Final answer:
Culture is a complex whole including acquired knowledge, beliefs, and practices, which are learned through cultural transmission and shape human behavior. It involves both societal structures and individual agency in a dynamic, ever-evolving system.
Step-by-step explanation:
The concept of culture as acquired knowledge is deeply embedded in the various expressions of human life and activities. As highlighted by various definitions, culture entails the accumulated knowledge, beliefs, values, and technological skills that constitute the shared bases of social action. Such culture is acquired through a process known as cultural transmission, where values, beliefs, and social norms of a culture are learned. A significant portion of cultural learning happens unconsciously without direct intention to teach or learn it, as simply living within a culture will naturally shape the behavior and beliefs of an individual.
Edward Burnett Tylor, a pioneering anthropologist, comprehensively defined culture as a "complex whole" that includes everything acquired by a person as a member of society. This includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and more. Considering Tylor's definition, the term culture is used to encapsulate the cognitive and behavioral tendencies that characterize various groups of people.
Cultural elements are not just rules or structures but also encompass agency—the capacity of individuals to act independently and make free choices, which interacts with the structures to create or modify the culture. Thus, it's essential to recognize that culture is not a fixed determinism but a dynamic concept subjected to continuous change and adaptation.