What is Culture?
If you are a scientist, a culture is a
colony of bacteria growing in a Petri dish
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But have you ever heard somebody say…
Oh, he/she is very cultured
This usually means that the person knows a lot
about good books, classical music, fine art, etc.
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Sometimes, when we talk about people
who are a bit different to us, we say
things like:
They don’t
believe in eating
pork in their
culture
She didn’t make
eye contact with
me. That’s a
cultural thing, isn’t
it ?
Chinese
culture is
very different
to Western
culture
Here we are talking about different lifestyles,
habits and beliefs.
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• Different countries and areas of the world
have a culture which is associated with
them.
• So do different groups of people in the
world.
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Here are some groups of people who have
different traditions, behaviours and culture
Travellers
Jews
Muslims
Masai people
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• Different people in our world belong to different
cultural groups
• They believe in different things (and also often
the same things!)
• They behave in many different ways (and
sometimes behave the same too)
• They live in many different ways
• They read different books, listen to different
music and produce different beautiful things to
admire
• They have different traditions and stories (but
you’d recognise some of the stories)
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Some cultural things are so well-known that
everyone can recognise them. Try these!
1. With which culture do you associate these 3 things?
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2. Which cultural group…
• often lives in a trailer and not a house ?
• often sends their children to boarding school and
shops at Harrods?
• all wear a top in the same colour, get into fights, chant
“songs” and eat pies and hot dogs?
• worships in a mosque, doesn’t drink alcohol and has
a sacred book called the Koran?
• has lived for 50,000 years in the Australian outback,
makes art like this and has many stories which are
not written down
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This can cause a problem called…
STEREOTYPING
This is when one cultural detail is
picked out and people then believe
everyone from that culture is like this or
that this detail is the most important
thing in life for those people
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Different cultural groups often have
different ideas about:
•how you should behave
or
•what to believe
or
•what is important in life
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Stereotypes about teenagers !
• Lifestyle: lazy, no ambition, eat junk food
• Beliefs: they know everything, the world is
against them
• Dress (girls): short skirt, low-cut top
• Dress (boys): trousers halfway down bum,
scruffy
• Behaviours: rude, sulky, selfish, try to act older
• Music: loud, tuneless
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