Culture is a multifaceted concept, encompassing the shared values, beliefs, behaviors, and artifacts that define a group of people. Understanding its meaning is crucial in an increasingly interconnected world. This article delves into various definitions of culture, explores key theories, and examines its manifestations and levels.
Culture can be defined in many ways. Here are a few perspectives:
- Culture encompasses the accumulated knowledge, experiences, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, material objects, and possessions acquired by a group of people over generations through individual and collective endeavors.
- Culture constitutes the shared systems of knowledge within a relatively large group.
- Culture is synonymous with communication, and communication is inseparable from culture.
- Culture, in its broadest sense, represents cultivated behavior, encompassing an individual’s learned and accumulated experiences socially transmitted – essentially, behavior acquired through social learning.
- A culture embodies the way of life of a group, encompassing behaviors, beliefs, values, and symbols accepted, often unconsciously, and passed down through communication and imitation from one generation to the next.
- Culture is symbolic communication, using symbols such as skills, knowledge, attitudes, values, and motives. The meanings are learned and deliberately perpetuated through societal institutions.
- Culture comprises patterns, both explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted through symbols. This constitutes the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts. The core of culture is traditional ideas and their associated values, which can be viewed both as products of action and as conditioning influences on further action.
- Culture represents the collective learned behavior of a group, generally considered the tradition of that people, transmitted from generation to generation.
- Culture is the collective mental programming that distinguishes members of one group or category of people from another.
Theories of Cultural Influence
Two dominant theories explore how culture shapes individuals and societies: cultural determinism and cultural relativism. A third concept, ethnocentrism, describes the tendency to view one’s own culture as superior.
Cultural Determinism
Cultural determinism suggests that the ideas, meanings, beliefs, and values people learn as members of a society determine human nature. Essentially, “people are what they learn.”
- Optimistic Version: This view posits that human beings have unlimited potential and can achieve anything they desire.
- Pessimistic Version: Conversely, this version argues that people are passively conditioned by their culture, lacking control over their own behavior.
Cultural Relativism
Cultural relativism emphasizes that different cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. It rejects the notion of intrinsic superiority or inferiority among groups. Studying cultural differences requires adopting a culturally relativistic perspective, fostering judgment when interacting with diverse societies. Understanding the roots and consequences of these differences is crucial before making judgments or taking action.
Cultural Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the belief in the inherent superiority of one’s own culture, leading to a distorted perception of other ways of life. This is particularly detrimental in global business, where the assumption that methods successful in one’s home country will automatically translate abroad can lead to overlooking crucial environmental differences.
Ethnocentrism in global dealings can manifest in the following ways:
- Overlooking crucial business factors due to obsession with cause-effect relationships in one’s own country.
- Focusing solely on home-country objectives, neglecting environmental differences and hindering international competitiveness.
- Assuming that necessary changes are easily achievable, potentially underestimating costs and encountering resistance due to disrupted values.
Manifestations of Culture
Cultural differences manifest themselves at varying levels of depth. Symbols represent the most superficial aspects, while values represent the deepest. Heroes and rituals occupy the intermediate layers.
- Symbols: These are words, gestures, pictures, or objects carrying specific meanings recognized only by those within a particular culture. Symbols evolve, with new ones emerging and old ones fading away.
- Heroes: These are figures, real or fictitious, past or present, who embody characteristics highly valued within a culture, serving as behavioral models.
- Rituals: These are collective activities, sometimes seemingly unnecessary for achieving desired outcomes, but considered socially essential and performed for their own sake (e.g., greetings, ceremonies).
- Values: Forming the core of a culture, values are broad tendencies for preferring certain states of affairs over others (e.g., good vs. evil, right vs. wrong). Many values remain unconscious and can only be inferred from people’s actions in various situations.
Figure 1. Manifestation of Culture at Different Levels of Depth
Layers of Culture
Individuals within the same culture often possess multiple layers of mental programming. These layers exist at various levels:
- National Level: Associated with the nation as a whole.
- Regional Level: Tied to ethnic, linguistic, or religious differences within a nation.
- Gender Level: Related to differences between genders.
- Generation Level: Associated with differences between generations.
- Social Class Level: Linked to educational opportunities and occupational differences.
- Corporate Level: Specific to the culture of an organization.
Measuring Cultural Differences
Cultural differences can be measured using single- or composite-measure techniques. Geert Hofstede developed a composite-measure technique to assess cultural differences across societies, focusing on the following dimensions:
- Power Distance Index: Measures the degree of inequality within a society.
- Uncertainty Avoidance Index: Measures the extent to which a society feels threatened by uncertain or ambiguous situations.
- Individualism Index: Measures the degree of individualism in a society, contrasting individualism (loose social framework) with collectivism (tight social framework).
- Masculinity Index (Achievement vs. Relationship): Measures the emphasis on assertiveness, money, and things (achievement) versus caring for others and quality of life (relationship).
Reconciliation of Cultural Differences
Bridging cultural gaps requires cultural awareness and understanding.
Cultural Awareness
Identifying potential cultural differences between one’s home country and the country of business operation is crucial before engaging in global assignments. Adapting home-country practices to the foreign environment may be necessary. Building cultural awareness can be challenging but ultimately enhances efficiency in foreign environments. Discussions and reading about other cultures are valuable, but opinions should be evaluated carefully to avoid stereotypes.
Clustering Cultures
Countries may share attributes that shape their cultures, such as language, religion, or geographical location. Grouping countries based on similarities in values and attitudes can anticipate fewer differences when moving within a cluster compared to moving between clusters.
Determining the Extent of Global Involvement
The degree of cultural awareness needed varies depending on the extent of global involvement. Companies need to understand global cultures more deeply as they expand beyond domestic business.
Figure 2. Cultural Awareness and Extent of Global Involvement
Conclusion
Understanding the meaning of culture is essential for effective communication, collaboration, and success in a globalized world. By recognizing the various definitions, theories, manifestations, and levels of culture, individuals and organizations can navigate cultural differences and foster greater understanding. Developing cultural awareness and sensitivity is key to building strong relationships and achieving common goals across cultures.
References
Hofstede, G. (1997). Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind. New York: McGraw Hill.
ENR (2003). Culture shock challenges firms looking abroad. Vol. 250, No. 23. New York: McGraw Hill.
Li & Karakowsky (2001). Do We See Eye-to-Eye? Implications of Cultural Differences for Cross-Cultural Management Research and Practice. The Journal of Psychology, 135(5), 501-517.
