Sharon P. answered • 06/22/21
PhD. in Anthropology, 18 years’ experience Educator, Patient
The answer is True. Music is one of the characteristics of a culture.
First, look at the definition of culture. It is a shared way of life that includes the material and nonmaterial products (values, norms, beliefs)that are transmitted from generation to generation (Scupin 2008)
Benedict states that it is a unifying force for man, the shared ideas and norms, and no conflict between roles of either the individual or society (Patterns of Culture, 1934).
Socially learned knowledge and behavior patterns are shared by some groups of people (Peoples, James & Bailey, Garrick 2009).
Peniston says Culture consists of a network of symbolic codes that enhance values, beliefs, worldviews, and ideologies.
Here are some keywords for understanding what cultural knowledge refers to:
Social learning
Mores/attitudes/morals
Enculturation—assimilation
Beliefs, norms, values
Symbols/signs
And other mental phenomena that affect people’s way of thinking—schemas ….it synthesizes life
Summation beliefs and ideas.
Therefore we ask the question, WHAT DOES CULTURE DO FOR HUMANS?
Provides the skills to adapt to our surroundings.
Basis of human social life—relationships.
Affects our views on reality.
Each new generation learns from the previous generation. This is not genetics-not biologically determined.
Communication and mutual understanding, agreement, trust, duty.
In conclusion culture is a group of people coming together for a common purpose, such as survival. There are relationships that bind people together. Those relationships are often reciprocal and full of obligations and duty, which cannot be denied or turned away from because of the shared beliefs, knowledge, common language . Do not confuse culture and society. Scupin defines a society as a group of people who reside within a specific territory and share a common culture (2008).
*** See Donald E Brown. (1991) for Human Universals which describes nine characteristics of culture.
