1.1 What is culture?

As a member of the society, we seldom realize we are living in a typical culture. We greet each other with smiles or by shaking hands, we have noodles on our birthday, and we nod our heads when we want to say “yes”.

We take all these for granted, until we get into a new culture and feel excited or even shocked.  

It is very hard to define culture. Let me share a metaphor with you

Culture is like the water fish swim in. When the fish is in the water, he can see everything around but the water. However, without water, fish cannot live alive. But for the fish, it is very hard to define the water. It is the same case with our culture.

From our perspective, what is culture, what is the definition of culture based on our course?

Culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs; generally accepted behaviors and signals, and traditional artifacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another. It includes many elements, such as history, language, norms, values, religions and beliefs, just mentioned a few. Let’s have a closer look at some of them.

Elements of culture: 

a. History: The stories of the past offer the members of a culture part of their identity, highlighting the culture’s origins, what is deemed important, and what achievements it can be proud of. All of these help shape their members and their communities.

b. Language: language is the carrier of culture and helps to transmit culture. Most words, meanings, grammar and syntax bear the identification mark of a specific culture.

c. Norms: Norms have great moral significance such as the norms in folkways which can guide people to behave properly, and societal taboos which may persuade people what to do or not to do.

d. Values: Values provide guidelines and standards to help determine how people ought to behave in a particular culture. In other words, understanding values is a great help to avoid conflicts.

e. Religion and Belief: All cultures possess a dominant, organized religion or belief with which salient beliefs and activities like rite, rituals and ceremonies can be given meaning and legitimacy. Because religion is so powerful and pervasive, its impacts can be seen in the entire fabric of a culture from business practice to politics, and from individual behavior to collective activities.

To us college students, to learn this new information about culture helps us adapt to a new culture and communicate with the students from other cultures.

Practice