Kultur

Kultur is a set of learned and shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, values, symbols, and products that characterize a group or society. It is transmitted across generations through language, education, family, and media, and it shapes how members perceive the world, interact, and organize social life. Culture is not innate; it emerges from social learning and adaptation to changing circumstances.

Cultural elements are often divided into material culture and nonmaterial or symbolic culture. Material culture includes artifacts, technology, architecture, clothing, and food. Nonmaterial culture encompasses language, rituals, norms, laws, morals, religious beliefs, and aesthetic values. Institutions such as kinship, education, religion, and government organize and reproduce these patterns.

Culture is dynamic and can vary within and between societies. It spreads through contact and globalization, while also being held by communities as a source of identity, heritage, and continuity. Subcultures, diasporas, and indigenous communities may maintain distinctive practices within a broader society. Cultural heritage and preservation efforts, such as those recognized by UNESCO, seek to protect traditional knowledge, languages, and arts.

The study of culture spans anthropology, sociology, and other disciplines. Key concepts include cultural relativism, which encourages evaluating beliefs within their own context, and ethnocentrism, which can bias judgments. The term Kultur is rooted in European thought; in German usage it often denotes the total way of life and spiritual development of a people, contrasted with Zivilisation as material or organizational progress.