As apes are our closest genetic relatives it seems logical to examine simian society. To see if we can consider theirs as, perhaps, a less developed, less evolved model of our own intra-group relationships. Whether or not this view of a possibly uncultured existence can help us understand more about our relationship with animals in the biological long-term is certainly in question. Again this is a subject that will be covered later. .
If it was not already a little obvious, this essay is primarily concerned with the concept of "culture". In modern day to day use most people would think of it as being the collective term for the high arts: theatre, ballet, classical music, opera and painting. However, while these cultural products are all important aspects of our cultures, it takes in much, much more. Sociologists have adopted a much wider definition of the concept of culture (although activities such as music, art and so on are included within this definition), mainly because they want to use it to say something about the overall nature of a society. Culture is not an easily definable concept, although Giddens fares as well as anyone in saying " it is the values the members of a given group hold, the norms they follow." (Giddens: Sociology, 2001, p. 134). A basic interpretation of this concept of culture can be broadly defined as a "way of life", transmitted from one generation to the next. .
Giddens" definition, although worthy, lacks an injection of life. Looking at a second definition, which incidentally has a little more style and a little more substance, is certainly constructive. In saying "A culture is a design for living or, more precisely, a complex whole consisting of objects, values, and other characteristics that people have acquired as members of society" J. Farley gives us a hint as to the elusive nature of culture (J. Farley, 1990, p.103). He introduces us to the idea of culture as a template for a life, the shape and form an existence will roughly take depending on where that life takes place.