The Concept of Culture
Cultural is the behaviors, beliefs, and values that a group of people accept without thinking about them, and that are passed on to their children. Culture is the core of a person’s identity and shapes how they interact with others. It also influences decisions about what to buy, wear and how fast to drive.
The study of cultural aspects of life is a large field of academic inquiry. It can include the way people communicate, the things they consider important, their perceptions of reality and their feelings about different social issues. For example, a person’s feelings about whether they should get married and how they perceive the quality of their relationships may be affected by their culture.
It can also refer to the art and symbols of a particular group, such as their music or clothing styles. It can refer to the ways a particular group relates to each other, such as the way they celebrate holidays or interact with each other in public. It can even refer to the physical environment, such as a city’s architecture or a country’s natural resources.
People from different cultures have to be involved in any decision-making that affects them. This is a basic democratic principle. Without this, programs or policies will be less effective and could result in harm to people from other groups. This includes schools, which should be aware of and appreciate students’ cultures. This will help them feel more accepted and motivated to do well in school, which will make them more successful.
In sociology, the concept of culture can be used to describe how a society organizes its activities. Sociologists are interested in both the practices of a society and the meanings that people attach to them. For instance, watching television is a practice, but it can only be considered a part of a culture if a person watches it because of a sense of belonging.
The concept of culture is not a static one; it can change and evolve, which can cause problems in the way societies function. For instance, the beliefs of a community might shift from individualism to collectivism or from independence to interdependence. This is often the result of changes in the environment, but can also be caused by other factors.
Another problem is the movement of people between different cultures, which can have negative effects on both the recipient and the sender. For instance, when Native Americans moved to the United States, they sometimes lost their own culture and language through a process called acculturation. Acculturation can also occur in the reverse direction, as when members of a colonizing culture replace their old customs with those of the new country they are in. This is sometimes referred to as transculturation. Both processes can have serious consequences, for example when a cultural artefact is transferred from its country of origin to another country where it is susceptible to theft and illegal trafficking. This is the motivation behind Unesco’s 1970 convention on the export and import of cultural objects, which tries to prevent the illicit transfer of these items.
Cultural is the behaviors, beliefs, and values that a group of people accept without thinking about them, and that are passed on to their children. Culture is the core of a person’s identity and shapes how they interact with others. It also influences decisions about what to buy, wear and how fast to drive. The study of cultural aspects of life is a large field of academic inquiry. It can include the way people communicate, the things they consider important, their perceptions of reality and their feelings about different social issues. For example, a person’s feelings about whether they should get married and how they perceive the quality of their relationships may be affected by their culture. It can also refer to the art and symbols of a particular group, such as their music or clothing styles. It can refer to the ways a particular group relates to each other, such as the way they celebrate holidays or interact with each other in public. It can even refer to the physical environment, such as a city’s architecture or a country’s natural resources. People from different cultures have to be involved in any decision-making that affects them. This is a basic democratic principle. Without this, programs or policies will be less effective and could result in harm to people from other groups. This includes schools, which should be aware of and appreciate students’ cultures. This will help them feel more accepted and motivated to do well in school, which will make them more successful. In sociology, the concept of culture can be used to describe how a society organizes its activities. Sociologists are interested in both the practices of a society and the meanings that people attach to them. For instance, watching television is a practice, but it can only be considered a part of a culture if a person watches it because of a sense of belonging. The concept of culture is not a static one; it can change and evolve, which can cause problems in the way societies function. For instance, the beliefs of a community might shift from individualism to collectivism or from independence to interdependence. This is often the result of changes in the environment, but can also be caused by other factors. Another problem is the movement of people between different cultures, which can have negative effects on both the recipient and the sender. For instance, when Native Americans moved to the United States, they sometimes lost their own culture and language through a process called acculturation. Acculturation can also occur in the reverse direction, as when members of a colonizing culture replace their old customs with those of the new country they are in. This is sometimes referred to as transculturation. Both processes can have serious consequences, for example when a cultural artefact is transferred from its country of origin to another country where it is susceptible to theft and illegal trafficking. This is the motivation behind Unesco’s 1970 convention on the export and import of cultural objects, which tries to prevent the illicit transfer of these items.