At first, we all have a generalized view of what culture means to mankind. Scholars say that culture does not have a universal meaning and that each person can interpret it in a different way. Based on this principle, today we will better understand the meaning of cultural anthropology .

What is culture for anthropology?

According to scholars, cultural anthropology aims to understand the cultural aspect of humanity In other words, how people develop social mechanisms to interact with each other and their environment, and how people's communication, behavior, and cultural reactions are also studied in this discipline.

Although this discipline is complex, scholars explain how it focuses on the development of man without attachments to theory, so that we can all understand in practice the change in language, systems, and culture that we go through.

Edward Taylor was one of the first anthropologists to devote himself to the study of this discipline. For him, culture is a complex of knowledge, art, beliefs, customs, laws and abilities that man acquires in society. Like them, other scholars indicate that culture is not something hereditary.

Relations between anthropology and psychoanalysis

Anthropology is a very broad field with diverse positions, yet, as a simplification, we can think that:

• O ID is usually associated with the desire, pleasure, and aggressiveness of the subjects of a collectivity.
• O SUPEREGO would be the social and moral rules, such as beliefs, laws (written or tacit), clothing, school, the power of repression, politics, the place of women, etc.
• O EGO would be how this society symbolizes the self and represents reality, as well as how it mediates between id and superego.

Sigmund Freud's most anthropologically considered book (and often the one most criticized by anthropologists) is " Totem and Taboo "The problem for anthropologists is that the "primitive society" (or "primitive") suggested by Freud in this work is seen as fictitious, even though it has its effectiveness in structuring society.

Authors like Michel Foucault (who discuss the themes of power and micropower) are also relevant, especially for proposing this confrontation between id and superego.

Culture characteristics

Many scholars claim that the meaning of culture in cultural anthropology is quite complex. All because each person develops a unique perception of what culture means according to his or her personal experiences However, anthropologists indicate that culture has attributes that are classic. Thus, culture is:

1. something learned, not passed on by genetics or born with each person.
2. symbolic, since it represents symbols that depend on the context of society for their meaning.
3. For example, language, economy and religion are not independent of each other, but are connected as cultural phenomena.
4. It is dynamic, communicates through symbols, and is influenced by nature, people, and culture itself.
5. shared, since people perceive and react to the world in similar ways.

Ramifications

It can be said that cultural anthropologists constantly work with the representation of thought through images and words. In other words, scholars seek to understand the role of symbols in the relationship between people. Thus, it is important for them to focus on how symbols influence human interaction.

One way to better understand this is to study the theories of Charles Sanders Pierce on the image and Ferdinand Saussure on language. As a result, we see how this meeting gives rise to visual and oral anthropology.

We can see that this meeting of theories helps exemplify how complex our influence on the world is. As we try to get to know ourselves more questions arise to be answered .

We are nature

For experts in the field, cultural anthropology can resolve the conflict between nature and culture. Many people believe that there is a natural opposition between culture and nature, what we learn and what we are.

According to this discipline, man is a being that exists in a natural form, we are all one true nature, justified by the very act of existing .

However, many anthropologists claim that culture is a very important fragment of human nature. Thus, each person possesses a potential capable of building experiences, transforming them into symbolic codes, and spreading abstract results .

Development Cultures

Ever since man has learned to live together in groups and societies he has developed different cultures. Anthropologists claim that these cultures have different segments and anthropology explores other areas while addressing these questions. For example:

1.Humanities

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Field of study that focuses on the individual as a whole, without disregarding each part of its construction. In other words, Humanities scientists follow our beliefs, philosophy of life, language, mind, ethics, history and other aspects .

2.Social Sciences

With the social sciences it is possible to study people as participants in organized social strata. Not only as individuals, but as relevant parts of a complex scheme of social interactions.

Historical Mapping

Through cultural anthropology people can better understand how humanity develops. With the help of this discipline, scholars investigate how human groups evolve around the planet It is an unpredictable process, since we are no longer who we were yesterday and are not yet tomorrow.

In addition, we can all understand the context of the birth of religions. And also how people interact in the face of the mechanism of social formality, family interaction and the progress of communication techniques.

Network of meanings

Scholars like Bronislaw Malinwski and Franz Boas continued their studies to define what culture is for anthropology. According to them, culture looks at all the manifestations concerning the social habits of a group It also considers the reactions of the people who are affected by the habits of the community you are in.

For Clyde Kluckhohn, a social theorist and anthropologist, there is a list of 11 interpretations of what culture is:

1. The behavioral generalization of people.
2. The way people think, believe and feel.
3. The social legacy a person receives from the community.
4. The way of life of a group.
5. Adaptation techniques for people to fit into a social environment.
6. Theory or idea concerning how people behave in community.
7. All behavior that is learned.
8. A grouping of organized guidelines for solving frequent problems.
9. A learning space that is shared.
10. An impulse to build a story.
11. A tool to standardize the behavior of a population.

Final thoughts on cultural anthropology

With the help of cultural anthropology we better understand what culture means to humanity Even though cultural anthropologists do not have a consensus, it is possible to state that culture is something learned. Therefore, people do not learn its meaning equally or are born with it in their blood.

In addition, it is important that we know that culture is not homogeneous, timeless, and not immune to criticism. We should think about how many of the habits we learn can do harm to many people. Thus, it is important that we frequently question whether we are advancing or regressing as people and society.

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