How many times do we hear the word “culture” in our classes throughout the semester? If your classes are anything like mine, you most likely hear the word about three times a day.
But do we really understand what that word means? We all probably have a vague, general idea of what “culture” is all about, but I want to discuss the details of this word and its implications.
Maybe this will encourage you all to do your own research on this popular word that seems to describe all trends, fads, slang and anything else related to popular culture.
First, culture is all around us: values, morals, goals, customs, outlooks, attitudes.
Certain traits underneath the culture umbrella might even surprise you. A house, the belief that the earth is flat rather than round, keeping cattle, football or even a pencil are traits of the culture in which we live.
Humans create and make up all the traits of culture, which is certainly mind-blowing. None of this would be here if the people before us had not invented or thought up the things that string together what we call “culture.”
These little things influence the way we talk to our friends, the decisions we make and the things we enjoy doing the most.
Culture is something that a population shares, and you could even say that it unites us together. Our social behavior and the norms we have gotten so comfortable with describe the way culture encompasses us.
My sociology course instructor introduced the word we all know as being distinguishable by the ways that we construct identities and create institutions that express our needs.
What does this mean? Our life experiences, relationships and connections help us construct our identities and figure out what we stand for. Institutions and systems within society come from groups of people that assess a need and act on it.
The way we go about doing this things, what influences us, is culture.
Later on, we furthered our depth on “culture” by describing it as both the material basis for social life and the sets of values and ideals that we understand to define morality, good and evil, appropriate and inappropriate.
Wow, that was a mouthful huh?
Ponder this: what do we know to be true about life? That is one way we can look at culture.
Since it is ever changing and constantly shifting focus, culture can be a hard thing to wrap our heads around. Without culture, we would not be viewing ourselves in the same light.
Culture teaches us things about ourselves and those around us. Culture forms the way we interact.
These are crucial things to keep in mind when traveling to other countries. Their culture traits might not be the same as yours and vice versa.
I hope this article made you think a little bit deeper and focus on the underlying reasons that we are the way we are.