Think about different countries and nations that live all over the world. Are they the same? What makes them different? What makes a country unique and interesting? Is that the food? The clothes? The behavior? The music? Or the beliefs and values people have as a nation?
Cultures are what make the country unique and interesting. Each country has different cultural activities and cultural rituals. Culture includes material goods, the things the people use and produce. Culture is also the beliefs and values of the people and the ways they think about and understand the world and their own lives. Food is part of the culture of a nation. The clothes they wear, the music, arts, laws, knowledge are part of the culture as well.
In this lesson, we are going to learn more about CULTURE. We will discuss:
Culture is an umbrella term (meaning: covers a wide range of concepts belonging to a common category), that encompasses the social behavior and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.
Culture provides proper opportunities for the satisfaction of our needs and desires. Both biological and social needs are fulfilled in cultural ways, so culture is the process through which human beings satisfy their wants.
Culture is a strong part of people's lives. Our culture shapes the way we live, work, it makes a difference in how we view ourselves and others. It also affects our values, or what we consider right and wrong. It influences our humor, hopes, loyalties, worries, and fears.
Learning about other cultures helps us understand different perspectives within the world in which we live. It helps dispel negative stereotypes and personal biases about different groups.
Culture can also vary within a region, society, or sub-group.
There are two basic components of culture:
1. Nonmaterial culture is also known as symbolic culture and includes:
Values are a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society, help shape a society by suggesting what is good and bad, beautiful and ugly, and so on. They often suggest how people should behave, but they don’t accurately reflect how people do behave. Values also vary from culture to culture.
Beliefs are the tenets or convictions that people hold to be true, can be specific beliefs of the individuals in a society or shared collective values.
Norms define how to behave in accordance with what society has defined as good, right, and important, and most members of the society adhere to them. Norms can be formal or informal. Formal norms are established written rules, and informal norms are casual behaviors that are generally and widely conformed to.
The world is filled with symbols. Symbols, such as gestures, signs, objects, signals, and words, help people understand that world. While different cultures have varying systems of symbols, one symbol is common to all: the language.
Language is one of the most important parts of any culture. It is the way by which people communicate with one another, build relationships, and create a sense of community. There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today, and each is unique in a number of ways.
2. Material culture, includes all the society’s physical objects, such as tools and technology, food, music, clothing, architecture, means of transportation, etc.
What we wear is not just a material sewn together to protect us. What we wear is a signifier of our identity and culture. If we look back over the centuries, we will realize that communities have used clothing as a means to communicate status or celebrate important events. Also, to show unity among many more things.
Food is an important part of cultural heritage and national identity. People from different cultural backgrounds eat different foods. What we consume, how we acquire it, who prepares it, who’s at the table, and who eats first also varies among different cultures.
Means of transport are also part of the culture. Some cultures have unique transportation. Such examples around the world are Suspension railway - Wuppertal, Germany; Toboggan run - Madeira, Portugal; Cocotaxi - Cuba; Bamboo train - Cambodia; Maglev - Japan.
Music is an expressive language of culture. It often tells a story, expresses emotion, or shares ideas with society. The music reflects the cultural characteristics of a society.
At its roots, architecture exists to create the physical environment in which people live, but architecture is more than just the built environment, it's also a part of people's culture. It stands as a representation of how they see themselves, as well as how they see the world.
All cultures share these basic features:
Cultural diversity, or sometimes referred to as multiculturalism, is a quality of diverse and many different cultures. Cultural diversity is a system that recognizes and respects the existence and presence of diverse groups of people within a society.
Advantages and disadvantages of cultural diversity
The most noticeable advantages of cultural diversity include the unity within the shared culture, like understanding other's behavior, celebrating holidays together; and the variety in life in a positive way, it gives more ways for clothing, food, music, etc; makes people unique; gives the world different perspectives for solving problems.
Among the most noticeable disadvantages of cultural diversity include language barriers, social tension, and civic disengagement. Anyway, these are not reasons to avoid diversity, but rather, factors to keep in mind as society heads toward a more diverse future.
Culture is often confused with tradition, but the related terms can mean different things. The main difference between culture and tradition is that culture is the ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular social group, whereas tradition is the transmission of customs and beliefs from one generation to another. Tradition is a part of the culture.
What is a custom in culture and tradition?
A custom is defined as a cultural idea that describes a regular, patterned behavior that is considered characteristic of life in a social system. Shaking hands, bowing, and kissing (all customs) are methods of greeting people. The method most commonly used in a given society helps distinguish one culture from another.
The way of greeting people is not the same in different cultures. In Russia, the typical greeting is a very firm handshake, In Belgium, people kiss on one cheek when they meet, regardless of gender or how well they know each other. In the USA, it is normal for men to shake hands when they meet, a smile and a ‘hello’ will do just fine.
Different cultures have different customs, and that means that something that may be an established tradition in one society may not be in another. Customs may differ in any segment of culture, like food, music, and so on.
