kültür

Kültür, in Turkish, is the term used for culture. It denotes the complex system of shared beliefs, practices, values, norms, language, symbols, rituals, arts, and technologies that characterizes a group. Culture is learned through socialization and transmitted across generations, while also evolving as groups adapt to new circumstances and influences.

Kültür can be understood as comprising material culture and non-material culture. Material culture includes physical objects, artifacts, built environments, and technologies. Non-material culture encompasses ideas, beliefs, norms, myths, aesthetics, and social practices such as rituals, etiquette, and family life. Together, these elements shape identity, social organization, and everyday behavior, and they are expressed in cuisine, dress, music, literature, religion, and education.

Cultural change occurs through contact with other cultures, globalization, urbanization, migration, and internal reform. Cultures are not monolithic; they encompass subcultures, regional varieties, and overlapping identities. They can foster social cohesion and shared belonging, but also conflict or exclusion when norms clash or power relations are unequal.

The study of kultür overlaps with disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, ethnology, and cultural studies. Researchers use methods like ethnography, field observation, surveys, and discourse analysis to understand how meanings are produced, circulated, and contested within and between groups.

In Turkey, kültür reflects both Ottoman heritage and modern Turkish life, while also illustrating regional and diasporic diversity. The term encapsulates concepts of civilization and cultivation, inviting a nuanced view of how shared meanings sustain communities amid change.