Features and Characteristics of Culture

(Based on the lectures of Professor Dr. Ramesh Raj Kunwar)

1. Culture is learnt: Culture is learnt on the process of socialization. Every individual who will take birth from the ancestors lap that child sees the world where the child encounters the mothers appearance or face. Thus the child gets familiar with mother's activities. Then the child will get to know the immediate senior and gets involved with contemporary networks. When the child gets to know family members and the child's interest with them, the child learns the roles and activities. In this stage he learns with family, friends, neighbors, relatives and even strangers. Every member of the society gives the learning environment to the child.

2. Culture is burrowed: Poorly developed culture lack several cultural traits so that people will be bound to fulfill their immediate needs from the burrowed culture from others. 

3. Culture is diffused: Diffusion of culture takes place through migration of people. Many cultures are getting diffused from place to place and one religion to other. The mixture of the culture formed by the culture of affluent group and less affluent group makes the hybrid culture.  

4. Culture is dynamic: Ancestor of modern man were naked, half naked and survived with bows and arrows to run their day to day life. Now modern man uses different technologies. It clearly states that people change for progression and innovate tangible or non-tangible artifacts for comfort.

5. Culture is adaptive. Human beings are the mobile animals. Mobilization makes movement of people from one place to the other. Earlier the purpose of mobilization was to capture the territory or women. Then people adapted to the new environment and human physiology can adapt to 18000 feet high altitude from sea level. People have settled in tropical as well as alpine climates.

6. Culture is maladaptive: Even though human are capable of adjusting to any environment, culture does not allow people to adjust in every cultural settings.

7. Culture is transmitted: It is believed that culture is inherited from generations to generations. That is why people keep their identity otherwise people will loose their identity. Individual play two types of behavior which are:

- Genotypic: Behavioral patterns of individuals which are transmitted from generations to generations genetically.

- Phenotypic: External behavior that comes with the phenomenon to maintain the situations. Eg. class behavior, family behavior, etc.

8. Culture is not static: Culture is a changing phenomena. If it was not dynamic we would still be hunters and gatherers. As time passed by human's necessities were increased and humans were progressively changed to fulfill those necessities. Only tangible things can be preserved within culture.