Culture refer to the way of life collectively shared by individuals within a particular society. Human beings are social animals, they cannot survive alone or isolated from their fellow beings. Two hundred thousand years ago people started living together in groups and communities in order to survive or to fulfill their basic needs of survival. According to Herskovits, “culture is man-made environment”. Usually, group of people who live together in a defined geographical area form common habits and patterns of behavior. Whether, these habits are concerning parenting methods or the ways of obtaining food. These common habits and patterns of behavior pertained and shared by individuals within a society is called culture. Culture is learned behavior which is transmitted from one generation to another through the process of socialization or enculturation.
According to Beal and Hoijer, “culture is the mode of living which distinguish people of one society from other”. For example; within France people buy grocery from different small stalls on daily basis. On the other hand, within America people buy grocery from superstores on weekly basis. Even though, culture of one society might not be strange to other societies. Single culture may coexist in a different societies. For example, the American culture may exist in Canada.
According to “Taylor”, art, beliefs, laws, customs, food, clothes and any other skills and habit acquired or learned by man within a society constitute the concept of culture. Furthermore, sociologists have categorized culture in to two types these include, material and non-material culture. Material culture refers to the man made things such as, tools, buildings, music, roads, trains, rail tracks etc. whereas, non-material culture intangible elements such as, language, beliefs, norms, customs and values.
