Culture
Culture is a learned behaviour made up with a shared set of; values, norms and beliefs which are governed by a sense of tradition and shared history that gives us a common identity. Since human beings are virtually identical biologically, as individuals our different characteristics can be explained and expressed through our human behaviour through symbolic representation. Our perception of the World around us can also influence our culture. For example; what we perceive or interpret as good or bad reflects on our morals, values and what we are willing to accept, allow and stand up against. According to Hofsted, Culture is a ‘is the shared attitudes, beliefs, values and behaviour’ also referred to as ‘Mental Programming’ which can be simply understood as the way we are (Gibson, 2002).From this it can be inferred that people with similar interests with likes and dislikes tend to group themselves among other individuals who may share the same religion or even social class. Furthermore, culture can be something you are born into, you have no control over it or where your culture originated from it is like a pre chosen destiny but can be affected and influenced by other individuals or the environment around you. The ‘Cultural iceberg’ sees the word ‘culture’ compared to an iceberg as they both have two dimensions; one that is visible and is above the surface while the other is hidden, larger and more difficult to notice(Gibson,2002) .Similarly, culture can be divided into two; known as explicit and tacit. Explicit culture is tangible, it can be described as the external features of an individuals culture like; the religion in which they practise, the clothing in which they dress, food and language. For example; in Arabian c...
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...s I endured (Ferraro, 2002). Living in multi cultural society has taught me to be tolerant of others due to the fact that I have lived in Dubai for seven years I have been very fortunate to experience the Arab culture, Hindu culture and so many more. It as made me more appreciative and less critical of their ethnics. For example; I respect the fact that Muslim women have the choice wear the scarf to cover there hair and also that your not allowed to show affection in public. Dubai is not my homeland so I do not have the right to criticize its rules and regulations however I do tend to talk negatively about my origin of birth South Africa. This maybe because I have gotten used to my permanent residency in Dubai and I have begun to compare the two. Never the less, People always criticize what they cant have as they say ‘ the grass is always greener on the other side’
Culture is a difficult concept to put into words. “Traditionally anthropologists have used the term culture to refer to a way of life - traditions and customs - transmitted through learning” (Kottak, et al. 2008: p.11). Children inherit their culture, as well as social norms and ethics, through a process called enculturation. Enculturation, in essence, determines who a person will become, because culture defines who a person is. More specifically, “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs arts, morals, laws, customs, and any other capabilities or habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Taylor, 1971/1951: p. 1). In modern society, our traditions and customs come from a variety of different sources. Television,
Culture, the behaviors and beliefs that a particular social, ethnic, religious, or age group possesses. Whether we like it or not a culture is always going to be apart of our life and it is most definitely not the same for every single person. Just as each book has a different story to tell, each culture does the same thing. Culture greatly affects the way people perceive others and the world around them by giving a person their sense of right and wrong, we take what we have learned from our culture and then build or take away from that knowledge to help us view things in the world. As young children we begin to grow with the same concept of memories, what is right and what is wrong. Now even though we learn the same lesson, it does not mean that the material is going to be the same. If we think of different cultural aspects as different books it is easier to distinguish the varying effects that a culture can have on a person’s outlook on life.
According to Geert Hofstede (1983, p. 76), culture can be explained as the ‘collective programming of the mind’ and it influences how people think and how they act in different situations. This distinguishes members of one group or category from another. He argued that people are mentally programmed and that it influences the lifestyles, attitudes and norms of people and their belonging in particular groups (Hofstede 1983, p. 76). Another definition of culture is that it explains the different way in which people of different populations perceive values, norms, attitudes and roles in society. By gaining an understanding of the differences that separates a culture from another and gaining knowledge on how cultures operate on a daily basis, conflicts and misunderstandings can easily be avoided (He & Liu 2010, p. 2).
Culture is what shapes our understandings, opinions of one another, attributions and identity; just to name a few. Within this diverse world, culture encompasses activities, behaviors, rules, norms, values, beliefs, religion, and worldviews. It is something that can be described in many ways and shown throughout many different aspects within everyone’s lives. (Matsumoto and Juang, 2017).
Throughout the years, humans have shaped the world and many societies have developed different cultural patterns. Culture is the way of life of a society. Through culture, we learn how to collaborate with groups of people and we learn how to survive and adapt to changes. It is composed of values and beliefs that are shared by other members of society, as well as species survival. Every culture has different cultural elements that are vital to one’s survival in a certain place.
Dominica’s culture is very unique as it has changed hands between European countries such as Spain, Great Britain, and France, who brought African’s as slaves to work the fields. As a result of this combination of different cultures, Dominica contains characteristics that combine to make what is called Creole. This Creole is the mixing of these cultures in language, music, art, food, architecture, religion, dance, dress, and sports. France has had the most noticeable affect on Dominica, which is seen through the majority of Dominicans practicing Roman Catholicism, the French based patois, and the French place names. The best example of this culture is seen in their Carnival, which involves an out pouring of Calypso as the islanders celebrate their heritage through dress, dance, and food.
Culture is an aspect of everyone's life. It helps others to understand another person's beliefs and actions. There are multiple cultures in the world which are opposed to their own kind seeking help for a mental illness. There is an infinite number of cultures that are represented in the United States. “Many cultural and religious teachings often influence beliefs about the origins and nature of mental illness, and shape attitudes towards the mentally ill.” (1). One's cultural beliefs can make them think about whether or not they should seek to get help for a mental illness. Among the cultures around the world and particularly in the US, many Asian cultures do not want the community members to be receiving help for their mental illness. In these cultures mental illness is seen as shameful, because these cultures influence the “conformity to norms, emotional self-control, and family recognition through achievement.” (1). There are many cultural factors that play a role in whether or not a person will receive therapy. These factors include: language, level of acculturation, age, gender, occupational issues, family structure, religious beliefs, and traditional beliefs about mental health (2). Language limits the access of therapy. If a person living in the United States does not speak English very well, it could influence them to not seek therapy. There is a large focus on “in-group/out-group” in many Asian cultures, as in everyone who is in the family/community around them are in the “in-group” and everyone else who is not like them are in the “out-group.”
Culture can be defined as the way of life of a particular people, shown in their behaviors and habits, their behaviors and habits toward each other, and their moral and/or religious beliefs. Many different aspects can be used when trying to define what makes up a culture of a particular group of people. The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition describes culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and understanding that are learned by socialization. In many countries, the culture can be derived from many different groups of people in their country. A country can be comprised of the cultures of many different groups of people making the culture of an entire country very diverse. Culture is formed
What is culture? Culture is identity; it’s the indigenous or non-indigenous ideology, habits, customs, appearances and beliefs that people are either raised by or adapt to from different nations surrounding. It is a network of knowledge shared by a group of people. Culture consists of configurations, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior obtained and spread by symbols establishing the distinctive achievement of human groups including their embodiments in artifacts; the vital core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values. Culture systems may, on one hand, be considered as products of action, and on the other, as conditioning influences upon further action.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, culture is defined as tradition or a way of life. It is also a defining principle in how we live our life and the type of people we become. The Salish Indians of the Montana and Celie, the main character of the book The Color Purple, are two examples of cultures that made them who they are. Celie is a poor, black, woman growing up in Memphis, Tennessee in the mid-twentieth century. The men have constantly put her down, through beatings and rape, for being a woman with no talent at all. Her husband’s lover comes to town and gives Celie a chance to see a culture where a woman can stand up for herself and teaches her that love is possible. The Salish on the other hand have a culture that has gone on through the ages and still is a part of each person today despite the obstacles they have had to face. Culture does shape us because from birth it is what tells us our ideals, laws, and morals that we live by each day.
Culture is a learned set of beliefs, values, norms, customs, traditions, ideas, and attitudes that contributes to human behavior within a region. Culture is a common way of being and thinking that is passed from generation to generation to the members within a society. These commonalities within communities create a pattern that is recognizable and distinct from one region to the next. The social structure, religion, geography, and lifestyle is what shapes, an ever changing, culture; the shared belief and social system, along with their way of life, is what makes a societies individuals part of that culture. Culture can be seen in all regions of the world, including Yemen, a country that is rich in culture even though it may not be rich economically.
Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. Culture is the systems of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people…Culture in its broadest sense of cultivated behavior; a totality of a person’s learned, accumulated experience which is socially transmitted, or more briefly, behavior through social learning (http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/choudhury/culture.html).
Anthropologists define the term culture in a variety of ways, but there are certain shared features of the definition that virtually all anthropologists agree on. Culture is a shared, socially transmitted knowledge and behavior. The key features of this definition of culture are as follows. 1) Culture is shared among the members of that particular society or group. Thus, people share a common cultural identity, meaning that they recognize themselves and their culture's traditions as distinct from other people and other traditions. 2) Culture is socially transmitted from others while growing up in a certain environment, group, or society. The transmission of cultural knowledge to the next generation by means of social learning is referred to as enculturation or socialization. 3) Culture profoundly affects the knowledge, actions, and feelings of the people in that particular society or group. This concept is often referred to as cultural knowledge that leads to behavior that is meaningful to others and adaptive to the natural and social environment of that particular culture.
1. What is Culture? What I personally think is that our culture is the foundation of who we really are in life. It identifies the lifestyle and pursuits that are practiced in the group of people we relate with in our society. In other words, an important concept to understand is that cultural beliefs, values, and practices are learned from birth first at home, in church, and other places where people meet. Some practices and beliefs in human culture include religion, music, sports, food, health beliefs, and art which represent the values we have in life. Also, our own culture is diverse and it is significant to look with in and identify what we value the most, what is essentially needed, and how we see the world. It is our remaining tool and we don’t even realize it is needed to communicate and socialize with others.
Culture is the totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects and behavior. It includes the ideas, value, customs and artifacts of a group of people (Schaefer, 2002). Culture is a pattern of human activities and the symbols that give these activities significance. It is what people eat, how they dress, beliefs they hold and activities they engage in. It is the totality of the way of life evolved by a people in their attempts to meet the challenges of living in their environment, which gives order and meaning to their social, political, economic, aesthetic and religious norms and modes of organization thus distinguishing people from their neighbors.