Which of the following terms refers to all socially transmitted social practices and knowledge systems that are transmitted from one generation to the next?

Libraries at University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Date of this Version

12-2011

Abstract

Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects and behaviour. It includes the ideas, value, customs and artefacts of a group of people (Schaefer, 2002). Culture is a pattern of human activities and the symbols that give these activities significance. It is what people eat, how they dress, beliefs they hold and activities they engage in. It is the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenges of living in their environment, which gives order and meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of organisation thus distinguishing people from their neighbours. In Federal Republic of Nigeria (1988), culture comprises material, institutional, philosophical and creative aspects.

The process of expanding culture has been under way for many centuries, but technologies have increased the speed and have also broadened the distribution of cultural elements beyond communities and nations’ territorial frontiers.

However, culture can be transmitted or acquired through information or symbol. Cultural identity is those attributes, behavioural patterns, lifestyles, social structures and norms that distinguish a people from other peoples (Omekwu, 2003). These are passed on laterally or inherited from one generation to another (cultural heritage), or horizontally passed on from one society to another through such agent as globalization. Henslin (2007) sees globalization as “the increased interconnectedness and under dependence of different societies around the world”. He also sees it as the breaking down of national boundaries because of advances in communications, trade and travel.

Today the paradigm is shifting with the new opportunities and challenges created by new technologies. The message of this paper is therefore to examine;

• The emerging issues in the globalization of Nigerian cultural heritage.
• The impacts of technologies on the globalization of Nigeria cultural heritage.
• The role of libraries in the documentation, presentation and globalization of cultural heritage
• And the challenges and suggestions on how these effects may be overcome.

Now, what are the: Issues, Impacts, and Emerging challenges?

DOWNLOADS

Since June 08, 2012

COinS

Certainty styling is being phased out topic by topic.

Hover over keys for definitions:

True   Likely   Speculative

Human Uniqueness Compared to "Great Apes": 

The classic anthropological definition of culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (E. B. Tylor 1871). However it is defined, it is agreed that culture is passed on from generation to generation—or "horizontally" between individuals and collectivities—in a manner that involves “social learning” rather than specific genetic programming. Culture is divisible into "traits" (single items) and "complexes" (more or less integrated or institutionalized collections of traits). Culture typically is thought of as though it were attached to or identified with particular groups or societies or peoples. “Social learning” is by definition a necessary condition for culture. If social learning is also considered a sufficient condition for culture, then many species besides humans have culture. Scholars disagree whether social learning is really all there is to culture or, alternatively, whether there are some defining features of human culture that make it fundamentally distinct from animal culture. While this is a semantic problem it is also a serious scientific matter. If chimpanzees, for example, share the crucial mental ingredients for culture with humans it would be reasonable to hypothesize that chimpanzee- and human culture are homologous, meaning that each species’ capacity for culture traces to their common ancestry. If, however, human culture is something distinct, then such similarities as there are between chimpanzee and human cultures make them analogous but independent developments. Some scholars argue that fundamental features of human culture are far more recent than the split between chimpanzees and humans. Thus some scholars say that animals have traditions but not culture. Others use such terms as protoculture for animals.

Timing of appearance of the difference in the Hominin Lineage as a defined date or a lineage separation event. The point in time associated with lineage separation events may change in the future as the scientific community agrees upon better time estimates. Lineage separation events are defined in 2017 as:

• the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and old world monkeys was 25,000 - 30,000 thousand (25 - 30 million) years ago
• the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and chimpanzees was 6,000 - 8,000 thousand (6 - 8 million) years ago
• the emergence of the genus Homo was 2,000 thousand (2 million) years ago
• the Last Common Ancestor (LCA) of humans and neanderthals was 500 thousand years ago
• the common ancestor of modern humans was 100 - 300 thousand years ago

The Human Difference: 

Human culture is vastly more complex than that of any other species. The moralization of culture (the "right" vs. other ways to do things) may be distinctive of human culture.

Universality in Human Populations: 

Culture is found in all human societies, past or present.

Mechanisms Responsible for the Difference: 

The greater complexity of human culture may reflect differences in the processes of cultural transmission.  In nonhuman primates it usually consists of emulation (seeing a result and duplicating it through trial and error) whereas humans normally imitate (focusing on how the result was achieved and then attempting to duplicate the same steps to the result).  Moreover, explicit instruction is common among humans but rare or absent among other species. Humans, unlike other species, often or normally insist upon there is a right way to do things. Specific human cultural universals account for a more rapid and extensive cultural development than in other species.  Narrative and intentional instruction directly enhance the transmission of culture.  Fire and cooking, by altering the demographics of humans, gave greater scope to cultural innovation and variation. Human speech greatly enhanced the transmission of culture.

Occurrence in Other Animals: 

In its broadest definition culture is found in many species.

References

1. Middle Pleistocene fire use: The first signal of widespread cultural diffusion in human evolution, MacDonald, Katharine, Scherjon Fulco, van Veen Eva, Vaesen Krist, and Roebroeks Wil , Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021/08/03, Volume 118, Issue 31, p.e2101108118, (2021)

   • BibTeX
   • Tagged
   • XML

2. Population size does not explain past changes in cultural complexity., Vaesen, Krist, Collard Mark, Cosgrove Richard, and Roebroeks Wil , Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2016 Apr 19, Volume 113, Issue 16, p.E2241-7, (2016)

   • PubMed
   • BibTeX
   • Tagged
   • XML

3. Cultural Evolutionary Perspectives on Creativity and Human Innovation., Fogarty, Laurel, Creanza Nicole, and Feldman Marcus W. , Trends Ecol Evol, 2015 Dec, Volume 30, Issue 12, p.736-54, (2015)

   • PubMed
   • BibTeX
   • Tagged
   • XML

Which term is defined as the way of life or people that is learned and transmitted from generation to generation?

What do you call the process through which cultural practices are learned and transmitted within a society?

What is the transmission of culture?

What is the process whereby the cultural heritage is socially transmitted from one generation to another?