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Culture is a term used by social scientists for a way of life. Every human society has a culture. culture includes a society's arts, beliefs, customs, institutions, inventions, language, technology and values. A culture produces similar behavior and thought among most people in a particular society. To learn about a culture, one may ask such questions as these: What language do the people speak? What do the people of the society wear? How do they prepare their food? What kind of dwellings do they live in? What kind of work do they do? How do they govern themselves? How do they judge right from wrong?
People are not born with any knowledge of a culture. They generally learn a culture by growing up in a particular society. They learn mainly through the use of language, especially by talking and listening to other members of the society. They also learn by watching and imitating various behaviors in the society. The process by which people - especially children -learn their society's culture is called enculturation. Through enculturation a culture is shared with members of a society and passed from one generation to the next. Enculturation unifies people of a society by providing them with common experiences.
The term culture has been defined in many ways. It often is used in a narrow sense to refer to activities in such fields as art, literature, and music. In that sense, a cultured person is someone who has knowledge of and appreciation for the fine arts. But under the broader definition used by social scientists, culture includes all areas of life and all human beings have a culture. Social scientists identify certain aspects of culture as pop culture or popular culture. Pop culture includes such elements of a society's arts and entertainment as television, radio, recordings, advertising, sports, hobbies, fads, and fashions.
The term civilization is similar to culture, but it refers mostly to cultures that have complex economic, governmental, and social systems. A civilization is technologically more advanced than other cultures of its time. A culture is any way of life, be it simple or complex, advanced or not advanced.
Culture is like an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg is easy to see. This includes the visible aspects (the observable) and do's and taboos of working in other cultures.
The remaining huge chunk of the iceberg hidden below the surface includes the invisible aspects (suspected, imagined) of a culture such as the values, traditions, experiences and behaviors that define each culture.
Venturing into different cultures without adequate preparation can be just as dangerous as a ship maneuvering icy waters without charts, hoping to be lucky enough to avoid hitting an iceberg. The difference is that the ship will know immediately when it hits an iceberg.
Unsuspecting companies may never realize they hit an iceberg but they will, nevertheless, feel the impact. It appears in the form of delayed or abandoned projects, misunderstood communications, frustrated employees and a loss of business and reputation. The costs of cultural myopia and the inability to adjust can be staggering. By definition, cross-cultural awareness means not only becoming culturally fluent in other cultures but also having a solid understanding of your own culture.
Cultural differences must be understood and acknowledged before they can be managed.
Follow-up
1. Work in groups and discuss the following questions.
What do you understand by the title of the article?
What is enculturation?
How does the use of the term culture in a narrow sense differ from the broader definition used by social scientists?
How does enculturation differ from assimilation?
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