Raymond Williams.

Raymond Williams pointed out that there were 3 general catagories of culture. These are:

1. "Ideal" - Where culture is in a state or process of human perfection.
2. "Documentary" - "culture is the body of intellectual and imaginative work, in which, human thought and experience are variously recorded."
3. "Social" - Culture is a description of a way of life that "expresses certain meanings and values not only in art and learning but also in institutions and ordinary behaviour."

He also said that there was value in all 3 of the above definitions as it is necessary to look for meanings and values and to record the creative human activity in institutions and forms of behaviour aswell as in art and intellectual work.

However, in an example of Antigone of Sophocles, Williams points out that we cannot just use one of these general definiations of culture to fully understand anything.

Raymond Williams comes up with three levels of culture.

1. The lived culture of a particular time and place - only people who live in this time and place are fully accessable.
2. Recorded culture of every kind, from art to everyday facts.
3. Culture of selected tradition - A past period is studied by new periods, which eventually forms a tradition.

Disclaimer - All the ideas are Raymond Williams. Not mine :)