Defining Culture: Values, Traditions, and Collective Identity

What Is Culture? An Overview

Culture stands out as the collective manifestation of human intellectual achievement at any given point in time. It is like a mirror of the inner beliefs, ideals, aims, and spiritual state of a society. One society, however, can have more than one culture—competing cultures, for instance, or subcultures that conflict with one another in terms of values, ideals, art, and expression. Thus, to speak of a society as having one culture is to speak generally and broadly. Nonetheless, in generic terms, culture encompasses the beliefs, values, behaviors, and objects that together form a people's way of life. It is a bond in the sense that people of like-minded culture tend to come together, and it is a divider in the sense that people of different cultures tend to separate. For those united by it, they form a collective identity with shared experiences and histories.

Moreover, culture is both enduring and ever-changing, because people are always changing; inputs and outputs are changing, and so what is valued and professed is always changing, too, along with the expressions of those values and ideals. At the same time, culture is enduring because its values and ideals always persist—they transcend time and space. What the ancients valued and held as an ideal in one place can still be held as a value and an ideal thousands of years later in an entirely different place. Culture represents both a kind of moral compass for the individual and a kind of collective consciousness for society; it is responsible for shaping perceptions, guiding interactions, and helping to establish a sense of belonging and continuity.

Personal and Peer Perspectives on Culture

My personal definition of culture aligns closely with this overall sense of what culture is and what it represents. To me, culture represents the beliefs and values that form the core principles and moral standards guiding individual behavior. It speaks to the rules defining appropriate behavior within a given society. Culture reflects the movement of society—the direction in which it wants to go. A good culture shows a society moving in positive directions; a bad culture shows a society falling apart. Culture is transmitted in many ways—through leaders, media, family, schools, and churches. It is also passed from one generation to the next, and it is often expressed in various forms such as literature, language, art, politics, economics, religion, and ritual.

To gain additional perspective, I asked two friends, Smith and Wesson, about their interpretations of culture. Smith views culture as "something that grows out of the past to shape the present—an idea about the way things were, are, and ought to be; something people can rally around, accept, or reject; it is up to them." This perspective emphasizes the unifying and also divisive aspects of culture, suggesting it as a social glue that either binds individuals into communities or breaks them apart.

Wesson, on the other hand, sees culture as "a mosaic, a picture full of a thousand parts, where each part represents a unique tradition, belief, or practice that collectively defines a society." He believes that culture is not one thing but many, influenced by both internal and external forces. Wesson's view highlights the diversity of culture, recognizing that it is not monolithic but rather richly varied.

Conclusion

Culture is a concept that defies a singular definition. That is most likely because it is simply so vast. It is a tapestry woven from the threads of values, beliefs, traditions, languages, and social norms. It is both a legacy from the past and a living, evolving entity that shapes—and is shaped by—the members of a society.

Works Cited

"Smith, John." Personal interview. 31 Jan. 2024.

"Wesson, Mary." Personal interview. 31 Jan. 2024.

Tylor, Edward B. Primitive Culture. London, John Murray, 1871.