MARKETING RESEARCH

SUBMITTED TO:

SIR USMAN SHEIKH

SUBMITTED BY:

RIJJA FATIMA (F16-37)

SUBMISSION DATE:

24-02-2020

PUNJAB UNIVERSITY JHELUM CAMPUS

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINSTRATION

 CULTURE PLAYS VITAL ROLE IN SHAPING AN IDENTITY

INTRODUCTION

A person's understanding of their own cultural identity develops from birth and
is shaped by the values and attitudes prevalent at home and the surrounding, noting
that the cultural identity, in its essence, relates to our need to belong. Everyone needs
to feel accepted and “at home” with a certain group.

Culture has a major role in shaping our identity; however, can we conclude that the
individuals sharing the same culture end up having the same identities? Does culture
shape our identity? The identity problem starts when people address to me. Who am I?
Am I the person who I think I am or what the others believe I am? Do I see myself
through the reflection of my own eyes or those of others’? How do I see myself, putting
aside the external looks, does something stands between the me and the me? Aren’t
the others who usually refer to me? We are not alone. We live in a society, as wild as it
is. We live in groups, we define ourselves through them, and hence, at least in some
aspects, we belong to them. Personal experiences have a tremendous role in making
us who we are. Every person’s path is unique. How does that “not” contribute to making
us unique? The same can be said about the relationships we step into. They contribute
to changing or adding up to our identities and the identities of those who we relate to.

Culture is something that surrounds us all and continues to form our lives everyday. But
what's lifestyle? How does it impact us? How does it shape who we're as
people? Today, with the rapid growth in telecommunication and worldwide tour, people
are experiencing inter-cultural touch like never before. That’s why the take a look at of
subculture and it’s have an impact on people has come to be specifically relevant.

BACKGROUND

Cultural background indicates many things from a contextual point of view. It may be the
locality or the region from where an individual belongs. It means that what are the
rituals, how people eat, talk, greet, dance, sing, stand, sit, behave and much more. It
may also touch upon the background of an individual apart from where he/she stays.
This is to understand the effect of upbringing, education, family atmosphere and other
such factors, on the thinking and views of an individual. The bottom line is that wherever
you go, people have certain way of doing things. One fits him/herself in that aura and
becomes a ‘cultural' being.

Cultural identity is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is part of a person's

self-conception and self-conception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social
class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture. In
this way, cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual but also of the culturally
identical group of members sharing the same cultural identity or upbringing.
Cultural (and Ethnic) Identity is a subset of the communication theory of identity that
establishes four "frames of identity" that allow us to view how we build identity. These
frames include the personal frame, enactment of communication frame, relationship
frame, and communal frame. The communal frame refers to the cultural constraints or
the sense of "right" that people live by (which varies by cultural group).Therefore,
Cultural (and Ethnic) Identity become central to a person’s identity, how they see
themselves and how they relate to the world.
Various modern cultural studies and social theories have investigated cultural identity
and understanding. In recent decades, a new form of identification has emerged which
breaks down the understanding of the individual as a coherent whole subject into a
collection of various cultural identifiers.
These cultural identifiers may be the result of various conditions
including: location, gender, race, history, nationality, language, religious
beliefs, ethnicity, and even food. As one author writes, recognizing both coherence and
fragmentation:

“ Categorizations about identity, even when codified and hardened into clear
typologies by processes of colonization, state formation or general
modernizing processes, are always full of tensions and contradictions.
Sometimes these contradictions are destructive, but they can also be creative
and positive. ”
The divisions between cultures can be very fine in some parts of the world, especially in
rapidly changing cities where the population is ethnically diverse and social unity is
based primarily on locational contiguity.

COUNTER ARGUMENTS

 My Arguments:
 An identity is obtained through culture and not biology.
  Supporting Argument:

Margaret Mead was one of the leading anthropologists of the 20 th century.

She travelled to Samoa and she found out that the societies there have
uniform value systems, and thus, they share common personality traits. In
the culture of Samoan tribes, it was noted that until individuals reach the
age of 15- 16, when they are to be subjected to marital rituals, they do not
have significant roles in terms of social life. In fact, children are ignored by
their parents and the rest of the society until after they reach puberty. Girls
are taught to see boys as their enemies. The effect of this portion of the
Samoan culture is that children tend to be either aggressive to gain
attention, or passive due to the lack of affection and love from their
significant others.

 A change in the culture of a person causes the changes in the personality of the
individual.

 Supporting Argument:

Every culture has its own value-system oriented upon its people. There
are differences in all the walks of life due to the difference in cultural
conditions. Every culture has its specialty visible in the personalities of its
members as Pakistanis, Iranians, Turks, Americans and Australian due to
variation in language, value system and technological development. The
bearing of culture upon personality can be studied within one culture.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, electric appliances were invented at
an astonishing pace. Cars, airplanes, vacuum cleaners, lamps, radios,
telephones, and televisions were all new inventions. Inventions may shape
a culture when people use them in place of older ways of carrying out
activities and relating to others, or as a way to carry out new kinds of
activities. Their adoption reflects (and may shape) cultural values and their
use may require new norms for new situations.

 Adult behavior is “culturally patterned”.

 Supporting Arguments:

Most prominent culture-and-personality theorists argued that socialization

practices directly shape personality patterns. The socialization process
 molds a person’s emotions, thoughts, behaviors, cultural values and
norms, allowing the person, should the process work, to fit into and
function as productive members in the surrounding human society. The
study of culture and personality examined how different socialization
practices resulted in different personality types.

 Cultural beliefs are reflected in personality.

 Supporting Arguments:

The association between culture-specific personality variables and family

factors, and juvenile delinquency, was assessed in a sample of 402
adolescents of Chinese ethnicity between 12 and 17 years of age (Mage =
15.13, SD = 1.41; 135 girls), a subgroup of whom were considered at risk
for juvenile delinquency owing to addictive behavior tendencies. Culture-
specific personality variables were assessed using the Chinese
Personality Assessment Inventory–Adolescent version Interpersonal
Relatedness factor. The General Function subscale of the Chinese
version of the Family Assessment Device was utilized to assess the
influence of perceived levels of family functioning. Both culture-specific
personality variables and non-culture-specific familial factors were
significantly and negatively associated with self-reported juvenile
delinquency (p < .001). However, in a sample of at-risk adolescents, only
a culture-specific variable measuring orientation toward the family was
able to predict self-reported juvenile delinquency (p < .001).

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that an identity is obtained through culture and not
through biology. A change in the culture of a person causes the change in the
personality of the individual. Adult behavior is “culturally patterned”. Cultural beliefs are
reflected in personality. The study of culture and personality examined how different
socialization practices resulted in different personality types.