Understanding Culture: Elements, Competence, and Iceberg Model
Culture Defined
Culture encompasses aspects of life shared by a group of people, including:
- Values, norms, expectations, manners, attitudes, beliefs
- Age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation
- Language, history, geography, customs, rituals
- Food, clothing, music, literature, art, religion
- Education and literacy, occupation, income, social class and status, leisure activities
- Communication patterns, ways of life, roles, time
- Information transmitted from generation to generation
Elements of Culture
Key components that shape a society:
- Customs & Traditions: Rules of behavior, expectations, ways to unite the society (Manners)
- Arts & Literature: Products of the human imagination (Art)
- Religion: A formalized belief system, faith, meaning of life (e.g., Islam)
- Government: Provides order and common needs of people within society (e.g., Democracy)
- Economics: How people use their resources to satisfy their needs & wants (e.g., Services)
- Language: Communication that most understand in the society (e.g., Verbal)
- Social Organization: A structure to organize members of a civilization
- Artifacts: The physical things that the members of a society make when they apply their technology to the physical environment (e.g., a bed)
- Values: Cultural standards or judgments of what is right, good, or desirable (e.g., freedom)
- Norms: The rules of culture that tell the members of a culture how they are expected to behave in a given situation (e.g., not talking out loud at the cinema)
- Technology: The body of knowledge that the members of a society apply to their physical environment to meet their survival needs (e.g., using a robot to paint a car)
- Language: A system of patterned sounds, often with corresponding written symbols, that members of a cultural group use (e.g., English)
Intercultural Competence
Definition: Having the capacity to interact effectively with people from cultures different than our own.
Intercultural Competence vs. Other Concepts
- Cultural Knowledge: Familiarity with selected cultural characteristics, history, values, belief systems, and behaviors of another group.
- Cultural Awareness: A general understanding of what another group is like and how it functions.
- Cultural Sensitivity: Accepting and appreciating the differences that exist between cultures without assigning judgments (good/bad, right/wrong) to those differences. This usually involves internal changes in one’s attitudes and values.
Why is Intercultural Competency Important?
It is important because we want to connect with others in a genuine way. We want to show authenticity, respect, true understanding, and build trust. We want to improve sensitivity and understanding for others’ values, views, ways of living, and thinking, as well as being self-conscious in transferring our own values and views in a clear but appropriate way.
Culture as an Iceberg
Culture is very similar to an iceberg. It has some aspects that are visible and many others that can only be suspected, guessed, or learned as understanding of the culture grows. Like an iceberg, the visible part of culture is only a small part of a much larger whole.
Visible Part of Culture
Style of dress, ways of greeting people, paintings, literature, holiday customs, dancing, foods, religious rituals, music.
Invisible Part of Culture
Importance of time, values, beliefs about child raising, attitudes about personal space, religious beliefs, the role of family.