Cultural artifact

Social scientific term

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A cultural artifact, or cultural artefact (see American and British English spelling differences), is a term used in the social sciences, particularly anthropology,[1] ethnology[2] and sociology[citation needed] for anything created by humans which gives information about the culture of its creator and users. Artifact is the spelling in North American English; artefact is usually preferred elsewhere.

Cultural artifact is a more generic term and should be considered with two words of similar, but narrower, nuance: it can include objects recovered from archaeological sites, i.e. archaeological artifacts, but can also include objects of modern or early-modern society, or social artifacts. For example, in an anthropological context: a 17th-century lathe, a piece of faience, or a television each provides a wealth of information about the time in which they were manufactured and used.

Cultural artifacts, whether ancient or current, have a significance because they offer an insight into: technological processes, economic development and social structure, among other attributes.

## Classification

[edit]

The philosopher Marx W. Wartofsky categorised artifacts as follows:[3]

* primary artifacts: used in production (such as a hammer, a fork, a lamp or a camera);
* secondary artifacts: relating to primary artifacts (such as a user-manual for a camera);
* tertiary artifacts: representations of secondary artifacts (such as a picture of a user-manual for a camera).

Social artifacts, unlike archaeological artifacts, do not need to have a physical form (for example virtual artifact), nor to be of historical value (items created seconds ago can be classified as social artifacts).

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Richard J. Watts (1981). The pragmalinguistic analysis of narrative texts. Gunter Narr Verlag. ISBN 978-3-87808-443-3.
2. ^ Rob Amery. Warrabarna Kaurna!.
3. ^ Wartofsky, Marx W. (1979). Models: Representation and scientific understanding. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Reidel.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Habib, Laurence, and Line Wittek (2007). The portfolio as artifact and actor. Mind, Culture and Activity, Vol. 14, No. 4, ISSN 1074-9039.

## External links

[edit]

* Hilpinen, Risto. "Artifact". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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Culture

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Sciences|

* Cultural anthropology
* Cultural astronomy
* Cultural ecology
* Cultural geography
* Cultural neuroscience
* Cultural studies
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Subfields|

* Bioculture
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Types|

* Constructed culture
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Aspects|

* Acculturation
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* Cultural area
* Cultural artifact
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Politics|

* Colonial mentality
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Religions|

* Buddhism
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* Catholicism
* Cultural Christians
* Protestantism
* Role of Christianity in civilization
* Eastern Orthodoxy
* Mormonism
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* Judaism
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Related|

* Animal culture
* Archaeological culture
* Bennett scale
* Cannabis culture
* Circuit of culture
* Civilization
* Coffee culture
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* Cultural center
* Cultural competence
* Cultural critic
* Cultural determinism
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* Pop-culture
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* Culture and menstruation
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* Culture gap
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* Cyberculture
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* Drinking culture
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* Eastern culture
* Emotions and culture
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* Languaculture
* Living things in culture
* Media culture
* Oppositional culture
* Participatory culture
* Permission culture
* Rape culture
* Remix culture
* Tea culture
* Transformation of culture
* Urban culture
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* Western culture
* Youth culture

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Visual arts and the art world

Artwork|

* Appropriation
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Roles|

* Artist
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Places
and events|

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History of art|

* Timeline of art
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Related|

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