Culture

A Culture is an a belief set held by a population.

• Context:
  • It can (typically) include Cultural Items, such as: Social Customs, Social Traditions, Social Values.
  • It can be characterized by Culture Measures, such as:
    • Power distance culture measure.
    • Individualistic vs collectivistic culture measure.
    • Uncertainty Avoidance Cultural Measure.
    • Masculinity vs. Femininity Culture Measure.
    • Long-term vs. short-term orientation culture measure.
    • Power Distance Culture Measure: Reflecting hierarchical structures in societies.
    • Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Culture Measure: Highlighting the focus on individual achievement vs. group cohesion.
    • Uncertainty Avoidance Culture Measure: Indicating the level of tolerance for ambiguity and risk.
    • Masculinity vs. Femininity Culture Measure: Distinguishing between values of competitiveness and cooperation.
    • Long-Term vs. Short-Term Orientation Culture Measure: Demonstrating the prioritization of future rewards over immediate benefits.
    • ...
  • It can encompass Cultural Items, like Social Customs, Social Traditions, and Social Values.
  • It can be influenced by various factors including History, Geography, Religion, and Language.
• Example(s):
  • Types of Culture: Economic Culture, Artistic Culture, Scientific Culture.
  • Religious Cultures, such as: Christian Culture, Jewish Culture, Muslim Culture, Hindu Culture, Buddhist Culture.
  • Geographical Cultures, such as: Western Culture, Eastern Culture, East-Asian Culture.
  • National Cultures: American Culture, Japanese Culture, Mediterranean Culture, Malaysian Culture.
  • Materialistic Culture.
  • Spontaneous Culture.
  • Organizational Culture, ...
  • Greek Culture.
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • an Ideology.
• See: Cultural Relativism, Religion, Ritual, Folk Culture, Social Organization, Education System, Sociology.

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References

2023

• GBard
  • There are many different dimensions that can help to understand different cultures. Some of the most important dimensions include:
    • Cultural power distance measure: This dimension describes how different cultures view the distribution of power and status. High power distance cultures tend to be more hierarchical, with a clear distinction between those in positions of authority and those who are not. Low power distance cultures tend to be more egalitarian, with a greater emphasis on equality and participation.
    • Individualistic vs. collectivistic culture measure: This dimension describes how different cultures value the individual versus the group. Individualistic cultures tend to emphasize the importance of individual independence and achievement. Collectivistic cultures tend to emphasize the importance of group loyalty and cooperation.
    • Uncertainty avoidance cultural measure: This dimension describes how different cultures tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity. High uncertainty avoidance cultures tend to be more risk-averse and prefer clear rules and procedures. Low uncertainty avoidance cultures tend to be more tolerant of risk and ambiguity and are more comfortable with change.
    • Masculinity vs. femininity culture measure: This dimension describes how different cultures value traditionally masculine versus feminine traits. Masculine cultures tend to value assertiveness, competition, and material success. Feminine cultures tend to value cooperation, harmony, and quality of life.
    • Long-term vs. short-term orientation culture measure: This dimension describes how different cultures value long-term planning versus short-term results. Long-term oriented cultures tend to value thrift, perseverance, and investment for the future. Short-term oriented cultures tend to value immediate gratification and material success.

Dimension	Japan	Russia	India	China	Israel	Turkey	Nigeria	Indonesia	Mexico	Brazil	United States	Germany	Philippines	Denmark
Power distance	High	High	High	High	High	High	High	High	High	Low	Low	Medium	Medium	Low
Individualism vs. collectivism	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Individualistic	Individualistic	Collectivistic	Collectivistic	Individualistic
Uncertainty avoidance	High	High	High	High	Medium	High	Medium	High	Low	Low	Low	High	Low	Low
Masculinity vs. femininity	Feminine	Feminine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Feminine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Masculine	Feminine	Feminine
Long-term vs. short-term orientation	Long-term	Long-term	Long-term	Long-term	Long-term	Medium	Short-term	Medium	Medium	Short-term	Short-term	Long-term	Short-term	Long-term

2015

• (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/culture Retrieved:2015-10-10.
  • Culture is, in the words of E.B. Tylor, "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society."Cambridge English Dictionary states that culture is, "the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time."

    As a defining aspect of what it means to be human, culture is a central concept in anthropology, encompassing the range of phenomena that are transmitted through social learning in human societies. The word is used in a general sense as the evolved ability to categorize and represent experiences with symbols and to act imaginatively and creatively. This ability arose with the evolution of behavioral modernity in humans around 50,000 years ago. This capacity is often thought to be unique to humans, although some other species have demonstrated similar, though much less complex abilities for social learning. It is also used to denote the complex networks of practices and accumulated knowledge and ideas that is transmitted through social interaction and exist in specific human groups, or cultures, using the plural form. Some aspects of human behavior, such as language, social practices such as kinship, gender and marriage, expressive forms such as art, music, dance, ritual, religion, and technologies such as cooking, shelter, clothing are said to be cultural universals, found in all human societies. The concept material culture covers the physical expressions of culture, such as technology, architecture and art, whereas the immaterial aspects of culture such as principles of social organization (including, practices of political organization and social institutions), mythology, philosophy, literature (both written and oral), and science make up the intangible cultural heritage of a society.

    In the humanities, one sense of culture, as an attribute of the individual, has been the degree to which they have cultivated a particular level of sophistication, in the arts, sciences, education, or manners. The level of cultural sophistication has also sometimes been seen to distinguish civilizations from less complex societies. Such hierarchical perspectives on culture are also found in class-based distinctions between a high culture of the social elite and a low culture, popular culture or folk culture of the lower classes, distinguished by the stratified access to cultural capital. In common parlance, culture is often used to refer specifically to the symbolic markers used by ethnic groups to distinguish themselves visibly from each other such as body modification, clothing or jewelry.Mass culture refers to the mass-produced and mass mediated forms of consumer culture that emerged in the 20th century. Some schools of philosophy, such as Marxism and critical theory, have argued that culture is often used politically as a tool of the elites to manipulate the lower classes and create a false consciousness, such perspectives common in the discipline of cultural studies. In the wider social sciences, the theoretical perspective of cultural materialism holds that human symbolic culture arises from the material conditions of human life, as humans create the conditions for physical survival, and that the basis of culture is found in evolved biological dispositions.

    When used as a count noun "a culture", is the set of customs, traditions and values of a society or community, such as an ethnic group or nation. In this sense, multiculturalism is a concept that values the peaceful coexistence and mutual respect between different cultures inhabiting the same territory. Sometimes "culture" is also used to describe specific practices within a subgroup of a society, a subculture (e.g. “bro culture"), or a counter culture. Within cultural anthropology, the ideology and analytical stance of cultural relativism holds that cultures cannot easily be objectively ranked or evaluated because any evaluation is necessarily situated within the value system of a given culture.

2000

• (Porter, 2000) ⇒ Michael E. Porter. (2000). “Attitudes, Values, Beliefs, and the Microeconomics of Prosperity.” In: * (Harrison & Huntington, 2000) "Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress."
  • QUOTE: Attitudes, values, and beliefs that are sometimes collectively referred to as “culture” play an unquestioned role in human behavior and progress. This is evident to me from working in nations, states, regions, inner cities, and companies at widely varying stages of development.

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