What does it mean?

I hope I'm not the only one a little baffled by the word 'culture'. I mean, I could probably attach a meaning to it but there's so many, and which one is the right one? I'm comforted by the words of theorist Raymond Williams in Keywords:

"Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language." (1978:87)

Williams makes three distinctions of the ambiguous term. Firstly, suggesting that culture can be seen as an ideal - 'the best that is thought or said'. Secondly, culture can be a documentary - 'of how we live or have lived' and finally, he argues that culture is a social term - 'the stuff that surrounds us'.

I agree with all of the distinctions, but for me, the latter closely resides alongside my own understanding of culture. I see culture as being something going on around me, something which I can engage in and with in many ways, if and when I choose to. It's something which has long existed but it evolves as society and people change. I hope, at some point later, to discuss and challenge the traditional binarisms of culture: high vs low, elite vs commonplace and mass vs popular.

But, for now at least, I feel my understanding of the term culture is beginning to take shape. I'm sure this story will change my thoughts and ideas and I hope it will challenge my preconceptions. We shall see...