Gustav Jahoda:Critical reflections on some recent definitions of ‘‘culture’’

More than half a century after Kroeber and Kluckhohn, and a literature that could easily fill a sizeable library, the most striking feature of these definitions is their diversity. While some are based on classic formulations, others are newly invented. Moreover, many of them are logically incompatible with each other. Here are a couple of examples: 1. the supposed location of culture is variously said to be (a) only in the mind or (b) both in the mind and in the material world created by humans; (c) external only (without specifying where). 2. (a) culture is treated as a ‘‘variable’’ by tough-minded advocates of measurement, while (b) others maintain that such a position entails a misconception of what constitutes culture. Some writers explicitly state that their own definition is the correct one and others are wrong.

Mein Blog befasst sich in einem umfassenden Sinn mit dem Verhältnis von Wissen, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft. Ein besonderes Augenmerk richte ich dabei auf die Aktivitäten des Medien- und Dienstleistungskonzern Bertelsmann und der Bertelsmann Stiftung.