Culture is a difficult term to define. It has been interpreted and re-interpreted by a number of scholars in philosophy, anthropology, communications, sociology, and political science, among others. Two things that seem to connect several of the definitions is that culture is pervasive in all human groups, and it guides our behaviors.
As one possible definition, culture can be seen as the prevalence of certain elements which are learned, shared, patterned, and influenced over time. It is internalized by group members and manifests as behavior.
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Learned: The unique way we learn to do things, express feelings, and behave. Do you use a knife and fork, chopsticks, or other eating utensils? Were you taught to express your emotions or to hide them?
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Shared: The way people within a cultural group perceive the world. The process of perception is made up of the following processes: selection (paying attention to one segment of what’s happening around us), organization (categorizing the information we’ve selected), and interpretation (assigning meaning and assessing). As examples, perceptions of political or religious structures can be shared at various group levels.
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Patterned: Organizing things repeatedly until they become integrated into group beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors. The alphabet is an example of a patterned system where symbols are used as a representation of language.
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Influenced over time: Culture is not static, it is a dynamic process, but it does take time to change. Marriage practices and marriage laws, as examples, have changed because of generational shifts in attitude.
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Internalized: The transfer of external experiences into an individual’s internal world. These create permanent internal mental representations out of these experiences and support our views and behaviors.
Reflection Questions:
- Is there anything else you would add to this definition of culture?
- Are there any elements that you don’t agree with, or would take out?