Culture

Chapter II

Culture

The United States is one nation with many ways of life. Understanding what we mean by "culture" and how this country is a multicultural society is the focus of this chapter. In global perspective, of course, ways of life differ even more. The 6.2 billion people living on the Earth are all members of a single biological species: Homo sapiens. Even so, differences between people within the United States, and so around the world, can delight, puzzle, and disturb us. Indeed, we might imagine the reaction of a small of New Yorkers if they were parachuted into the tiny Q' ero villages at the top of the Andes.

Some of the differences in how people live may not be very important. Whereas many New Yorkers wear conservative business suits, the Q'ero prefer brightly colored clothing. But many cultural differences are quite profound. A survey of the world's people would show that some people have many children, and others have few; some honor the elderly, and others push them aside; some are peaceful, others warlike; and people have thousands of distinctive religious beliefs as well as different ideas about what they consider polite and rude, beautiful and ugly, pleasant and repulsive. This amazing capacity for difference is a matter of human culture.

The dictionary defines "Culture" as the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all others product of human work and thought. Human beings around the globe create diverse ways of life. Such differences begin with outward appearance. For example, in some cultures women tend to stay home and their marriages would never be 50%/50%. Because, these people ancestors created these type of pattern of leaving that will last forever and become the only and absolute life style for them. Culture is all about keeping traditions and practicing beliefs. Sociologically, culture has been adapted as a pattern of understanding and to better comprehend others cultures.

The components of culture are the follow; symbols, language, values, beliefs, norms, and "ideal" and "real" culture.

Symbols are the foundation that all the other components are built upon. Symbols are anything (such as a behavior, gesture, or an item) that is assigned a particular meaning that is recognized by everyone that shares in that particular culture. This can and does cause confusion when different cultures meet. For example, in America the "OK" hand gesture means I agree or a job well done. However, to our friend in France it is an insult meaning you are worth nothing. Also, to our friend in Germany and those that are deaf, this symbol is an imprudent word rectum.

Language is a complex system of symbols used so that people can communicate with one another. It can be both spoken and as well as written, and is the method that is used to pass culture down to the next generation (also know as cultural transmission). Language does, however, have its limitations. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf developed a hypothesis (coincidentally called the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) that clams that the way people perceive their world is limited to the language. For example, the Eskimos have over a hundred different words for snow. The reason is because snow effects so much of their lives.

Another major component of a society's culture consists of the systems of values and beliefs which are characteristic of that society. These systems overlap significantly with the other components of culture which are explored in this "Interpreting Culture" section; for example, how religious belief systems can affect the cultural significance of rain, how mortality can affect the cultural significance of a recreational pursuit like bowling (in the learned behavior component), and how religious belief systems can intertwine with systems of social organization like political government.

Belief/value systems overlap so much with these other components of cultural systems largely because beliefs and values play such a pervasive role in culture. In our baseline definition of culture I suggest that culture consists essentially of learned behavior and the template-effect by which a growing, changing culture is passed on from generation to generation.

Belief systems involve stories, or myths, whose interpretation can give people insight into how they