Reflective Essay On Culture

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines culture as “the beliefs, customs, art etc. of a particular society, group, place or time” (Culture, n.d.). Cultural norms vary around the globe, which can make the global business

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.

Culture is an “operational code” shared by members of a particular society, a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviors, and artifacts that members of society use to cope with their world and with one another. Members of a society share their culture; there is no “culture of one”, it is learned through a process called enculturation, and changeable through social interactions between people and groups. Culture is patterned, meaning that people in a society live and think in ways forming definite, repeating patterns.

Culture is defined as a shared system of beliefs, values, and behavioral expectations that provide a social structure for daily living (Taylor, Lillis, Lynn, 2014). Culture plays a significant role in our day to day lives. How we dress, walk, talk, do our hair, perceive personal space or eye contact; our values and beliefs are all a part of our cultural differences.

Culture can be defined as a developing array of collective beliefs, values, and attitudes. The culture of each country has its own set of beliefs, values, and activities. It depicts the accepted values, norms, and traditional behavior of a group. However, the norms and values of a culture do not arise fully formed. They evolve over time in reaction to a number of factors. These factors include: political and economic philosophies, social structure of society, and primary religion, language, and education. All of these factors help shape the cultures from countries such as the United States, Australia, and Italy.

If you search the word culture, there are various meanings that will arise. Culture is the total of the inherited ideas, beliefs, values, and knowledge, which constitute the shared bases of social action (Dictionary.com website). There are eight major characteristics of culture. This paper will elaborate on five of them that I believe are the more

Culture is described as the symbols that individuals, groups and societies use to make decision of daily life and to assure their values. Culture is a model of basic assumptions invented, discovered or developed by a given organization as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaption and internal combination, which has worked well enough to think correctly and, so to instruct to new comers as the valid way to observe, consider and feel in relation to these problems. Culture consists of manner, mind-set, values, rituals, religious belief, law (written and unwritten), arts, ideas, custom, belief, ceremonies, social institutions, myths and legends, individual identity and behavior. Cultural pattern classifies are used to describe the dominant beliefs and values. Culture has been called the way of life for an entire society. It is a group or community living together and sharing a set of norms. Culture and society are coexistent. One does not or cannot exist without the other. Culture and society may have some common elements but the two are not the same; they are not identical.

Culture is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “The customary belief, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also: the characteristic features of everyday existence share by people in a place or time”. In other words, it is the complex whole which is socially shared and learned by the members of a society. Humans adapted culture which is unique in the world of nature. Culture is described such as beliefs, customs, language, education level, values, social behavior, economic status, laws, and other capabilities acquired by a man as a member of a society.

One’s culture shapes their beliefs, values, and goals. Although I am very prideful in my culture, I don’t believe I celebrate it quite like Ola. Two times a year I celebrate being Serbian.“Slava” is a Serbian Orthodox Church tradition involving the ritual glorification of one's family's passed down saint. This holiday involves pouring red wine in the cracks of Serbian bread and slowly turning it around while your family kisses it, as well as a home cooked meal. The next fascinating celebration I participate in is Serb Fest. This is a three-day festival that people come from all around Chicago land to eat Serbian food and dance to our cultures music. Although I feel like a “normal” American the rest of year, I am very prideful of where my ancestors have come from.

Culture can be defined as the norms, values, beliefs, and language that makes up a humans way of living; it influences the decisions people make, how people act, and more. Culture can vary among generations, nations, or even the small distance of a city. As humans, we use and rely on culture everyday to make decisions for good or bad outcome; it can influence negative or positive action in a society, for instance, racism is a negative cultural trait that has been carried through generations. Culture is a continuously changing process, while each culture is introduced through contact, accommodation, and diffusion of the other; Culture has developed over period of hundreds and thousands of years.

Culture refers to the values, rules, norms and behaviour as well as their products that govern the lifestyles of an individual or group. Cultural rules and behaviour are inherited from past generations, may be learned from others and are transmitted to other generation. Additionally, they embody the symbols and systems through which communication, attitudes and knowledge about life takes place. The set a certain group of people apart from others because the manifestation of cultural components represent the conscious elements of the individuals in one culture and helps register the differences or similarities in how other groups and cultures behave.

Culture is not just an attribute of an individual. Culture is a shared set of values, norms, attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of a group that share these similarities.

A simple definition of the word culture is, according to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, “the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, place, or time” (2016). A culture includes everything around a human being that shapes their behavior: “arts, beliefs, customs, institutions, inventions, language, technology, and values” (World Book, 2015). The World Book Encyclopedia says, “There are several important characteristics of culture” (2015).

In this module, I have learned so much more. First chapter three had me thinking about several things. One of the main things was culture, I started asking myself what culture really is. To me culture is something that you expose yourself to so you can expand your mind and broaden your horizons. For me the ways I try to learn about new cultures are going to museums, watching movies old and new, reading all different kinds of books, and visiting new places. Another thing referring to culture, Ethnocentrism brings to mind things my dad used to say. He used to always bring up how Greeks were better than everyone much like the father in the movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” I think that some people in this instance who act ethnocentric only do it because they are proud of their country and proud to be a certain nationality. I believe that is why my dad did it. As for components of culture it’s amazing to think how much can be associated with one culture. Like how the Statue of Liberty is associated with The United State or how Spaghetti is associated with Italy. Something else of great importance I learned about were “folkways.” Which remind me of my aunt she is married to an Arab man and visiting their house and witnessing her husband and family’s customs was quite an experience. Their clothes, the kind of food they eat, the way they pray, and just how they do things in general. It showed me what you can and cannot do and what is sacred to them in their culture. It was

Cultural differences effect many aspects of our daily lives. With the many different cultures embedded in the United States, it is important that everyone has an understanding and respect for the melting pot that is encountered daily in our communities, workplaces and schools.