Defining and Describing Cultures - Essay Example

? Literature Review: Defining and Describing Cultures Literature Review: Defining and Describing Cultures Human civilization has long had to grapple with learning how to get along with people who look, act, eat, and speak differently. This has not always been an easy task, yet society has continued to function one way or another for thousands of years. It is quite fascinating to define and describe culture because there are so many different ideas as to what constitutes a given group of people. Beyond just material and non-material culture, scholars are interested in determining a better way to study and understand different ethnic groups and tribes in order to foster a more peaceful world moving forward. There are a great many published studies already in existence with these thoughts in mind. Arguably, modern cross-cultural and anthropological studies began in 1889 with the work of Sir Edward Tylor. His goal was essentially to conduct ethnographies to define and describe culture in the context of analyzing society. Culture began to be discussed in terms of looking for marked differences amongst people. The problem with this broad definition, however, was that many could not determine what marked differences Tylor was referring to (Munck, 2010, p. 279-280). Perhaps people could have similar social interactions with one another, yet they speak different languages. Munck (2010) explains this by writing, “To take a simple example, there are likely to be strong similarities in religious, marriage, and inheritance practices among Islamic societies despite linguistic differences” (p. 280). It is not easy, therefore, to determine where one culture ends and another one begins. Language then, surely, cannot be the sole indicator of one’s cultural identity. In order to better understand different cultures, and to determine what such a concept is comprised of, it is often beneficial to conduct ground research in a society different than one’s own. Due to a lack of understanding, foreigners visiting a different culture often end up demonstrating cultural insensitivity and view others “through the lens of a culture bump” (Grimes, 2010, p. 27). Those traveling to another culture must cope with feelings of loneliness and they can quickly become frustrated with the actions of others. It is this lack of understanding that forms the foundation for the necessity of cross-cultural communication. Only through the promotion of different cultures can society truly learn to adapt and accept others into its fold (Ringland, 2005, p. 36). Let us consider Canada for a moment. Due to a diminished pool of labor, the country has long depended on immigrants to be employed in many essential industries around the country. Studies have found that residents of Canada are now quite accepting of people from other cultures. As Theriault (2005) points out, “These recent transformations in the ethno cultural composition of immigrants have led to an increasing diversification of the Canadian population, particularly in the Montreal region” (p. 7). As such, the definition of culture has gradually shifted. Canadians themselves are now more likely to embrace people who speak different and interact with one another differently. They may be less prone to even consider long standing immigrants to be from a different culture as they have embraced the general culture of their host country, while maintaining the main components of their home culture as well. This is an important fact to consider. Perhaps the definition of culture is truly a work in progress (Munck, 2010, p. 284). Scholars agree that understanding culture means that one must break down the barriers that exist between groups of people and strive to enhance and foster an understanding of one another. Recent studies have shown that young people in Canada have been exposed to ethnically diverse schools for much of their life. Subsequently, they are taking the lead in educating Canadians to embrace pluralism and to better understand other cultures in an effort to promote harmony (Theriault, 2005, p. 7). While schools certainly have their problems, they are typical problems associated with large groups of people being present in a small area. The issues are not necessarily associated with cultural differences. As Theriault (2005) points out, “Cross-cultural communication is a fundamental part of the process by which members of cultural communities can participate fully in society” (p. 9). This teaches us that an understanding of culture is a responsibility of the citizenry. Absent this, differences between people become compounded as actions are often misinterpreted, often due to simple misunderstandings (Ringland, 2005, p. 36). Social research currently proposes that culture is basically a ‘collective representation’ of society. In other words, it is the vocabularies, symbols, or codes that cause people to organize their abilities to think and act (Eliasoph, 2008, p. 735). This basically teaches us the ways in which people communicate with one another forms the foundation of cultural characteristics present in a society. Culture then become a system by which people begin to think and share ideas with one another. When one does not understand a culture, then, they do so because they cannot comprehend the mechanism under which the people share with one another. In the corporate world, this is often referred to as ‘group think’. The same concept can be applied to human civilization as well. If we belong to a certain culture, then we are able to instinctively know how to behave amid a myriad of situations that we may find ourselves thrust into at any given point in time (Munck, 2010, pp 284-285). Eliasoph (2008) recently studied the way people use these collective representations to create meaning in community life. To do this, she drew upon symbolic interactionists, cognitive sociologists, and pragmatist social philosophers. It was discovered that people tend to construct meanings based on situations, in the context of their given culture. They tend to relate to one another based on their perceptions of reality and on the mores that have been instilled in them since birth. As such, this is why some cultures have had a difficult interacting with one another over the years. If a group views society from an entirely different, or foreign lens, they will feel that they can never connect with another group because they cannot even begin to construct the meanings that are essential to understanding (Eliasoph, 2008, pp. 736-737). Culture can further be defined as having a group of people who exhibit ‘recurrent patterns of interaction’ that come about based on shared assumptions in society. There will be instinctive behaviors represented in the culture where a person can determine whether or not their actions are good or bad. People who are active participants in the culture, then, can perceive their social standing simply based upon this shared assumption. An outsider faces a difficult time in accomplishing this, as they cannot perceive that share reality under which the rest of the group resides (Ringland, 2005, p. 35). Finally, culture can further be described by understanding the group boundaries, group bond, and speech norms that are present in a given society. In every culture, there are certain boundaries that individuals are expected to stay inside if they wish to be ‘good’ members of the culture. In addition, if they effectively remain inside the boundaries, individuals will form bonds with one another that strengthen as time goes on. These bonds are not only difficult to break, but it becomes increasingly difficult to come into the boundary from the outside, as ‘group think’ has already been established. In addition, certain speech patterns are introduced into cultures that may only truly be understood by people who have formed those bonds previously described. These three ideas work together to form the basis for cultural understanding (Eliasoph, 2008, p. 739). This has been a brief synopsis of currently published research attempting to better understand and construct a definition of culture. More research is needed in this area due to a growing integration of peoples around the world. We must strive to understand how cultures can better live in harmony with one another and group bonds can be extended to individuals on the outside looking in. References Eliasoph, N. (2008). Culture in interaction. American Journal of Sociology, 108(4), 735-794. Grimes, S. (2010). Cultural understanding. Schools: Studies in Education, 7(1), 27-40. Munck, V. (2010). Units for describing and analyzing culture and society. Ethnology, 39(4), 279-292. Ringland, G. (2005). Using scenarios to create common understanding different cultures. Strategy & Leadership, 33(6), 34-38. Theriault, L. (2005). Crosscultural communication: A global view. Canadian Issues, 1(3), 7-9. Read More