Question

Cultural Anthropology question (hope if you can answer this?) Thank you!

Tylor describes culture as a complex "whole".   What are the merits and problems with thinking about culture in this way?

Answer 1

Edward B. Tylor was correct in defining culture as the complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom etc. These are practiced by everyone in a particular culture. This uniformity of practices binds people of the same culture together and differentiate them from the other cultures. Most of the cultures have most of the beliefs and practices as same. This reduces conflicts among the groups and increase oneness among the members of that group.

Today, this definition might limit the scope of culture because of globalization. People travel to different countries, work with different people, practice different customs yet, they all belong to the same culture. It’s all becoming universal culture because of the changing international business environment. A person who works in a foreign country might adopt certain beliefs and practices that the person finds interesting and useful to that person thus following them. This doesn’t mean they got converted to that culture but they enhanced their life style which is accepted by the people of the person’s culture. So, there is no scope of limiting the definition of culture to shared and uniform values among the people of same group.