Defining culture at a glace

Culture can be defined as a dynamic system of rules, implicit and explicit, established by groups in order to ensure their survival, involving attitudes, values, beliefs, norms, and behaviors. (Matsumoto and Hall, 2004).

‘Established by groups’ suggests that a group of individuals that share some characteristic(s) can be considered a culture. This definition allows us to define groups by those characteristics; for example, we often consider men and women to belong to separate gender cultures. Teenagers often are thought of as a group. Religious groups or sects can be considered a culture. In essence, being bound by specific characteristics, beliefs, or behaviors can constitute a cultural group.

However, most of the time we don’t call such groups a separate culture. Instead, we often see them as a ‘sub-culture’ or sometimes even as a ‘counterculture’. This complex definition of what constitutes a culture can be seen as one of our limitations.

So don't forget..through culture we unite!