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Culture Is The Greatest Human Invention

Decent Essays

Culture is the learned values, beliefs, and rules of conduct that are shared to some extent by the members of a society that govern their behavior with one another. It is the greatest human invention, it is the ultimate definition of what, where, and how we call a place our home. In this essay I will discuss the characteristics, process, and elements within culture, as well as an in-depth look into the different categories and the topic of race within culture. A few basic components of culture are cognitive process, behavior, and material creations. Cognitive processes are the basic outline or ground work by which people think, reason, and give value. These frameworks for thought are learned by enculturation in both formal and informal situations throughout their lives. "We cannot view the cognitive processes that create a value system within an individual 's mind, but we can view the outcome..." (28-29). this means that while we cannot view the creation of values in a culture, we can witness the embodiment of these learned perspectives. When an individual’s actions reflect their cognitive process, they 're presenting their learned behavior. Behavior is another component of culture because everything from the way we use our bodies to how we interact in social or secluded situations is a result from how and where we were raised. Finally, material creations help define culture because objects like art, artifacts or features often reflect the creator’s cultural thoughts,

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