Definition

• Women's attire is a cultural feature that differs from one society to another.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  Anthropology and other behavioral sciences define "culture" as the full range of learned human behavioral patterns, says Dennis O'Neil, of the Behavioral Sciences Department of Palomar College. A cultural feature can be any manifestation of culture, from the words people use to ideas regarding ancestry, sexual relations, beliefs about other groups of people, the conduct of warfare, design of buildings, care for the sick or memorializing the dead. The meaning of a cultural feature -- its significant quality -- depends on the purpose for which it is used.
  
  

Prehistoric Past

• From stone remains, archeologists can infer prehistoric beliefs and practices.Goodshoot/Goodshoot/Getty Images
  
  To archaeologists, cultural features are windows to the past: they suggest the beliefs and ways of life of human ancestors. As scholar Paul Bahn observes in his book "Archeology: Theories, Methods and Practice," stone tools -- common cultural features left behind by earlier groups of humans -- reveal how tool technology developed over hundreds of thousands of years. The shapes of stone tools can indicate different peoples in the same place at different times, illuminating when a continent was discovered and by whom, Michael B. Collins of the University of Texas at Austin suggests in his article "The Site of Monte Verde."
  
  

Social Science

• No less than attire, cuisine or language, self-expression is a cultural feature.Jupiterimages/Goodshoot/Getty Images
  
  To social scientists, cultural features such as values and attitudes can suggest how a society changes or how it differs from others. Political scientists Ronald Inglehart and Daphna Oyserman of the University of Michigan contend that economic development facilitates a shift away from traditional values toward greater self-expression, which conduces to democratization. In his book "Hitler's Willing Executioners," political scientist Daniel Goldhagen of Harvard University focuses on another cultural feature, German anti-Semitism, contending it indicates that early 20th-century Germans possessed a culture distinct from that of other Europeans -- a culture that made them prone to cooperating in Hitler's genocidal agenda.
  
  

Ethnic Conflict

• Cultural features such as faith and language distinguish one people from another.Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  People commonly use cultural features to distinguish the ethnic group with which they identify from other ethnic groups. These cultural features may include different languages, religions, senses of origins and beliefs regarding skin color, political scientist Donald L. Horowitz notes in his book "Ethnic Groups in Conflict." Using cultural features to distinguish one group from another does not necessarily signify bigotry or racism. However, a group wishing to maintain its superior power, wealth or status can use a cultural feature such as religion or language to distinguish itself from a subordinate group and thereby prevent members of the subordinate group from upsetting the status quo.