The Concept of Culture
Marx defined culture as “everything that the human being creates in response to what nature offers” (as cited by Güvenç, 1996, p. 273). Taylor, on the other hand, defined culture as “a complex whole which includes knowledge, art, tradition and similar talents, skills and habits that human learns and acquires as a member of society” (as cited by Güvenç, 1996, p. 273). As can be seen, culture is defined as the general activity of human behavior, art, beliefs, values, attitudes, practices, and all human works and ideas affecting members of a particular group (Ehlers, 2009).
Culture is generally defined as the “material” and “spiritual” values of a society. Humans are born ready for culture and everything they encounter in their environment are elements of their material and spiritual culture. Humans mature within a culture; in this aspect, culture constitutes the learned aspects of human behavior. Therefore, human beings are a product of their own environment, that is, the culture in to which they were born. Over time, changes may affect the general culture, as well as one’s own culture, which indicates that culture can change (Özbek, 2000). In addition, human society consists of various different types of people. Human diversity creates differences among people through the creation of its own subcultures over time.