HUM 101 • Myers
Definitions
Culture: The system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that the members of society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning.
A culture can contain all of the following:
• Artifacts/works of art• Ceremonies• Institutions• Taboos
• Attitudes• Codes• Knowledge• Techniques
• Behaviors• Customs• Language• Tools
• Beliefs• Ideas• Rituals• Values
Art: 1) Any human creation which contains an idea other than its utilitarian purpose. 2) The conscious use of skill and creative imagination esp. in the production of aesthetic objects; also: works so produced (Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary).
Art may or may not involve any of the following:
• Skill• Pleasure• Beauty
• Emotion• Message• Insight/inspiration
Humanism: Originally a rediscovery and re-evaluation of the aspects of classical civilization (ancient Greece and Rome) and the application of these aspects to intellectual and social culture. This early form of humanism developed in Italy in the 1300s. Reading the literature and studying the art of ancient Greece and Rome led early humanists to turn away from the restrictive religious and secular authorities of the middle ages toward more reliance on individualism.
Humanities: According to the 1965 National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, "The term 'humanities' includes, but is not limited to, the study of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life." (From the National Endowment for the Humanities website)
Popular culture, or pop culture: The vernacular (people’s) culture that prevails in any given society. The content of popular culture is determined by every day interactions, needs and desires, the cultural “moments” that make up our everyday lives. It may include practices such as knitting, cooking, chopping wood, storytelling, playing cards and throwing or kicking a ball. In modern and postmodern societies, popular culture in large part is influenced by industries that disseminate cultural material, for example the film, television, cartoon, comics and publishing industries, as well as the news media. But popular culture cannot be described as just the aggregate product of those industries; instead, it is the result of a continuing interaction between those industries and the people of the society who consume their products. Some scholars distinguish between “primary” and “secondary” popular culture, the first being mass product and the second being local re-production. (Most of this definition comes from Wikipedia.)
An important channel for the transmission of popular culture is folklore. Traditionally, folklore was passed on orally and preserved from generation to generation. Today, the transmission of what could be called “folklore,” in the form of jokes, slang and so-called “urban legends” is enabled by the internet.
Generally, the term popular culture refers to aspects of culture that appeal to the greatest percentage of the population of the world or of a specific part of the world. However, popular culture can spring from smaller groups who are seen as pioneers or “taste leaders” whom it is desirable to emulate (hence the importance of the internet).
The United States is undoubtedly the source of the greatest percentage of the world’s popular culture. This can be attributed to the success worldwide of the U.S.’s film and music industries.