Culture is a complex and unique component intertwined in our lives. The way we do things and look at things around us depends largely on the culture that we are in. Our lives are compartmentalised into different sets of cultures, depending on the environment and the groups of people that we are with. A person may belong to a few cultures, depending on the context that he or she is in. Gibson (2010) states that culture comprises of different types according to its context such as professional, gender, age, regional and class. For example, a 29-year-old Indian male lawyer may adhere himself to the personal and professional cultures that he is in. He belongs to the culture of adults in the age of 20 to 29, the culture of lawyers when he is working and also the Indian culture. When he is with his peers of similar age, he dresses and uses jargon that is understood and used regularly of people of the same ‘culture’. When he goes to court for cases, he subjects himself to the culture by using the mannerism and jargon used by the profession. When
he is with people of the same race, he shares the same beliefs, behaviour and ways of doing things accordingly to his culture.
In addition, a culture is also tangible and non-tangible (Ting-Toomey, 1999). There are things that one can see that denotes the culture in a form of symbols and realia such as clothes, food and musical instrument and there are also the hidden aspects of a culture such as views, opinions and ways of doing things (Koyama, 1992). The two distinctions of the tangible and non-tangible aspects of culture are what anthropologists often refer to as ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ culture. Baker (2006) made a distinction of what constitutes a culture and divided culture into two parts, the ‘visible’ and the ‘invisible’ culture.
Similarly, Gibson (2010) compares a culture as an iceberg; the outer part of the iceberg represents the ‘visible’ culture whereas the inner part of the iceberg that we could not see from the surface denotes the ‘invisible’ culture. The outer part of the iceberg represents the elements of a culture that can be seen such as traditional dances, literature and food.
Meanwhile, the inner part of the iceberg consists of elements that need to be looked at closely in order to understand a culture; gender roles, power equation and also way of communicating.
Based on the descriptions above, it can be concluded that culture is an intricate concept in our lives. Many authors have come up with their own definition on the concept of culture and what constitutes it. The term ‘culture’ is quite complex and difficult to be
defined and has multiple meanings in different disciplines and context (Harrison &
Huntington, 2000). Samovar, Porter, McDaniel & Roy, (2013) define culture as:
a set of human-made objective and subjective elements that have increased the probability of survival and resulted in satisfaction for the participants in an ecological niche, and thus became shared among those who could communicate with each other because they had a common language and live in the same time and place
(pg.38)
Rodriguez (1999) posits that culture comprises of how one relates to other people, how we reason, behave and view the world. Martin and Nakayama (2013) delineate culture as learned patterns or behaviour that is shared by a group of people. Meanwhile, Hall (1983, as cited in Samovar, Porter, McDaniel & Roy, 2013) concludes that “There is not one aspect of human life that is not touched or altered by culture”. Geert Hofstede (1984), a psychologist interprets culture as a group-related perception that is learned:
Every person carries within him or herself patterns of thinking, feeling, and potential acting which were learned throughout [his or her] lifetime. Much of [these patterns are] acquired in early childhood, because at that time a person is most susceptible to learning and assimilating.
(pg.91, as cited in Martin & Nakayama, 2013)
Hofstede’s view on culture tells us that culture is developed through interactions between various groups and individuals in a social environment. Culture is seen as a collective experience as it is shared by everyone who is in the same social environment.
In addition, researchers in this field also stress on the role of perception in culture. They
how we see others and the environment, which will also influence on our way of doing things (Martin & Nakayama, 2013). This assertion is supported by Singer (1987) who states that culture is a pattern of a learned, group-related perception that influences our verbal and nonverbal language attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviour.
As culture plays a crucial role in determining our ways of doing things and views, it also has a specific function in our lives. As quoted by Samovar, Porter, McDaniel & Roy (2013), culture teaches people how to adapt to their surroundings. Sowell (2009) shares the same notion when he views the function of culture as to make “all things easy”. In other words, our culture provides us a ‘blueprint’ or guidelines on how to conduct our behaviour accordingly based on the group of people that we interact with or in a specific environment.
A culture also consists a set of traits that helps us identify what constitutes a culture.
It also enables us to understand the complexity of the concept and how it relates to our everyday lives. McDaniel, Samovar and Porter (2009) listed what constitutes a culture;
learned, transmitted in integrational manner, dynamic and ethnocentric. Ethnocentric is a term that refers to a strong sense of belonging to a group’s cultural identity or attachment that may lead to ethnocentrism; one’s tendency to feel that one’s own culture is much superior than others (McDaniel, Samovar & Porter (2009). Lack of exposure to other cultures may have caused ethnocentrism (McDaniel, Samovar et. al, 2009; Martin &
Nakayama, 2013; Wood, 2014). Thus, it is important that we are aware of other cultures around us in order to avoid ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism may be detrimental especially