Overview
Culture is the “software” of the mind. It is the shared set of beliefs, values, and practices that binds a group together. It tells us what is good, true, and beautiful.
Core Idea
The core idea is meaning. Humans are “animals suspended in webs of significance they themselves have spun” (Geertz). Culture is that web.
Formal Definition
- Material Culture: Things (Cars, Books, Clothes).
- Non-Material Culture: Ideas (Beliefs, Values, Norms).
Intuition
- Fish in Water: We are so immersed in our culture we don’t notice it until we leave it (Culture Shock).
- The Iceberg: Visible culture (Food, Dress) is just the tip. Deep culture (Concept of time, Logic, Ethics) is hidden.
Examples
- Norms: Rules of conduct.
- Folkways: Don’t pick your nose (Politeness).
- Mores: Don’t kill people (Morality).
- Taboos: Don’t eat people (Forbidden).
- Symbols: The Cross, The Flag, The Nike Swoosh.
- Subculture: Goths, Gamers, Bikers. Groups with their own distinct culture within the main one.
Common Misconceptions
- Misconception: Culture = High Art (Opera).
- Correction: That’s “High Culture.” Sociologically, culture is everything a group does, including memes and fast food.
- Misconception: Some people have “no culture.”
- Correction: Everyone has a culture.
Related Concepts
- Ethnocentrism: Judging other cultures by your own standards.
- Cultural Relativism: Understanding a culture on its own terms.
- Socialization: How culture is transmitted.
Applications
- Business: Cross-cultural communication (don’t show the soles of your feet in Thailand).
- Diplomacy: Soft Power (Hollywood spreading American culture).
Criticism and Limitations
- Essentialism: Treating culture as a fixed box (“Chinese culture is X”) ignores internal diversity and change.
Further Reading
- The Interpretation of Cultures by Clifford Geertz
- Distinction by Pierre Bourdieu