The basic concept of cultures
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
- Identify the key concepts of culture;
- Define and explain different concepts of cultures;
- Explain the basic features of culture;
- Discuss concepts of culture both national and organizational wise;
u INTRODUCTION
Culture has a variety of connotations in its general use; it is generally complex and dynamic word. The concept of culture consists of an individual understanding of their society’s features and or sub-group, beliefs, values, and ideas that relate to acceptable and unacceptable behaviors within society. As stated by Ajani (2012), the majority consider culture as a phenomenon transmitted and learned from one generation to another; therefore, culture is not inborn. Rather, it is learned by an individual born and raised in a particular culture. The anthropological view of culture has two crucial distinctions between real, idea, explicit, and implicit culture. From its perspective, ideal culture is what a person believes and how they should behave, while real culture is the actual individual behavior in a specific situation. Implicit culture operates on a conscious level because it is not easily observable or recognizable since it encompasses values, fear, religious beliefs, and attitudes that are most often taken for granted. Implicit and idea culture shares a close resemblance since they are more personal and hence difficult to observe. Explicit and real culture are visible and are describable through dress, tools, dress, and concrete behavior.
1.1 features of culture.
In its simplest definition, culture is handing on of everything from one generation to the other within a society by means of tradition other than biological means. Understanding human cultural characteristics of human culture requires configurative analysis of patterns of various elements within a culture and the kind of relationships they have with each other. Characterization of culture, does not require the subjective evaluations of greatness or exceptional cultural heroes and technical know-how of the western societies instead, it require an understanding of the pragmatically defined concept of culture as an act of handing over everything through tradition rather than biological from one generation to another. Cultural features are numerous and comprises of every aspect of human life. Cultural features include; facial expression, religious beliefs, religious rituals, paintings, values, literature, gestures, ideas, food, understanding of natural world, concept of beauty and importance of work among others.
Based on the review of various definitions, researchers have concluded that culture manifest various characteristics besides its usual features; (1) culture is not an individual characteristic rather it is a collection of individuals with a common value, practices, beliefs, ideas and norms that lives together and practices such common values. (2) culture is learned and not inherited, people learn culture of others when they become part of those groups or society, hence acquires new cultures. (3) culture has historical dimension, a particular group or a country develops its culture over time which becomes partly the history of that nation. (4) culture has different layers, layers of culture include; symbols, rituals, practices, heroes and values
1.2 WORKING DEFINITION OF CULTURE
Culture is an important aspect of everything we do in this world. It includes beliefs that form religion, wars, and the way of life. One most important thing one has to understand is what defines a culture and why it is important in all aspects of human life. Basically, culture refers to the society, a combination of acquired behaviours shared among the society members, and the way of life members of these societies live. There are several definitions of culture; as stated by Henry (2020), culture is based on languages, religion, social institutions, economy, policies, status, manners, customs, material items, values, education, and class, significantly influencing the managerial values. Furthermore, culture plays a fundamental role in any social group since it illustrates values and norms shared among its members, which differentiate it from other social groups and its influence on the conscious beliefs.
Over the years, culture has been considered explicitly normative, representing more on the eighteenth and nineteenth-century understanding of the socio-psychological sophistication. Chiu and Hong (2013) argue that culture is the pursuit of total perfection through understanding all the matters which most concern us. The term working definition is more often used in social sciences literature to enable theoretical and methodological understanding of a particular word or phrase and how it works. In understanding the concept of culture, a working definition of culture can be used theoretically and methodologically to enhance the understanding of this complex and dynamic term about people’s way of life.
1.3 WHY CULTURE DIFFERS?
understanding the cultural differences within a society, it is important to clarify the meaning of the word culture in its familiar and simple language. Its popular usage, understanding, and applicability mean good art, music, ideas, and behavior. Hence, there is no uncultured individual or society, no matter how unique or strange their cultural practices may appear. When one lacks these features, they are considered uncultured, and therefore, this makes it to be a total way of life of a society, and every society, individual, family, or group of people has a culture in one way or the other. Cultures differ because of their complex definitions and understanding, often depending on the societal and individual customs practices, values, ideas, language, and beliefs. However, the most important aspect of culture that is frequently overlooked is cultural integration. Differences between people within any given nation or culture are enormous than distinctions between groups.
Sometimes, cultural differences are based on the scientific observation of non-verbal communications and cultural practices. Studying through the cultural differences, the disparity can be noted that the cultural differences do not lie in an individual perception but the comparisons between ethnic groups against each other. Therefore, significant cultural differentiation lies with food preparation, music, among other activities that each culture considers essential and unique to their way of life.
1.3.1 the concept of culture.
Having understood the conscious definition of culture, it is vital to note that every human being required culture as a material object (tangible) to live with others harmoniously. In the absence of Interco relations among people, human life would be meaningless and boring. Human existence requires ideas, rules, and patterns of thinking. A network of social togetherness and material objects ensures mental, rational, and material processes that integrate into a whole and well-designed living pattern known as culture. Culture, therefore, serves as an important guide for human living as it helps human beings understand what is good, bad, rational, and irrational (Garnsey and Saller, 2014).
Culture is a historical design of living since it enables
handing over new things from one generation to another. Cultures present today
constitute what was first created by ancestors, plus what has been added to it
by the subsequent generations.
Culture is unique among the human species; the human being is a
complex creature; it can learn to communicate, process, use, and store
information and the same extent. With culture, human actions are morally guided
to serve and behave in a certain way. This, therefore, renders human culture as
a moral foundation among other species. Culture is non-genetic; culture is not an inheritable trait by
offspring from parents; hence it can only be socially handed over from one
generation to another. Unlike animals, culture is a product of learning rather
than biological heredity. Culture
has both unity and diversity; at
least everyone has a culture though not similar, in this case; therefore, it is
essential to draw a distinction between “a culture” and “culture.” This implies
that culture is the way of life of human society as a whole, while culture is
the way of life of a specific portion of society.
Cultural
levels encompass both national and organizational cultural levels; these areas
have been of significant interest to many researchers and scholars in various
disciplines. These levels of cultural concepts similarly define the culture as
values that differentiate one group from one another. As stated by Ali and Brooks
(2008), a culture shared among people in a society or a country is referred to
as a national or social culture; alternatively, a culture shared between people
within the same organization is referred to the organizational culture.
1.3.2 national
National culture is the norms, customs, values, and beliefs of a population of a country. This culture is characterized by ethics, language, cultural history, and tradition. The existence of national culture has been of significant interest to many scholars as it rests on the concept of individual identification with others as being a member of the same state and shares the aspect of context such as feelings of identity. The critique of national culture is a clear indication of most countries’ heterogeneous nature with regards to language, geography, legal systems, ethnicity, and socioeconomic makeup. Nationality defines social and territorial constraints in which public policies are built to have been historically developed as a whole regardless of the less integrated minority groups. Different Sources of national culture can be summarized, as shown below. Understanding the concept of national cultures and their interactions is recognized as the fundamental cross-cultural research and practices, which includes cultural psychology and cross-cultural relations.
Figure1: The role of national culture in shaping public policy (Daniell, 2014).
.
1.3.3 organizational
Over the past decades, social scientists have explored the concept of organizational culture as a theoretical perspective. According to Martins and Terblanche (2003), the recent interest in organizational culture roots from four different sources, such as climate research, national human culture, and management approach, gives weight to the organization’s rational and structural nature the organizational behavior. Interest in organizational culture from human resource management and performance point of view is embedded from the organizational culture that is perceived to offer flexible and non-mechanistic in understanding how the organizations work. The basic definition of the organizational culture is vital to provide the pivot of departure in the quest for an understanding of the phenomenon; in correlation to the definition of the organizational culture, it is the distinctive norms, principles, and beliefs that combine each distinctive features of an organization. Therefore, organizational culture is how things are done within the organization, undocumented rules that influence the individual and group behavior and attitudes.
A strong culture is a cornerstone of any
organization’s success. All the key consensus regarding the cultural policies
and values focuses on an individual and the organizational goals. Management of
a successful organization prioritizes their culture at all levels of
interaction with their employees and goes the extra mile to communicate their
cultural identities to their employees. Alternatively, an ineffective culture
can result in organizational downfall and its leaders, negatively affecting
organizational performance.
Development of organizational culture
The
basic values and norms of organizational culture are formed in four ways; these
include leaders in the organization, important events from which lessons are
learned about desirable and undesirable behaviors, cultures developed from the
desire to develop and maintain an effective working relationship. Finally, the
organizational environment that relatively influences the unchanging external
environment. The key components of organizational cultures include;
Values
These
are beliefs of what is good for the organization and what should happen. The
stronger the organizational values, the more they influence the behaviors of
the organizational members.
Norms
These
are the unwritten rules of behavior that provides an informal guideline of
behavior within the organization. It educates people on what they should do,
says, or even wear. This component is not expressed through writing, rather is
expressed through word of mouth.
Artifacts
These
are visible and tangible elements of an organization that people feel, hear, or
see, and they contribute to the understanding of the organization’s culture.
1.3.4 ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is a cultural or ethical biasness with conscious or unconscious views of an individual against the world or on a perspective of their own group. When an individual established an in-group as archetypal and then rate other groups with reference to such ideals, it forms a tunnel which mostly results in (1) inability to sufficiently understand cultures that are different from their own culture, and (2) offer value judgment that correlates with the in-group to uphold its inherent priority, hence connecting the concept of ethnocentrism to several forms of chauvinism and prejudice which are not limited to tribalism, racism and disability discrimination.
Over the decade, the concept of ethnocentrism has been used by sociologists and anthropologists to discuss an individual view of other people’s cultural practices. Nevertheless, this has changed over time as other disciplines have adopted and widely used it. Because of its inconsistency usage and applicability, ethnocentrism has been grouped with concepts such as racism, prejudice, and xenophobia.
Ethnocentrism is a term that is often used by anthropologists over the years to describe the way of one’s life as being natural or correct. Ethnocentrism is the act of seeing one’s own culture as a correct way of living. For example, those who have experienced other people’s culture in detail can be considered ethnocentric in the event that they feel their own way of life is a more natural way of living than others. Another example of ethnocentrism can be illustrated by colonialism; in this scenario, colonialism has cultural domination characterized by enforced social changes. Colonialism is a social system where a political conquest by a single society rules over others can lead to cultural dominance, which enforces a social change. Ethnocentrism may not be entirely avoidable because human beings have instinctual interaction with each other or cultural practices and beliefs. However, these reactions should not result in unpleasant events such as war or genocide.
SELF TEST 1.2
- Culture in its simplest definition is handing on of everything from one generation to the other within a society by means of tradition other than biological means.
- Ethnocentrism is a cultural or ethical biasness with conscious or unconscious views of an individual against the world or on a perspective of their own group.
- National culture is the norms, customs, values and beliefs by a population of a country, and is characterized with ethic, language, cultural history and tradition.
- Cultures differs because of its complex definitions and understanding which often depends on the societal and individual customs practices, values, ideas, language, and beliefs.
- Culture serves as an important guide for human living as it helps the human being understand what is good, bad, rational and irrational.
- cultural differences are based on the scientific observation of non-verbal communications and cultural practices. Studying through the cultural differences, the disparity can be noted that the cultural differences do not lie in an individual perception but the comparisons between ethnic groups against each other.
Culture
National culture
Ethnocentrism
Concept of culture
Organizational culture
Ajani, K. (2012). Triage; a literature review of key concepts. Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, 62(5), 487.
Ali, M., & Brooks, L. (2008). Culture and IS: National cultural dimensions within IS discipline.
Chiu, C. Y., & Hong, Y. Y. (2013). Social psychology of culture. Psychology Press.
Daniell, K. A. (2014). The role of national culture in shaping public policy: A review of the literature. Australia: The Australian National University. file:///C:/Users/ADMIN/Downloads/daniell_2014_the_role_of_national_culture_in_shaping_public_policy_final.pdf
Frances c [ Frances Dhumney]. (2015, december,24) Culture: Introduction & overvew of key concepts
. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIgJxQHVjBg
Garnsey, P., & Saller, R. (2014). The Roman Empire: economy, society and culture. Univ of California Press. http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/41246/1/Unit-1.pdf
Henry, C. D. (2020). Strategies for Promoting Employee Engagement in the Canadian Banking Sector.
Martins, E. C., & Terblanche, F. (2003). Building organisational culture that stimulates creativity and innovation. European journal of innovation management. http://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/1133/03chapter2.pdf