Culture

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Culture
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Culture is...

• All-encompassing, we live inside
• Unaware and invisible
• Easy to notice other cultures what is different
• Deeply upsetting and intolerant
• A power game
• Knowledge and skills for survival
• Meaningful

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Culture is not....

• Nature
• (But what natural means is culturally
  determined)
• (And people cant be people without culture)
• Personality
• (But what is personal is a special mix of
  cultures)

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The personality of the group

• Not only national culture but also based on Sex,
  race, age, education, profession, region,
  subculture, religion, language, sexual
  preference, etc.
• The way we do things here
• Glasses, a house, an onion, a tree....

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Onion Layers

• Symbols
• Rituals
• Heroes villains
• Invisible/innermost Values and beliefs
• (What do I know and what do I belileve?)

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The culture tree

• ROOTS Geography, economics, history, demography,
  religion, ideologies, traditions
• TRUNK Learning of cultural patterns - attitudes,
  values, taboos, experiences, perception
• BRANCHES The visible cultural  pattern - 1)
  language, gestures, 2) groups, hierarchies, 3)
  work, 4) sex roles, 5) territories and
  conceptions of space, 6) conceptions of time, 7)
  education, 8) play and leisure activities, 9)
  protection and defense, 10) ideas on nature and
  technology (E.T.Hall The Silent Language)

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The physical world OUTER REALITY
COMMUNICATION
CODES Interpretation - negotiation
WorldviewINNER REALITY
Worldview INNER REALITY
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The physical world the situation (incl. time
before and after, artefacts, common references,
etc.)
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Worldview Knowledge always connected to
values (attitudes). Norms (normality), beliefs,
and expectations.
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The physical world the situation (incl. time
before and after, artefacts, common references,
etc.)
COMMUNICATION
CODES Interpretation - negotiation
Worldview Knowledge always connected to
values (attitudes). Norms (normality), beliefs
and expectations.
Worldview Knowledge always connected to
values (attitudes). Norms (normality, beliefs and
expectations.
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Symbols

• Signs
• Clothes
• Body art
• Status symbols
• Consumption patterns/styles
• Words
• Non-verbal signs

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Rituals

• Actions without practical purposes
• Symbolic actions (with a meaning)
• Greetings, presents, rites of passage, small
  talk, etc.

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Heroes and villains

• Eternal youth
• Beauty
• Rebels
• Power
• Charisma
• Innovation
• Courage
• Intelligence
• Sex appeal

• Cowardice
• Treason
• Ugliness
• Weakness
• Cheating
• Ruthlessness
• Perversion

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Values

• Good bad
• Natural unnatural
• Serious ridiculous
• Healthy unhealthy
• Fair unfair
• Safe dangerous
• Interesting boring

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Dimensions of values

• Power distance (hierarchy)
• Individualism (industrialisation level)
• Masculinity
• Uncertainty avoidance
• Long-term orientation
• Task orientation
• ...and many more

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Attitudes

• System of valued information
• Interesting and positive plenty of facts
• Boring and negative very little knowledge
• Need to build IDENTITY
• Role models and group identities

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Beliefs

• What is natural?
• What is human? Are we good or bad?
• Is there a God? (Is she friendly to us?)
• Is the Earth holy?
• Ideology Equality or inequality?

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Identity, identities

• Unique mix of ones group cultures media
  culture
• Inner world, cause and effect of interests and
  environment
• Outer world, experiences (communication)
• Socio-cultural existence (groups)
• Culture shock
• Positive self esteem better than others
• Etnocentrism

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Language

• Both physical and immaterial
• Connects the two worlds through codes
• Main vehicle and symbol of a culture
• An entrance to US from THEM
• But also a separator dialects, sociolects,
  chronolects, slang, jargon, etc.
• Also a norm system, punishments

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Change over time

• A hundred years ago
• New situation
• New ideas and concepts
• New attitudes
• New beliefs (knowledge?)
• A thousand years ago?
• The driving force...