Definicions de cultura

"Culture ... is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." (Edward B. Tylor, 1871)

"Culture may be defined as the totality of the mental and physical reactions and activities that characterize the behavior of individuals composing a social group collectively and individually in relations to their natural environment, to other groups, to members of the group itself and of each individual to himself. It also includes the products of these activities and their role in the life of the groups. The mere enumerations of these various aspects of life, however, does not constitute culture. It is more, for its elements are not independent, they have a structure." (Franz Boas, 1911)

"Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other as conditioning elements of further action." (Kroeber and Kluckhohn, 1952)

"An historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life..." (Clifford Geertz, 1966)

"Un ensemble lié de manières de penser, de sentir et d'agir plus ou moins formalisées qui, étant apprises et partagées par une pluralité de personnes, servent, d'une manière à la fois objective et symbolique, à constituer ces personnes en une collectivité particulière et distincte." (Guy Rocher, 1969)

"Una totalitat complexa que inclou els coneixements, les creences, l'art, la moral, les lleis, els costums i qualsevol altres habituds i capacitats adquirides per l'ésser humà en tant que membre d'una societat." (Josep Maria Castellet)

“Cultura és allò que transforma la realitat dura i opaca en una forma simbòlica (artística, científica, lingüística, religiosa...) fins a convertir aquesta realitat en alguna cosa de penetrable i fruïble per a l’esperit humà.” (Xavier Rubert de Ventós)

“Culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system of collectively held values.” (Geert Hofstede)

“Culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization's view of its self and its environment.” (Edgar Schein)

"El desenvolupament harmoniós de la naturalesa humana mitjançant el conreu del pensament." (Matthew Arnold)

"Un mitjà de vida comú a un poble particular i fonamentat en una tradició social personificada per les seves institucions, la seva literatura i el seu art." (T. S. Eliot)