Examples of Cultures

Examples of Culture

From which culture do you belong? Do you live in a multi-cultural country? If so, you must have an overview of what culture is. But even if you don’t, we are here to fill up for you! Western culture, youth culture, counterculture, and high culture are examples of cultures.

Every person inherits something from his parents but the series of traditions, values, and preferences that transfer from one generation to another is what constitutes culture. While human nature is inherited, culture is learned. However, individuals within all cultures vary based on differences, values, and experiences.

Whether you’re working abroad or serving in a company in your native country, you should be aware of the organizational culture properly. To interact with people overseas, you should know a lot about their culture and lifestyle because that is their way of being. Culture does not only vary with the area but it also varies from one profession to another.

People often find it difficult to understand the meaning of culture. But with our help, you can get the best of your knowledge. Universal Translation Services is an agency working to provide high-quality services at affordable rates. We aim to introduce a culture that best suits our clients and translators. You can become part of our culture by getting our instant translation services. In this blog, we are providing all the details that will help you in comprehending the meaning of culture. So, let’s begin!

Meaning of Culture

The word ‘culture’ comes from the Latin word ‘culture,’ related to cult or worship. It is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, and arts.

In its broadest sense, the term refers to the result of human interaction. Culture can be the customs, arts, and social interactions of a particular nation, people, or other groups to which people belong or identify. The Chinese culture is among the oldest cultures in the world. So be defined as an appreciation of the arts and human intellectual achievement.

According to Merriam Webster, the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group are culture. Today, Islamic culture remains very popular in parts of Asia and the Arabian peninsula. Now when the meaning of culture is clear, UTS will be providing some examples of culture to make it easy for you to understand! So, let’s start!

Seven Examples of Culture

The culture of a society comprises shared feelings, understandings, assumptions, and goals that are learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of society, and passed on to succeeding generations. A person who has high respect for music, literature, taste, manner, speech, and painting is known to be a highly cultured person. Some common examples of traditional culture include:

Norms

Norms are the formal and informal rules and regulations that are socially enforced. Social norms are shared standards of acceptable behavior by groups. Among all other elements of culture, norms and core values are the basic ones. A simple example of norms would be, shaking hands when you meet someone. In Asian countries, the norms are what shape the identity of people. Some other common norms of society regarding public behavior will include:

• Do not talk back to elders.
• Make direct contact with the people you are speaking to.
• Do not make noise in the classroom.
• Avoid hitting animals.

Languages

The languages of a country have an impact on its national identity and enable successful communication. The language we speak to communicate and interact with each other is also a strong part of our culture. It is the way people establish relationships and create a community. When people with different cultural backgrounds interact, one of the most difficult barriers they face is language. There is a wide range of languages people speak in different areas. Some of them include English, Hindi, Urdu, and Portuguese. If you need language assistance services, wait no more and reach us! Read this blog to know about Facts about world languages and cultures.

Food

Food is often a means of retaining cultural identity. People from different cultural backgrounds eat different foods. The areas in which families live and where their ancestors originated influence food likes and dislikes. Simply, the meaning of food itself is an exploration of culture. Different cultures may encourage upon consumption of different foods by individuals who belong to their groups. Today, some foods that are common in America are hamburgers, hot dogs, potato chips, macaroni and cheese, and meatloaf.

Festivals

Festivals are events of celebration and they are different for every culture. A family, community, or a certain group of people can mutually celebrate festivals. It is a local or national holiday. Festivals can be religious. For example, the popular culture of Muslims offers them the opportunity to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha and Eid-ul-Fitr. On the contrary, Holi and Diwali are famous festivals of Hindus.

Customs

Custom is a tradition or a usual way to behave. It is the most important part of national culture. The way people do certain things is their custom. Together, customs and traditions are practices of a culture that travels from one generation to another. Furthermore, you can understand the customs properly through examples. They are mostly related to our religion and ethnic group. These include:

• Catholics give up meat on Fridays.
• Muslims should not drink beer.
• Don’t ignore someone’s hand salutes.

Dress

Dress is a significant part of human culture. As more cultures have cross-cultural contact, people from different cultures begin to change aspects of their culture by incorporating new aspects of different cultures they come into contact with. This includes changes in dress. People from African culture have completely different dressing senses from the Asian culture.

Even in a single culture, there is a different dressing theme people adopt. But based on cultural values, traditional dresses are the prominent ones. For example, The Hanfu, Zhongshan suit (Mao suit), Tang suit, and cheongsam (qipao) are the four most distinctive types of traditional Chinese clothing.

Religious Beliefs

Our religion is the subset of our culture. The belief system is what gives strength to the cultural traditions. It is associated with the Supreme Being. Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions, and sacred histories that give meaning to life or explain the origin of life or the universe. Some examples of religious beliefs include:

• Christians wear a cross as a symbol of their faith.
• The Islamic belief is that a woman should cover her head or her whole body.
• Families gathered to share news, and food with ancestors, hoping that spirits would protect them.

Strong and Weak Culture

Culture exists at many levels such as a national culture or neighborhood culture. You can find company culture examples when you’ll work with us. Moral values and cultural values shape the way a person behaves. There can be many times of cultures based on the region people live in. For example, Asian culture and American culture are the two types. But apart from this, strong and weak cultures are two prominent types that differentiate it.

A strong culture is one in which values are widely shared and the culture conveys a consistent message about what’s important. It is the remarkable one where most people have information about the company’s history and heroes. Further, there is a strong connection between shared values and behaviors. On the other hand, weak culture is one in which values are limited, usually to the top management. Culture sends contradictory messages about what’s important and even employees have very little knowledge about the company’s history and heroes. And lastly, there is a weak connection between shared values and behaviors.

FAQs