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Culture Is Defined By Merriam Webster

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Culture is defined by Merriam Webster as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. Also, the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time” (Culture). Although I agree with the majority of this definition; however, I do think it is limited by racial, religious or social group because there are more than those three groups that could be considered a culture which is why I would define culture as the latter definition that is any characteristic feature that is by any group of people. Furthermore, these cultures are constantly changing over time because the groups of people will change behaviors and characteristic features depending on how the world around them is changing. For example, with the emergence of technology and globalization, we have many new intersecting cultures present within the most individual cultures, which can create privilege or oppression for that culture based on the in/out group hierarchical behavior that has been explored through analyzing my previous encounters within a triple dorm last year. The most useful strategies that can be implemented to learn about the norms and expectations include understanding the intersectionality of the cultures, understanding the non-verbal and verbal communicative practices and remaining flexible within the preconceived notations about the norms or expectations of that different cultural group.

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