Italy Cultural Awareness Culture gets defined as the shared behavior that usually exists within a given group of people, and is known to have learned and develop with time through socialization in the families, social groups, and schools. This group of people has to reach an agreement for that culture to exist. Culture awareness therefore is the understanding that someone has about the difference between themselves and other groups of people from other countries or even other backgrounds. It could be differences regarding their behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, norms and their values. Different people do things in a particular way; they view the world in various manners and even react to things in a variety of ways (Whittaker, A. 2010 ). Culture awareness in Italy is the focus of this paper.
Broadly discussed, Italian culture entails, arts, family issues, food, architecture, and music. Although other ethnicities live in this country, it becomes known that about 96% of Italy is composed of Italians. The country's official language is Italian, and majority speaks it as their primary language. The Italian family became viewed as a significant value. Most dwell in extended families rather than the nuclear family who are only composed of father, mother, and children. The families gather for multiple occasions throughout the year, and even more for no special occasion at all except to be with one another, this tradition continue on with their children and their children’s
Although we all are living on the same planet we have a huge diversity among us. One of these notable differences between the people on earth is their different cultures. One can notice these differences when traveling or relocating to a new country with another culture he or she are familiar with. For example, the American culture and the Italian culture both have more differences than one would expect. When people try to visit Italy they should be aware of the cultural differences, and the right way to communicate with the Italians.
A Culture is the language, values, beliefs, traditions, and customs people share and learn according to Larry Samovar and his colleagues (2007). Culture includes two different groups called in-groups which are groups that you identify yourself with and out-groups which is a group of people we view as different (Frings & Abram, 2010; Quist & Jorgensen, 2010). Examples of culture is the foods we eat, holidays we celebrate, the type of music we listen to, or even how we address someone. A co-culture is groups of people banded through beliefs, values, behaviors, and a culture inside a larger culture (Ober & Spellers, 2005). Being a member of a co-culture can be a
Culture is a behavior that consists of several critical elements, such as language, religion, race and ethnicity, clothing and politics. Culture is what one does in his/her daily life. In order to understand others, we must first keep in mind that every culture carries its own set of values and assumptions. Culture is an evolving, ever changing civilization, which includes several different groups people. For immigrants, America is a land of opportunity; for others it is just the best country in the world because of its economic success and/or its democratic political system. Americans usually value independence a lot, believe in equal opportunity, and have a direct communication style. In exploring the
Culture is one of the most relevant elements that can define not only a society but also a country’s cumulative beliefs and system. Often noted as the origins of a country, culture is definitive in the sense that it harbors all the elements that can provide justification on the traditions and norms set by the society for its members. More often than not, the society members follow norms in order to create a harmonious community, and the beliefs and the traditions serve as the poles or grounding rules for each member to follow. Culture is very dynamic in the way that it can change over a variety of foreign influences but what is permanent about it is that original elements about it often lingers with the influences, therefore making it multi-faceted and broad. More importantly, culture serves as an individual and unique trait each society has, and therefore sets it apart from other countries and other societies.
In their culture every one of their aspects is spent on sports, music, arts and food. The development of their country provides a unique religion insight. Since they are a former Spanish colony most of their food comes from a Latin American feel. You might not know but they demonstrate their heritage through art. The most common food that they have is "La Bandera" or "The Flag". In their culture that dish is made from meat rice and red beans. Their jewelry is made from bone, coconut husk, horn, and amber. As well as their artist uses clay, porcelain, hemp, and guano to make religious figurines. When you think of Italian people you think of a pretty accent, pretty hair type of person. Well that’s what I thought until my grandmother was telling me about my great grandfather. Being that he was mixed he only had the Italian hair but the American accent. At first I thought that he used to live in Italy but once again I was wrong. My great grandfather mother once lived in Italy. When she found out she was pregnant she soon moved to Virginia. Italy is home of the Roman Empire, its also a major part in the Renaissance. Italians take up 96% of the population in Italy. The remaining of the population is spreaded all over the world such as North African Arab, German, and more. My great grandfather mother was a full blown Italian where as his father was Italian but also an African American. Learning
Italy is an European country. Italian is its official language, and 93% of the population is native Italian speakers. Its ethnic background includes small clusters of German-Italians, French-Italians, Slovene-Italians, Albanian-Italians, and Greek-Italians. With various clusters of people come various beliefs in religion. Religion has influenced the culture, artists, and national treasures of Italy in various ways.
Culture is an intermingling mesh of traits that, although unique to each person, brings groups of people together. It is comprised of numerous different aspects that are passed down through generations, including religion, food, clothing, language, music, morals, and greetings. Because of its extensive range, it is easy to see how much culture impacts a person’s life. One’s culture vastly affects how he or she views the world due to ingrained traditions, stereotypes, and values within his or her heritage.
Culture refers to socially shared and transmitted patterns of ideas (values, norms, and beliefs) that are instantiated in everyday practices, institutions, and artifacts (Tsai, Levenson, & McCoy, 2006). Culture may play an important role in emotional regulation and expression. Of particular interest is the interplay between collectivistic and individualistic societies and social expectations and customs.
When comparing cultures, one must form a definition of what culture is. Culture can be easily defined as the social behavior and normality’s found in human societies. It can also be easily made up of a composed arrangement of educated conduct and thought designs. Culture is a sorted out framework since it includes many parts. Throughout the world, there are many cultures that are both very different and also very similar. "Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at table, how we greet visitors, how we behave and one million other things." (Cristina De Rossi.)
Since World War II, Italian society has profoundly changed, with a significant impact on daily life. One of the main elements of change is the more visible role women play in society outside the home, such as increased participation in higher education and various professions. One aspect of this changed role is that Italy records one of the lowest average numbers of children per woman in the world, as well as some of the lowest birth and fertility rates. (Brittanica Online Encyclopedia)
Spencer-Oatey (2012) suggested that, Culture is customs, ideas and social behaviour of a particular people or society. Moreover, culture is also defined by arts, and other manifestation of human intellectual achievement (Spencer-Oatey, 2012). Therefore, culture covers broad areas in our society, and culture plays an important role of development of individual’s self-awareness. Cultural self-awareness is gained from birth by developing knowledge by experience, outcome, and the behaviour that seem to form the cultural self-awareness of individuals and makes the whole culture.
Few things identify Italians as well as food, “the cross-cultural consumption of Italian cuisine is a significant marker of the way in which others see and imagine Italy and the Italians.” Food is cultural artifact. The Italian culture lives to eat. Where as, the American culture eats to live. Food is a way of life in Italy, not just a way to survive.
The concept of culture is something that defines many aspects of one’s life. From physical objects to different ways of thinking, culture adds significance to human life and makes groups of people distinct from one another. Culture is essentially a group of people who come together with similar interests and points of view. According to the Center for Advanced Language Acquisition of the University of Minnesota, “culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization.” From a more sociological perspective, culture is a way in which people come together in order to fulfill their needs. These shared patterns and ideas identify the members of a culture group while also distinguishing those of another group.” Culture is one of the things that sets the United States apart from the rest of the world. Not that the rest of the world is not cultural, but the circumstance here is different. Many people of different cultural backroads come to this country in search of a better life. As a consequence, the United States has become a place where many cultures merge together like a colossal pot soup.
Culture can be defined in many ways due to the fact that everyone can have their own distinct and traditional beliefs and values. “ Culture is fluid, it is not a static entity which one takes out of the box on occasion. It is with us daily” (Cultural Handout). Someone’s culture is set as the characteristics of the group practices in language, religion, types of food, social traits and habits, and the distinct arts and music. There are a variety of different cultures for example, Western Culture, Eastern Culture, Latin Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and African Culture. All of these different cultures have their own ideas, values, and individualism, laws that are implied, civil rights, and even technology. In our, “ Culture Handout” culture is defined as the tool of the mind, “ it is an individual’s way seeing and interacting within the world. It encompasses one’s values systems, beliefs, and perceptions of the world around them. Race, socio-economic class gender, sexual orientation, ability, geographic location, age, religion language, etc. all impact the formation of culture, but these various context are not culture” (Cultural Handout).