What is culture? And, what are the origins of the metaphor?

            Culture is the way that a certain group of people talk, think, behave, and communicate with one another.  Culture is defined as the“…development, the intellect, emotions, interests, manners and taste…refined ways of thinking, talking, and acting…the ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc, of a group of people that are passed along to other generations…”  (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)           Culture can be how people talk, what is acceptable to do when communicating with others, and also, the reason why people do certain things and not others.  It can also be their society, which they share with people who act similarly and have beliefs in the same things.

            For example, it is acceptable in human culture to sit at a table during meals and to use silverware to cut and eat food.  If one was to walk into a restaurant and eat off the floor and not use utensils to cut up and eat their food, people would be shocked.  Doing this is acceptable for an animal; however, it is not the way that people are expected to eat.  Behaving in such a manner would be to cross the invisible lines that we as human draw to define what is acceptable and what is not.  “Culture…encompasses all characteristics that humans have in common and that distinguish them from other animals, including symbol systems such as language, dress, rituals, myths, metaphors, stories, values, and attitudes.  Based on this wider interpretation, culture is a system of meaning that guides the construction of reality in a social community.” (Cheney)

            What if the culture is divided?  Everyone may not agree with a culture and its ‘rules of behavior’.  Some people may have different beliefs because of their family backgrounds, their religion, their wealth, etc.  This may make them not want to have the same type of culture as everyone else.  This is how subcultures are formed.  Subcultures are not completely different cultures; most people in one culture have the same basic ideas and beliefs.  However, some of them are different, which makes them a subculture.  For example, everyone who lives in the United States Culture has basically the same beliefs about freedom, while also abiding by laws.  Living in the United States makes everyone a culture.  However, people within the U.S. have many different interests and backgrounds.  Therefore, many subcultures exist within the American culture.  

            Culture is all about the way people do things around each other, whether it is giving a speech to a large audience or basic hygiene.  Different cultures have different rules about what is acceptable.  In some European countries, most stores close down for a few hours in the early afternoon.  This is a time of rest, and only restaurants are open.  In America, that would be viewed as a bad business decision. More about this....

            In most countries, it is acceptable to not bathe or shower every day; it is even acceptable to go as long as a week without doing so.  In Spain, it is discouraged to shower everyday, as they are more concerned with saving water than most Americans are.  Most Americans would be appalled at this.  As a culture, we are obsessed with basic hygiene.  It is very important to us to look and smell clean; however, it is not so important other places.  Culture sets up boundaries within a society, and when these boundaries are crossed, people are annoyed or shocked. 

            The way people communicate with one another is a large part of the definition of culture.   People are always observing the way that others communicate with them.  In American society, we are annoyed when others come into our ‘personal space’ and talk to us in loud voices.  When people get too close to us, we tend to back away because it isn’t socially acceptable for people to get too close.  People feel like they need their ‘space’.  European people don’t find it strange at all if one was to come up and get in their ‘personal space’ and talk to them, whether it is a close relative or a complete stranger, because that is the way they communicate.

            So why do we have culture?  Culture exists in our society because people have accepted traditions of doing things and they have accepted them.  “The shared aspect of culture means that it is a social phenomenon; idiosyncratic behavior is not cultural. Culture is learned, not biologically inherited, and involves arbitrarily assigned, symbolic meanings. For example, Americans are not born knowing that the color white means purity, and indeed this is not a universal cultural symbol. The human ability to assign arbitrary meaning to any object, behavior or condition makes people enormously creative and readily distinguishes culture from animal behavior.” (Bodley)

Culture is passed down from generations because people have accepted these ways of behaving and communicating into their lives.  If they do not like a certain aspect of a culture, they will not accept it, therefore, it will not be passed along as a part of their culture.  “To survive, a culture must ensure that individual members internalize its values, beliefs, and norms...All collectives, thus, set up systems for cultural reproduction.”  (Cheney)

            Every culture contains three main levels.  First and most important are the Core beliefs and assumptions that all the people in a culture share.  These are not typically discussed by the people within the culture, but they are assumed.  Second are the values and behavioral norms.  This level is discussed, but mainly between people that aren’t within that culture that are questioning it.  Third is the most apparent level, artifacts.  Artifacts are a large group of apparent physical aspects.  Artifacts are clothes, logos, appearances, stories, buildings, etc. 

            Clifford Geertz argues that “Culture is ‘public because meaning is’-systems of meaning are necessarily the collective property of a group. When we say we do not understand the actions of people from a culture other than our own, we are acknowledging our "lack of familiarity with the imaginative universe within which their acts are signs".  People are in a culture together because they think in a similar way and believe in the same things.  Anyone who opposes these thoughts or beliefs would want to be in a different culture. 

 Bibliography:

Webster’s New World College Dictionary (4th Ed.). (2001). Cleveland:IDG Books Worldwide.

Bodley, John.  (1994). Definitions and Discussions of Culture.  Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States, and the Global System.

Geertz, Clifford.  (1973). Definitions and Discussions of Culture.  The Interpretations of Cultures. (Pages 12-13).

Cheney, G., Christensen, L., Zorn., Ganesh, S.  (2004). Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalization.  Prospect Heights, IL:  Waveland Press, Inc.