Culture is one of the common words that are so often used that we think we know what they mean but they are pretty difficult to define. The word culture has varied meanings from agriculture to medicine to sociology and anthropology. The multiplicity of meaning attached to the word makes it very difficult to define. You will now explore some of the many meanings of the word culture. In agriculture culture has been used to designate the process of nursing or cultivating plants or crops. In scientific and medical sciences it is used for the growing of biological materials.
Knowledge and sophistication acquired through education and exposure. In the arts it is also termed as the development and use of artifacts and symbols in the advancement of the society (Brown, 1995).
Odetola and Ademola (1985) defined culture as ―configuration of learned and shared patterns of behavior and of understanding concerning the meaning and value of things, ideas, emotions and actions‖. Culture refers to the total way of life of a society. It is made up of its members‘ custom, traditions and beliefs, their behavior, dress, language, their work, their way of living, relationship network and their attitudes to life, the focus of group loyalties and the way they all perceive the world. As far as this course is concerned, we shall see culture from the above perspective – which makes a people what they are as distinct from other groups of people. The following are the concepts that grew out of the idea of culture.
Culture Traits
Traits are the smallest elements by which a culture can be described. It is thus a distinguishing or peculiar feature or characteristic of a given culture. Culture complex is derived from a number of culture traits that fit together and from culture complex culture patterns are derived (Zellner, 1999).
65 Subculture
A subculture is a distinctive culture that is shared by a particular group within a culture, because that group exists as a smaller part of the total culture (James and Vander, 1990).
Culture Change
Culture is dynamic in nature and therefore does experience changes. Culture change can occur accidentally. For example, if there is a severe, outbreak of epidemic that claimed a lot of lives, there are certain adjustment a society may make that will result in culture change. Culture change can also occur as a result of technological innovation. For example, many homes in Africa no longer use their hands to eat because of the introduction of spoons, forks and knives. Culture can also change when two groups with differing culture come to live together. There would be what is called cultural diffusion as the two cultures would intermingle and the people of one group will adopt the traits of the other group and vice versa (Swatos, 1993).
Culture Lag
Mckee (1981) defines culture lag as ―when two or three parts of culture which are correlated changes before or in a greater degree than the other part does, thereby causing less adjustment between the two parts than existed previously‖.
Culture Shock
Culture shock occurs when there is a sharp contrast between two different cultures and one group suffers a serious emotional reaction to the other group‘s behavior. Most Africans suffer from culture shock when they find themselves in Europe where a child can tell the parents ―don‘t be stupid‖. Such a statement is considered as an insult in Africa where respect for the elders is not taken lightly (Bryan, 1969).
66 3.2 Elements of Culture
The following are the elements that you can point to and say that they sustain a particular culture‖.
Artifacts
Artifacts are the physical things that are found that have particular symbolism for a culture.
They may even be endowed with mystical properties. Artifacts can also be more everyday objects, such as the bunch of flowers in reception. The main thing is that they have special meaning, at the very least for the people in the culture. There may well be stories told about them. The purposes of artifacts are as reminders and triggers. When people in the culture see them, they think about their meaning and hence are reminded of their identity as a member of the culture, and, by association, of the rules of the culture. Artifacts may also be used in specific rituals. Churches do this, of course. But so also do organizations (Zellner, 1999).
Stories, histories, myths, legends, jokes
Culture is often embedded and transmitted through stories, whether they are deep and obviously intended as learning devices, or whether they appear more subtly, for example in humor and jokes. Sometimes there stories are true. Sometimes nobody knows. Sometimes they are elaborations on a relatively simple truth. The powers of the stories are in when and how they are told, and the effect they have on their recipients.
Rituals, rites, ceremonies and celebrations
Rituals are processes or sets of actions which are repeated in specific circumstances and with specific meaning. They may be used in situations such as rites of passage, such as when someone is promoted or retires. They may be associated with company events such as the release of a new event. They may also be associated with everyday events such as Christmas. Whatever
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the circumstance, the predictability of the rituals and the seriousness of them earning all combine to sustain the culture (Odetola and Ademola, 1985).
Heroes
Heroes in a culture are named people who act as prototypes, or idealized examples, by which cultural members learn of the correct or ―perfect‖ behavior. The classic heroes are the founders of the societies or organizations, who are often portrayed as much whiter and perfect than they actually are or were. In such stories they symbolize and teach people the ideal behaviors and norms of the culture.
Symbols and symbolic action
Symbols, like artifacts, are things which act as triggers to remind people in the culture of its rules and beliefs among others. They act as a shorthand way to keep people aligned. Symbols can also be used to indicate status within a culture. This includes clothing, office decor and so on. Status symbols signal to others to help them use the correct behavior with others in the hierarchy. They also lock in the users of the symbols into prescribed behaviors that are appropriate for their status and position. There may be many symbols around an organization, from pictures of products on the walls to the words and handshakes used in greeting cultural members from around the world (Brown, 1995).
Beliefs, assumptions and mental models
An organization and culture will often share beliefs and ways of understanding the world.
This helps smooth communication and agreement, but can also become fatal blinkers that blind everyone to impending dangers.
68 Attitudes
Attitudes are the external displays of underlying beliefs that people use to signal to other people of their membership. Attitudes also can be used to give warning, such as when a street gang member eyes up a member of the public. By using a long hard stare, they are using national cultural symbolism to indicate their threat (Peter, 1967).
Rules, norms, ethical codes, values
The norms and values of a culture are effectively the rules by which its members must abide, or risk rejection from the culture (which is one of the most feared sanctions known). They are embedded in the artifacts, symbols, stories, attitudes, and so on.