was already fairly familiar with that we discussed was popular culture. Popular culture is defined as the culture of everyone in a society. Popular culture is basically made up of what surrounds us. Things such as attitudes, actions, buildings, entertainment, sports and religion are just a few of the factors that play into creating popular culture. Another very significant type of culture that I learned about this past week was mass culture. The term mass culture refers to the things in our popular culture that are mass-produced or shared through the mass media. Almost everything in popular culture can be represented by mass culture, simply because almost everything in popular culture is mass produced. Some examples of things in popular culture that are mass produced are sporting events, newspapers, music, video games, and other things along these lines. The only things in popular culture that are not mass produced are things that only small societies of people know about or enjoy, such as local burger joints, local musicians, or certain styles found only in a given area. It was very interesting to me to see how much there really is to culture and how much more in depth the idea of culture than what I previously thought.