1.1: Defining Culture

Chapter Learning Objectives

1. Define Culture.
2. Identify the elements that make up culture, such as beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors.
3. Distinguish between the concepts of culture, dominant culture, co-culture, and countercultures.

Defining Culture

Culture is a complicated word to define, as there are at least six common ways that the word culture is used in the United States. For the purposes of exploring the communicative aspects of culture, we will define culture as "the ongoing negotiation of learned and patterned beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors". Unpacking the definition, we can see that culture shouldn’t be conceptualized as stable and unchanging. Culture is “negotiated,” and as we will learn later in this chapter, culture is dynamic, and cultural changes can be traced and analyzed to better understand why our society is the way it is. The definition also points out that culture is learned, which accounts for the importance of socializing institutions like family, school, peers, and the media. Culture is patterned in that there are recognizable widespread similarities among people within a cultural group. There is also deviation from and resistance to those patterns by individuals and subgroups within a culture, which is why cultural patterns change over time. Last, the definition acknowledges that culture influences our beliefs about what is true and false, our attitudes including our likes and dislikes, our values regarding what is right and wrong, and our behaviors. It is from these cultural influences that our identities are formed.

A more simplistic term to understand by Lustig and Koester (2010) would be culture is a “learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms and social practices, which affects the behaviors of a relatively large group of people.”

Six Ways the Word "Culture" is Used in the U.S.

• National Culture: A shared set of beliefs, values, customs, and behaviors that define a nation's identity. For example, American culture is often associated with apple pie, baseball, and the Fourth of July, while Brazilian culture encompasses Samba, Bossa Nova, soccer, feijoada, and capoeira.
• Regional Culture: The unique cultural characteristics of specific regions or geographic areas within a country, often reflected in distinct cuisine, music, and customs. For example, Louisiana culture is known for its Cajun cuisine, Jazz and Mardi Gras. In contrast, Oaxacan culture in Mexico is characterized by serapes (traditional textiles), mole sauce, and alebrijes (brightly painted sculptures of fantastical creatures).
• Organizational Culture: The shared values, beliefs, and behaviors that shape a corporation's identity and guide its operations. For example, Google fosters a culture of creativity, collaboration, and employee well-being. Disney, on the other hand, emphasizes storytelling, imagination, and providing magical experiences for its customers.
• Popular Culture: The cultural products and trends that are widely accessible and popular among the general public. Examples include iconic franchises like Star Wars, the Beatles, and The Lord of the Rings, as well as popular media such as The Legend of Zelda, TikTok, and contemporary music and fashion trends.
• High Culture: Refers to cultural activities and products that are often considered sophisticated, intellectual, or elite. Examples include classical music (e.g., Beethoven, Mozart), fine art (e.g., Van Gogh, Picasso), and literature (e.g., Shakespeare, Tolstoy).

Elements of Culture

The first, and perhaps most crucial, elements of culture we will discuss are its values and beliefs. Values are a culture’s standard for discerning what is good and just in society. Values are deeply embedded and critical for transmitting and teaching a culture’s beliefs. Beliefs are the tenets or convictions that people hold to be true. Individuals in a society have specific beliefs, but they also share collective values. To illustrate the difference, Americans commonly believe in the American Dream—that anyone who works hard enough will be successful and wealthy. Underlying this belief is the American value that wealth is good and important.

Values help shape a society by suggesting what is good and bad, beautiful and ugly, sought or avoided. Consider the value that the United States places upon youth. Children represent innocence and purity, while a youthful adult appearance signifies sexuality. Shaped by this value, individuals spend millions of dollars each year on cosmetic products and surgeries to look young and beautiful. The United States also has an individualistic culture, meaning people place a high value on individuality and independence. In contrast, many other cultures are collectivist, meaning the welfare of the group and group relationships are a primary value.

Living up to a culture’s values can be difficult. It’s easy to value good health, but it’s hard to quit smoking. Marital monogamy is valued, but many spouses engage in infidelity. Cultural diversity and equal opportunities for all people are valued in the United States, yet the country’s highest political offices have been dominated by white men.

Values often suggest how people should behave, but they don’t accurately reflect how people do behave. Values portray an ideal culture, the standards society would like to embrace and live up to. But ideal culture differs from real culture, the way society actually is, based on what occurs and exists. In an ideal culture, there would be no traffic accidents, murders, poverty, or racial tension. But in real culture, police officers, lawmakers, educators, and social workers constantly strive to prevent or repair those accidents, crimes, and injustices. American teenagers are encouraged to value celibacy. However, the number of unplanned pregnancies among teens reveals that not only is the ideal hard to live up to, but the value alone is not enough to spare teenagers the potential consequences of having sex.

One way societies strive to put values into action is through rewards, sanctions, and punishments. When people observe the norms of society and uphold its values, they are often rewarded. A boy who helps an elderly woman board a bus may receive a smile and a “thank you.” A business manager who raises profit margins may receive a quarterly bonus. People sanction certain behaviors by giving their support, approval, or permission, or by instilling formal actions of disapproval and nonsupport. Sanctions are a form of social control, a way to encourage conformity to cultural norms. Sometimes people conform to norms in anticipation or expectation of positive sanctions: good grades, for instance, may mean praise from parents and teachers. From a criminal justice perspective, properly used social control is also inexpensive crime control. Utilizing social control approaches pushes most people to conform to societal rules, regardless of whether authority figures (such as law enforcement) are present.

When people go against a society’s values, they are punished. A boy who shoves an elderly woman aside to board the bus first may receive frowns or even a scolding from other passengers. A business manager who drives away customers will likely be fired. Breaking norms and rejecting values can lead to cultural sanctions such as earning a negative label—lazy, no-good bum—or to legal sanctions, such as traffic tickets, fines, or imprisonment.

Values are not static; they vary across time and between groups as people evaluate, debate, and change collective societal beliefs. Values also vary from culture to culture. For example, cultures differ in their values about what kinds of physical closeness are appropriate in public. It’s rare to see two male friends or coworkers holding hands in the United States where that behavior often symbolizes romantic feelings. But in many nations, masculine physical intimacy is considered natural in public. This difference in cultural values came to light when people reacted to photos of former president George W. Bush holding hands with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in 2005. A simple gesture, such as hand-holding, carries great symbolic differences across cultures.

Norms

Many examples of culture often describe how people are expected to behave in certain situations—for example, when buying food or boarding a bus. These examples describe the visible and invisible rules of conduct through which societies are structured, or what sociologists call norms. Norms define how to behave in accordance with what a society has defined as good, right, and important, and most members of the society adhere to them.

Formal norms are established, written rules. They are behaviors worked out and agreed upon in order to suit and serve the most people. Laws are formal norms, but so are employee manuals, college entrance exam requirements, and “no running” signs at swimming pools. Formal norms are the most specific and clearly stated of the various types of norms, and they are the most strictly enforced. But even formal norms are enforced to varying degrees and are reflected in cultural values.

For example, money is highly valued in the United States, so monetary crimes are punished. It’s against the law to rob a bank, and banks go to great lengths to prevent such crimes. People safeguard valuable possessions and install antitheft devices to protect homes and cars. A less strictly enforced social norm is driving while intoxicated. While it’s against the law to drive drunk, drinking is for the most part an acceptable social behavior. And though there are laws to punish drunk driving, there are few systems in place to prevent the crime. These examples show a range of enforcement in formal norms.

There are plenty of formal norms, but the list of informal norms—casual behaviors that are generally and widely conformed to—is longer. People learn informal norms by observation, imitation, and general socialization. Some informal norms are taught directly—“Kiss your Aunt Edna” or “Use your napkin”—while others are learned by observation, including observations of the consequences when someone else violates a norm. But although informal norms define personal interactions, they extend into other systems as well. In the United States, there are informal norms regarding behavior at fast food restaurants. Customers line up to order their food and leave when they are done. They don’t sit down at a table with strangers, sing loudly as they prepare their condiments, or nap in a booth. Most people don’t commit even benign breaches of informal norms. Informal norms dictate appropriate behaviors without the need of written rules.

Norms may be further classified as either mores or folkways. Mores (mor-ays) are norms that embody the moral views and principles of a group. Violating them can have serious consequences. The strongest mores are legally protected with laws or other formal norms. In the United States, for instance, murder is considered immoral, and it’s punishable by law (a formal norm). But more often, mores are judged and guarded by public sentiment (an informal norm). People who violate mores are seen as shameful. They can even be shunned or banned from some groups. The mores of the U.S. school system require that a student’s writing be in the student’s own words or use special forms (such as quotation marks and a whole system of citation) for crediting other writers. Writing another person’s words as if they are one’s own has a name—plagiarism. The consequences for violating this norm are severe and usually result in expulsion.

Unlike mores, folkways are norms without any moral underpinnings. Rather, folkways direct appropriate behavior in the day-to-day practices and expressions of a culture. They indicate whether to shake hands or kiss on the cheek when greeting another person. They specify whether to wear a tie and blazer or a T-shirt and sandals to an event. In Canada, women can smile and say hello to men on the street. In Egypt, that’s not acceptable. In regions in the southern United States, bumping into an acquaintance means stopping to chat. It’s considered rude not to, no matter how busy one is. In other regions, people guard their privacy and value time efficiency. A simple nod of the head is enough. Other accepted folkways in the United States may include holding the door open for a stranger or giving someone a gift on their birthday. The rules regarding these folkways may change from culture to culture.

Many folkways are actions we take for granted. People need to act without thinking in order to get seamlessly through daily routines; they can’t stop and analyze every action . Those who experience culture shock may find that it subsides as they learn the new culture’s folkways and are able to move through their daily routines more smoothly. Folkways might be small manners, learned by observation and imitated, but they are by no means trivial. Like mores and laws, these norms help people negotiate their daily lives within a given culture.

The last aspect of culture we will mention is social practices. Social practices are the predictable behavior patterns members of a cultural group tend to follow. The simple activity of children going to school each morning Monday-Friday is an example of a social norm in the United States. When combined these beliefs, values, norms and social practices create a way of living for those members.

Dominant Culture, Co-Culture, and Counterculture

Now that you have a better understanding of culture and what it entails, lets briefly discuss dominant culture, co-culture and counterculture.

Dominant culture, often referred to as mainstream culture, is the prevailing set of cultural norms, values, and beliefs that are widely accepted and practiced by a society's most influential members. It often shapes the social, political, and economic structures of a nation. While dominant cultures often correlate with the numerical majority, this is not always the case. For example, in many Latin American countries, where people of European descent are a numerical minority, Western culture, influenced by European history, philosophy, and values, often remains the dominant culture.

Co-cultures are distinct cultural groups that exist within a larger, dominant national culture. These groups share unique experiences, leading to the development of common beliefs, values, behaviors, rituals, and slang. Co-cultures can be based on factors like ethnicity, race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status. Intersectional identities often arise within co-cultures. For example, a person might be both a Chinese-American and a Catholic, or a Vegan and a College Athlete. Chapter 9 will delve deeper into the concept of intersectionality. Co-cultures are dynamic and evolving. New co-cultures can emerge, while others may decline or merge. Additionally, the prevalence of specific co-cultures can vary regionally within the U.S. For instance, NFL fans might be more common in some states, whereas cos-players may be more prevalent in urban areas.

 

Examples of Co-Cultures in the U.S.

• Ethnic and racial groups: Chicanos, Chinese-Americans, Greek-Americans.
• Interest groups: Cos-Players, Dog Lovers, Trekkies, NFL fans, RPG Players, Pianists, Vegans, Bloggers.
• Social groups: Cancer Survivors, College Athletes, Firefighters, Teachers, Veterans.
• Political and religious groups: Republicans, Buddhists, Muslims, Libertarians, Orthodox Jews, Catholics.

A counterculture is a subculture that actively defies dominant societal norms, values, or beliefs. Often emerging in response to perceived social, political, or cultural injustices, countercultures are dynamic and can evolve over time, eventually becoming part of mainstream culture. Several factors influence the development and trajectory of countercultures. Generational differences play a role, as countercultures often arise within specific generations, reflecting their unique challenges and aspirations. Political and social contexts can give rise to countercultures as a means of expressing dissent and advocating for change. Media and technology have a significant impact, shaping and spreading countercultural ideas. Social media platforms, for example, have enabled countercultural movements to reach broader audiences and organize more effectively.

Examples of Countercultures in the U.S.

• Hippie Movement (1960s): This movement challenged mainstream consumerism, materialism, and the Vietnam War, advocating for peace, love, and personal freedom.
• Punk Movement (1970s): This movement rejected the commercialization of rock music and mainstream culture, emphasizing nonconformity, and social critique.
• Activist Groups: Organizations like Black Lives Matter, environmental groups, and feminist movements challenge systemic inequalities and advocate for social change.

Cultural Iceberg

Cultural anthropologist Edward Hall developed the Iceberg Model of Culture in his 1976 book, Beyond Culture. Considered the forefather of intercultural communication, Hall's work in Navajo and Hopi reservations, coupled with extensive fieldwork in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, led to key theories in the field. He developed the concepts of proxemics (the study of personal space), high-low-context cultures, and monochronic and polychronic cultures (differing communication styles). These concepts will be further discussed in Chapter 5.

Hall's Iceberg analogy posits that only a small portion of culture is visible above the surface. This includes observable cultural practices like food, clothing, dance, music, rituals, and performances. Below the surface lies deep culture, encompassing unconscious attitudes, values, and beliefs. Examples include social norms, rules of personal space, emotional expression, core values about elders, community, authority, and justice, as well as core beliefs about religion, marriage, parenting, and family.

Attributions

Adapted from:

Communications 256: Intercultural communication by Tammera Stokes Rice. Provided by LibreTexts. License: CC-BY

Image Attributions

Brazil and Colombia match at the FIFA World Cup 2014 by Danilo Borges is used under CC license.

Star Wars Returns by Cpl. Charles Clark is used under a Public Domain License.

References

Lustig, M.W., & Koester, J. (2010). Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication Across Cultures, 6th Edition. Pearson.