WHAT IS
CULTURE?
A primer for students wanting to earn the
Interculturalist micro-credential
3 stories about culture and studying
abroad (see assignment #1)
Grand European Tour (mostly wealthy white males)
Dimmer switches in a dark room
20th century
19th century
The Swimming Pool (“go immerse yourself and learning
will follow”)
21st century
“Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals,
law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired […] as a member
of society.”
Edward Tylor
Grand European Tour (mostly wealthy white males)
19th century
Light switches in a dark room
20th century
The Swimming Pool (“go immerse yourself and learning will follow”)
21st century
INTERCULTURAL
LEARNING
IS ABOUT A
LOT MORE THAN
STUDY ABROAD.
CULTURE:
“The collective programming of the mind
which distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from
another.”
Geert Hofstede, 1994
SOME KEYS
CHARACTERISTICS OF
CULTURE:
1. CULTURE IS
MANIFESTED
AT DIFFERENT
LAYERS OF
DEPTH
2. CULTURE
AFFECTS
BEHAVIOR
AND HOW
WE
INTERPRET
BEHAVIOR
3. CULTURE IS LEARNED
NOT INHERITED
4. CULTURE
(THAT IS, IDEAS)
CAN ACTUALLY
INFLUENCE
BIOLOGY (PAIN
REFLEXES,
DIGESTION,
HUNGER,
STAMINA)
5. CULTURE IS NOT THE SAME AS IDENTITY
6. CULTURE IS ASSOCIATED WITH SOCIAL
GROUPS…
IN FACT, EACH OF US IS SIMULTANEOUSLY A PART OF MORE THAN ONE
CULTURE
ARE WE ALL BECOMING THE
SAME, MELTING INTO A
SINGLE GLOBAL CULTURE?
NOT REALLY…
MORE
GLOBALIZATION
MEANS MORE
CULTURAL
CONTACT AND
HENCE, MORE
DIVERSITY
NOT REALLY…
MORE
GLOBALIZATION
MEANS MORE
CULTURAL
CONTACT AND
HENCE, MORE
DIVERSITY
WHAT ABOUT RACE?
Race commonly refers to certain physical similarities,
such as skin color or eye shape, that are shared by a
group of people and used to mark or separate them
from others.
Contrary to popular notions race is not primarily a
biological term; it is a political and societal one that
was invented to justify economic and social
distinctions.
…AND ETHNICITY?
Ethnic group is another term often used
interchangeably with culture. Ethnicity is
actually a term that is used to refer to a wide
variety of groups who might share a
language, historical origins, religion, nationstate, or cultural system.
WHY STUDY CULTURE?
Intercultural communication offers the ability to deal
across cultures, which is increasingly important, as the
world gets smaller. Getting smaller doesn’t mean the
world is becoming identical, it means having more and
more contact with people who are culturally different.
Being able to deal with this cultural difference
peacefully, never mind creatively and innovatively, is
becoming a survival issue to thrive in a global world as a
global leader.
Milton Bennett, Interculturalist
“THIS IS THE ESSENTIAL CHALLENGE OF
INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE:
HOW CAN WE LEARN TO DEAL WITH OTHERS WHOSE
INTERWOVEN FABRIC OF REALITY, WHOSE COMMON
SENSE, IS DIFFERENT FROM OUR OWN?”
Stella Ting-Toomey