What People Learn From Their Surroundings

In pages one through twenty-one in the novel Cultural Intelligence: A Guide to Working With People from Other Cultures, by Brooks Peterson, the author introduces us to the basis and idea of culture, and what it truly is. He describes how we as individuals see others and how we tend to acknowledge their distinct cultivations. Part of living in America means coming across individuals who live a different lifestyle than we may live. We are a society filled with people from all over the world. Therefore, it is crucial that we as Americans and as people understand the significance and idea of what culture really is and how it affects different individuals.

Culture is the Backbone of a society, when something/someone tries to alter it or go against it everyone will notice. In this issue pointed out by Ruth Macklin, we look at the problems that can arise when an individual’s culture and autonomy clash. Every year there at least 30 million immigrants from all over the world that move to the United states of America, making America one of the most culturally diverse country in the world. Keeping this in mind, we will focus on Ruth Macklin’s issue of Multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is the co-existence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviors, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles. Critics argue that we associate culture with a society, community and or family, but rarely with a single individual, thus placing it above the individual person. In this paper we are going to look at four different scenarios on from Ruth Macklin’s article.

Culture is the people’s identity. Traditions, norms and society values determine how best parents bring up their children. Interactions among individuals from different cultures are platforms for acceptance and understanding among people. On the other hand, the interactions can pose culture shock and a person may end up feeling like a misfit in the new environment. The United States is a multicultural environment with the majority being whites. Other minority ethnic groups have either been born in the US or migrated there for work or studies.

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.

Culture plays a significant role in defining our identity and worldview. For newcomers, culture is the primary frame that shapes their interaction with other newcomers and with established residents in their new community. This interaction can occur anywhere and

The concept of culture is polisemantic, to an extent that has almost become impossible to reach an agreement on what exactly culture means. However, the academia has found certain concomitants: it is learnt within a specific social group (Turner), it is a language of shared, symbols, values and moral constraints (Geertz) and it is constructed through experience (Vigotsky). However, when the world culture is used within law, policy or daily life, it loses its meaning, and somehow it becomes a “label” composed by a list of nouns (it used to contain adjectives, but since political correctness became the dominant discourse, this changed); somehow its meaning and foremost political

The United States is a country with a diverse existing population today; this country is known as a melting pot of different cultures, each one unique in its own respect. Culture; differentiate one societal group from another by identification beliefs, behaviors, language, traditions, Art, fashion styles, food, religion, politics, and economic systems. Through lifelong, ever changing processes of learning, creativity, and sharing culture shapes our patterns of behavior as well thinking. The Culture’s significance is so intense that it touches almost every aspect of who and what we are. Culture becomes the telescope through which we perceive and evaluate what is going on around us. Trying to define the perplexing term of culture with

Fundamental beliefs surrounding the very idea of culture separate the cross-cultural and sociocultural approach, which may seem to suggest incompatibility. Sociocultural psychological understanding of culture is that it employs a “mutually constitutive” or “cyclic model”. (Eom & Kim, 2014) The idea of culture in the sociocultural model is that culture influences people on a

According to Dodd’s cultural model, it is explained that there are three layers of culture which are as follows: the Inner Core, Cultural Activities, and Institutions within Cultures (Liu, 2013). By using Dodd’s cultural model as examples I hope to demonstrate how being a Bohemian has shaped my identity and helped me reach cultural acceptance within myself, hence agreeing with Liu’s definition of culture as “a particular way of life of a group of people, comprising the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, traditions, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, world views, material objects and geographic territory” (Liu,

After reading Chapter 2: “Culture and Social Structure”, I have a better understanding of cultural differences and the conflict between a dominant cultural group and non- dominant group within a common space in a society. Chapter two, identifies that culture is a learned behavior, which is passed down through symbolic language by our elders into the new generation. It also brings forward that culture is made up of all the things that commonly share with a group. In addition, the author’s notion that a group of people will resist to any cultural change since they view those outside as potential threats that will influence and change their cultural originality; or the dominant cultural group can be welcoming, allowing cultural integration to take place peacefully.

Culture is defined as the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another (Staff, 2015). Culture effects the way a person perceives, communicates and behaves in the world, what is “socially” acceptable in one culture is not necessarily acceptable in another. Common language, gestures and signals are used to communicate within each culture and are therefore an extension of culture and how you speak is effected by what you were taught and how you view the world. Communicating is a give and take process and it is an experience that you share with someone.

It is not easy to define culture because culture is too broad a concept, can be both abstract and specific. However, what is agreed is culture covers all faces of our life as well as direct the way we behave, interact and communicate. (Liu et al., 2011). One popular definition is that “Culture is the total way of life of a group of people, comprising of the deposit of knowledge, experience, belief, values, traditions, religion, and notion of time, roles, spatial relations, worldviews, material objects and geographic territory”. (Liu et al., 2011, p.57). In this essay, I will analyse components and characteristics of culture, and based on that grounds, I will reflect on my own culture-being a Vietnamese. Dodd (1998) considered that culture is made up by three layers which consist of the core layer, the intermediate layer and the outer layer. I will examine what values and beliefs are considered important in my culture. Those are components of the inner core. Then, I will take some examples of the intermediate layer (expression of cultural activities by manifestation) such as communication patterns, customs and festivals.

Culture, how do we define it? According to our textbook, culture is defined as “the language, values, beliefs, traditions, and customs people share and learn” (Adler, Rosenfeld, Proctor II, 2012, p. 38). Being a part of different cultures can allow you to engage with people you are similar to or set you apart from people who are different from you. As for me, I’m a part an American culture. This culture makes me who I am, allowing me to express my values of what I believe. As for co-cultures, our book expresses that the term is used “to describe the perception of membership in a group that is part of an encompassing culture” (Adler et al., 2012, p. 39). I consider myself belonging to several co-cultures; such as English, Non-Discriminatory, African American, Heterosexual, Christian, Social Networking, Dance cultures.

Firstly the oxford dictionary defines culture as “The attitudes and behavior characteristics of a particular social group”, this places prominence on the idea that each social group respond to messages differently, culture as a concept is something that differentiates how groups of people make sense of their experiences and by focusing on a particular social groups attitude and behavior it is easier for PR practitioner’s (PRP’s) to identify a specific target audience.