Chapter I What is Culture?

“Every man’ s ability may be strengthened or increased by culture.”

John Abbott (1821-1893) Canadian lawyer and statesman

It is now quite a common feeling that the world is getting smaller. It is certainly not because the earth that we all live in is becoming in physical size. We feel that countries are getting closer to each other because the technological development in ICT (information and communication technology) allows us to see and hear other people in a much more easy and speedy manner than before. At the same time, the advancement in transportation modes nowadays facilitates us to travel in a much cost effective way so that it is now much more common and affordable for people to travel abroad. We are now living in a global village.　Simply by a touch of a keyboard, we can communicate with anyone anywhere in the world. Interaction with foreigners is more common and frequent, no matter it may only be by means of virtual contact through ICT or it is a real physical contact through your participation to an international conference. It is perhaps now simply inevitable for the people to have interaction with foreigners if they are living in an international city, or they are working in an organizations having business with overseas companies.

As we are all aware, people from different countries have their own traditions, beliefs, and behaviours, which form parts of the culture of the countries. In order to be successful in the global arena, one has to understand and cope well with different cultures.

So, what then is Culture?

Culture is a word which we often hear, perhaps almost every day of our lives, for example, the culture of a country, a race, a tribe, and an organization. We are also made aware of cultural events such as exhibitions, performances, artifacts,etc.

Definitions

What then does the Culture mean? What is its definition?

According to the University of Minnesota’ s Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA):

“Culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions,cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.”

There are other definitions as well:

“Most social scientists today view culture as consisting primarily of the symbolic, ideational, and intangible aspects of human societies.The essence of a culture is not its artifacts, tools, or other tangible cultural elements but how the members of the group interpret, use, and perceive them. It is the values, symbols, interpretations, and perspectives that distinguish one people from another in modernized societies; it is not material objects and other tangible aspects of human societies. People within a culture usually interpret the meaning of symbols, artifacts, and behaviors in the same or in similar ways.”

Banks　J.A.,Banks　& McGee C.A. (1989) Multicultural education Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

“Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.”

Hofstede　G. (1984). National cultures and corporate cultures in L.A. Samovar & R.E. Porter (Eds.) Communication between Cultures Belmont, CA: Wadsworth

“Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit,of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols,constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action,on the other hand，as conditioning influences upon further action.”

Kroeber A.L.& Kluckhohn C.(1952) Culture: A critical review of concepts and definitions. Harvard University Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology Papers 47

The above are just but a few of the numerous definitions about culture that you may find in textbooks, treatises, research reports, etc. However,　the most comprehensive definition of culture may come from Roshan Cultural Heritage Foundation, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. The full text of the definition which it uses to define culture is given in Appendix I.

In simple terms, Roshan Cultural Heritage considered Culture refers to the ways of life such as Language, Arts & Science, Thought, Spirituality, Social Activity, Interaction,etc.

We can infer from the above definitions that:

1.Culture can be learned, shared and passed from one generation to the next.

2.Culture can be taught by parents to children, acquired through social organizations, special interest groups, the government, schools, and churches.

3.Culture is multidimensional, consisting of a number of interdependent common elements.

In the following chapters, we shall look at various elements of culture, cultural differences and how to cope with the differences in culture so as to achieve one’ s goals in the international arena.