The culture of peoples refers to all aspects of shared life in a community.
Children who grow up a social group learn ways of doing things, ways of expressing themselves, ways of looking at things, what things they should value and what things they avoid, what is expected from them and what they may expect from others. Yet culturally determined features may be seen in their actions, social relationships, moral convictions, attractions and revulsions. These features also can be seen through the institutions their social group establishes and conserves. They can also be seen in the arts and literature which the members of the group produce and appreciate. When teaching about culture, keep in mind that culture is just one of numerous inuences on behavior. !eople can di"er from each other in many other aspects# e.g., personality, age, gender, level of education, abilities, and any other personal features that make each individual a uni$ue human being. We need to be careful of over%generali&ing or making statements like' ()he*s an +merican, so that explains why,-# or (.e*s from /ew York, so that explains why,-# or (.e*s a Canadian, so that ,.- Cultural groups do have certain characteristics in common. 0ut within each group, there is always a broad range of individual di"erences. )tudents might ask why people from the 1nited )tates would need to have their culture revealed to them2isn*t their own culture pretty obvious3 0ut people within a culture are in many ways the least able to see it. Cultural beliefs, values, and behaviors are so ingrained that we are often unaware of our own. 0efore you look at any culture in particular, you should understand what culture in general is and how it works. Therefore, it begins by de4ning a few terms and inviting you to consider some of the key processes and concepts embodied in this word 5culture.5 The central focus here is on the relationship between culture in the abstract%% the underlying values and assumptions of a society%%and culture in the esh%%the speci4c behaviors that derive from those values. 6t is important for you to understand that what people do and say in a particular culture, whether it be yours or that of your host country, are not arbitrary and spontaneous, but are consistent with what people in that culture value and believe in. 0y knowing people7s values and beliefs, you can come to expect and predict their behavior. 8nce you can do that, once host country people are no longer catching you o" guard with their actions, you are well on your way to successful cultural adjustment. 9any countries are now classi4ed as multicultural because they no longer comprise only one cultural, linguistic or religious group. +s this trend continues teachers must be prepared to address the issues of multiculturalism and diversity in their classrooms. You will be able to learn about and get a better understanding of multicultural education from working de4nitions, essays and articles. 8ther Cross%Culture 1nderstanding: Concept of Culture 1.1 Cross-Culture Understanding: Concept of Culture . resources include' tools, fact sheets, book and 4lm reviews, an international photo gallery, links to online children*s literature, other sites and classroom resources. What is culture3 Culture is the every day life style of ordinary citi&ens and the value belief and prejudices they share with their fellow within their linguistic and social groups with due attention to the intra%group di"erences ;of social class, for example<. To avoid confusion we must start with explaining some matters of terminology. The word (culture- is taken in the sense in which it is used by cultural anthropologists, according to whom culture is something that everybody has, in contrast with the (culture- found only in (cultured- circles like in opera houses, universities and the like. The term is used di"erently by di"erent anthropologists but always refers to some (property- of community, especially those who might distinguish it from other communities. )ome anthropologists are interested in what is called (material culture- = the arti4cial of the community e.g., its pottery, its vehicle, or its clothing. .owever, we should take good enough in taking culture as socially ac$uired knowledge' (+ society culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members. Culture, being what people have to lead as distinct from their biological heritage, must consist of the end = product of learning' knowledge in a most general sense of the term. We must take knowledge here in a broad sense, to include both (know how- and (know that- for instance to cover both the ability to tie knots and the knowledge that two times two is four. .ere culture may be described as socially ac$uired knowledge that is the knowledge that someone has by virtue of his being a member of a particular society. The word (culture- has several related senses, two of which are important to mention and to distinguish. >irst of all, the sense in which (culture- is more or less synonymous with (civili&ation-. 6t rests on the classical conception of what constitutes excellence in art, literature, manners, and social institutions. ?dward )apir de4ned (culture- as (patterned behavior-. ?ach culture has a uni$ue pattern. These culture patterns may be' @. )tatic units' man, woman, horse, dog, teacher, banker, etc. A. !rocesses' to rest, to study, to run, to think, etc. B. Cualities' good, bad, hot, cold, slow, moral, immoral These categories may be identi4ed as the same in a given culture at a given time. This means that culture embraces all aspects of shared life in a community. Culture is way of life. Culture in is the context within which we exist, think, feel, and relate to others. Culture as described by Darson and 6malley is a -blue print-. 6t guides the behavior of people in a community and is developed in family life. This blue print controls our behavior in groups and makes us sensitive to matters of status. 6t also helps us to know others expect from us and what will happen if we do not live up to Cross%Culture 1nderstanding: Concept of Culture 1.2 their expectation. Culture helps us to know what we can do as individuals and what our responsibilities are as members of a group. Culture might also be de4ned as ideas, customs, skills, arts, and tools which characteri&e a given group of people in a given period of time. 0ut according to Condon, culture is more than the sum of its parts. 6t is a system of integrated patterns, most of which unconsciously govern human behavior like strings of puppet control its emotion. Cultural patterns of behavior Eeorge !eter 9urdock mentions seven cultural patterns of behavior' @. they originate from human mind A. they facilitate human and environmental interactions B. they satisfy basic human needs F. they are cumulative and adjust to changes in external and internal conditions G. they tend to form a consistent structure H. they are learned and shared by all the members of the society I. they are transmitted to a new generation The explicit and the implicit culture of peoples The explicit culture consists directly of observable regularities in the verbal and non%verbal behavior of the members of a society. 6t consists of the typical behavior of a people. The implicit culture can be de4ned as the modal cognitions, wants, interpersonal response traits and attitudes in a society. 6t is discussed in' a< Cultural 0eliefs b< Cultural Jalues, c< Cultural /orms. Culture has been aptly compared to an iceberg. Kust as an iceberg has a visible section above the waterline, and a larger, invisible section below the water line, so culture has some aspects that are observable and others that can only be suspected, imagined, or intuited. +lso like an iceberg, that part of culture that is visible ;observable behavior< is only a small part of a much bigger whole. The items that appear below are all features of culture. Leeping in mind that observable behaviors belong above the surface of the water, while the invisible aspects of culture belong below the surface, decide for each feature whether it should be 5above5 or 5below5. @ >acial ?xpressions @B Meligious 0eliefs A Meligious Mituals @F 6mportance of Time B !aintings @G Concept of )elf F Jalues @H Concept of Deadership G .oliday Customs @I Diterature H Eestures @N /ature of >riendship I >oods @O Eeneral World Jiew N Concept of 0eauty AP Work ?thic O ?ating .abits A@ Mules of )ocial ?ti$uette @P 9usic AA Concept of !ersonal )pace @@ Concept of >airness AB )tyles of Qress @A Child%raising 0eliefs AF /otions of 9odesty Cross%Culture 1nderstanding: Concept of Culture 1.3 Universal, Cultural or Personal? Culture is but one category or dimension of human behavior, and it is therefore important to see it in relation to the other two dimensions' the universal and the personal. The three can be distinguished as follows' nuniversal refers to ways in which all people in all groups are the same# cultural refers to what a particular group of people have in common with each other and how they are di"erent from every other group# personal describes the ways in which each one of us is di"erent from everyone else, including those in our group. These are two important points for you to remember' 0ecause of universal behavior, not everything about people in a new culture is going to be di"erent# some of what you already know about human behavior is going to apply in your host country. 0ecause of personal behavior, not everything you learn about your host culture is going to apply in e$ual measure, or at all, to every individual in that culture. This next exercise contains a list of behaviors. 6n the underlined space preceding each of them, put a 5U5 if you think the behavior is universal, 5C5 if it is cultural, or 5P5 if it is personal. @. )leeping with a bedroom window open. A. Munning from a dangerous animal. B. Considering snakes to be 5evil.5 F. 9en opening doors for women. G. Mespecting older people. H. Diking spicy food. I. !referring playing soccer to reading a book. N. ?ating regularly. O. ?ating with knife, fork, and spoon. @P. 0eing wary of strangers @@. Calling a waiter with a hissing sound. @A. Megretting being the cause of an accident. @B. >eeling sad at the death of your mother. @F. Wearing white mourning robes for BP days after the death of your mother. @G. /ot liking to wear mourning clothes for BP days after the death of your mother. Cross%Culture 1nderstanding: Concept of Culture 1.4