Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society
Interpretation
Culture encompasses the various elements that define a society, including knowledge, beliefs, and artistic expressions.
Edward Burnett Tylor's quote highlights the complexity of culture as a composite of various human endeavors and societal practices. He defines culture in a broad sense, asserting that it includes everything from knowledge and beliefs to the art and customs that shape a group's identity and social interactions. Understanding culture in this way emphasizes the intricate interconnections between different aspects of human life and the ways in which societies develop and evolve over time.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of education, one might use this quote to illustrate how culture shapes learning.
When I was growing up, the Spanish-speaking world was Balkanized. We were isolated. We didn't know what was happening in cultural terms in Ecuador, Colombia and Chile. Nowadays, this has changed a lot - fortunately for writers and readers. There is much more integration.
When you talk about Lacrosse, you talk about the lifeblood of the six nations. The game is ingrained into our culture and our system and our lives. (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora)
African-Americans are not a monolithic group. So, we tend to talk about the black community, the black culture, the African-American television viewing audience, but there are just as many facets of us as there are other cultures.
We have entered a new phase of culture - we may call it the Age of the Cinema - in which the most amazing perfection of scientific technique is being devoted to purely ephemeral objects, without any consideration of their ultimate justification. It seems as though a new society was arising which will acknowledge no hierarchy of values, no intellectual authority, and no social or religious tradition, but which will live for the moment in a chaos of pure sensation.
No one's of Pakistani origin in any British show. That's why every actor of color is here working in the States. It's true.
The priest has just baptized you a Christian with water; and I baptize you a Frenchman, daring child, with a dewdrop of champagne on your lips.
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