Many of the developments discussed in this book—violence, science and technology, capitalism and communism, imperialism, freedom, the environment—were intertwined with culture. In the broadest sense and in the way many anthropologists use the term, culture embraces the whole way of life of a group, including their physical and mental activities: thus, Chinese, French, or U.S. culture, or even more broadly Asian, Western, or African culture. Related to this definition are terms such as “youth culture” or “popular culture,” both indicating an aspect or subculture of a larger culture. Subcultures can sometimes seem more significant than a larger culture. Being raised in a Jewish or Catholic subculture in the early twentieth century, for example, might have had a greater impact on a young person than being brought up in an English or U.S. culture.

The term culture has also often been used as a collective term for the arts, humanities, and higher knowledge generally. This is a more elitist definition, sometimes referred to as “high culture,” and is related to what is meant by referring to someone as “a very cultured person.” Usually the context in which the word is used makes clear whether the broader or more restrictive use is intended.

Cultural Criticism of Capitalist Society in the Early Twentieth Century

In England during the nineteenth century, the poet Matthew Arnold and others had thought of high culture as an alternative and corrective to the values and manners that the Industrial Revolution and laissezfaire capitalism had introduced into English society.