Characteristics of Culture

 September 21, 2020

In a previous post, I talked about culture. I’d like to expand on

that post here, and go into more detail on the characteristics of
culture. There are many definitions of culture, but the most
famous one is from E. B. Tylor in 1871, which says culture is
“that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art,
morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits
acquired by man as a member of society.” Whew! What a
mouthful. Basically this definition just means that culture is the
whole way of living, from knowledge and beliefs to customs and
habits. But still, that’s not a very clear definition. Basically,
culture is how people think and behave.
Culture has several aspects to it. There are several
characteristics of culture. Culture is learned, shared, symbolic,
integrated, adaptive, and dynamic. Let’s go through these
characteristics of culture one by one.

Culture is Learned
So, let’s start with the first of the characteristics of culture–
culture is learned. Culture is not genetic—we are not born with
culture. A baby can be raised in any culture, and he or she will
learn that culture, that religion, that language, and the skills that
are important in that culture, whether it’s spear-throwing or
computer programming. We learn our culture as we grow up in
it, through a process called enculturation. It is also known
as socialization.
We can learn culture both formally and informally. For example,
we learn our religion formally through an institution such as a
church, or mosque, or synagogue. We learn our history and
language at schools through history lessons and English
lessons. But we also learn our culture informally and
unconsciously from family, friends, and the media. We observe
and imitate others, and communicate with others, absorbing
and learning our culture in the process. For example, you
probably know how far apart you should stand from people if
you are talking to them, even though it probably wasn’t taught to
you directly. You absorbed this part of your culture
unconsciously.
Think about this. All humans have the same basic physical
needs, for example, food, sleep, and shelter, but the way that
they meet those needs is based on culture. For example,
everyone needs food. But different cultures eat at different
times during the day, prepare food differently, and eat different
foods. And you did not discover on your own what is considered
food in your culture and what isn’t, you learned that from other
people. So while everyone needs food, culture tells us how to
fulfill that need. And this is done through the process of
enculturation. Each person learns the way their culture does
things and the way their culture satisfies those basic human
needs.

Culture is Shared
Let’s move on to the next of the characteristics of culture–
culture is shared. Culture is something that a group of people
shares–it is shared practices and shared understandings. If one
person thinks something or behaves a certain way, that is not
culture–it is a personal habit. But if most of the people in a
society do it, then it is culture. Culture is shared between
members of a group, meaning they all think and behave the
same way because they grew up in the same culture.

People who are in the same culture are able to interact with
each other without constant misunderstandings (for the most
part) because everyone understands each other’s thoughts and
actions. For example, if you are American, you stretch out your
hand when you meet someone, and all other Americans know
you are expected to reach out your own hand and shake hands
as a greeting. But if you are from another culture, and you see
an outstretched hand, you might think the person wants you to
hand them something, or maybe you’d think that they are going
to hit you. Because you are from a different culture, you don’t
have the same shared understanding of what an outstretched
hand means.
Culture can be thought of as a contagious disease that spreads
from one person to another. This is called the epidemiological
approach to culture. Cultural things like religious beliefs and
cooking recipes and folktales spread from person to person like
an infectious disease.
But individual people in a culture do not all have the exact same
version of their culture. For example, culture is different based
on things like gender and age. Different genders have different
roles in society, so their experience of culture is different. And,
young people have different expectations placed on them than
elderly people, so their experience of culture is different as
well. And different people learn different parts of culture–for
example, in American culture, some people learn how to do tax
returns, while others learn how to repair cars, and still
others learn how to practice medicine. So, in some ways, a
culture varies from person to person.
So, how much of a culture needs to be shared before it’s
considered culture? I’ve just shown that something that is
cultural does not have to be shared by each and every person
in the culture–it doesn’t have to be one hundred percent shared.
So what is the cut-off point? Well, that’s hard to say. And, there
are some things that every person in a culture shares, like a
language for example. And then there are things
that some people or some subgroups of people share, like a
certain religion. And then there are things that are individual,
that are done by just one person or maybe a few people. So,
culture is shared, but it’s also complicated.
To add to this complexity, there are also subcultures and
countercultures, which are different from the mainstream
culture. Let’s look at subcultures first. Subcultures are a group
of people within a culture that have some kind of unique beliefs
or behaviors, but also still share things in common with the
mainstream culture. Subcultures are subsets of the mainstream
culture. An example is seen with the Amish communities in the
United States. These communities speak a German dialect
called Pennsylvania Dutch (but they also know some English,
too). They wear a certain style of clothing, which is different
from what a typical American wears, and they don’t use modern
American conveniences like cars. They are very religious, and
keep to themselves, limiting contact with other Americans. But
even though they are very different from mainstream American
culture, they still share some American ideas and values, like
hard work and independence.
Here are some other examples of subcultures. There can be
regional subcultures, like the difference between the southern
states and the northeastern states in the USA. And subcultures
may involve sexual orientation, like a gay subculture and a
straight subculture. There can also be other kinds of
subcultures, such as a corporate subculture and a subculture of
college students.
Some societies are made up of a bunch of subcultural groups.
These are called pluralistic societies. Canada and the United
States are examples of pluralistic societies. The subcultures in
these countries can be of different religions, different ethnicities,
and different social classes, for example.

Now let’s look at countercultures. Countercultures are a group

of people that intentionally take on beliefs and behaviors that
are the opposite of the mainstream culture. For example, there
was a counterculture in the 1960s in the United States, where a
group of people called “hippies” did the opposite of what
mainstream society expected, such as taking drugs, opposing
commercialism, and dressing in a certain style that was in
contrast to the norm at that time. Punk culture is another
example of a counterculture. It focuses on things like non-
conformity and anti-consumerism, and people wear brightly
colored hair, tattoos, and piercings.
So, culture is shared, but not 100 percent among its members,
and subcultures and countercultures add even more
complexity. So, in a way, culture is shared, except when it’s not.

Culture is Symbolic
Now let’s move on to the next of the characteristics of culture–
culture is symbolic. Culture is based on symbols, and culture is
spread from generation to generation through symbols. People
learn their culture’s beliefs and behaviors through symbols.
But what is a symbol? A symbol is something that means or
stands for something else. For example, wedding rings stand
for marriage, and our nation’s flag stands for our country.
Symbols are common in religions too, like a Christian cross or a
Jewish Star of David. Another example of a symbol is how a red
light means “stop” and a green light means “go.”

Symbols are arbitrary, meaning that people decide on the

meaning of a symbol–it doesn’t inherently mean something. For
example, there is no inherent reason why we in the USA
choose wedding rings to symbolize marriage–we could have
used something else and that would have been fine. We just all
agreed that wedding rings would represent marriage. And we
could have used orange and purple for traffic lights, but here in
the USA, we all agreed to use red and green.
Language is symbolic as well–words stand for objects and
ideas. For example, English speakers all agreed that “cat”
would stand for a feline animal– we could have used the word,
“gork,” or something else to stand for that animal just as easily.
So, that’s what symbols are. Not only does culture involve
symbols, but symbols are used to transmit culture from
generation to generation through language. Culture can be
thought of as the collection of symbolic knowledge that people
in a society share.

Culture is Integrated
Now let’s move on to another of the characteristics of culture–
culture is integrated. Culture is a complex system, made up of
many parts that are interconnected and related to each other.
Some examples of the parts of culture are education,
technology, marriage, medicine, economics, family, beliefs and
religion, government, and language.
When one part of the system changes, other parts also change,
since everything is connected. One part can influence the
others. For example, a few generations ago, American women
were homemakers and mothers. But, now, most American
women are in the workforce. Because of this change, other
parts of American culture changed, such as attitudes towards
marriage and family. Now, divorce is more common, and people
may live together without being married. Also, now there are
daycare centers to care for children while the mothers go to
work. Because one part of the cultural system changed, other
parts changed as well.
But not all the parts of a culture are interconnected in that way.
Some parts of a culture may be in opposition to each other. For
example, there are conflicts between workers and
management. Workers want to maximize their wages, while
management wants to maximize profit. These things are
opposed to each other, but they are still part of one cultural
system.
There are three interdependent parts to a cultural system–the
infrastructure, the social structure, and the superstructure. First
is the infrastructure–the economic base. This is the type of
subsistence, meaning how people make a living, and how they
produce goods and services and how they distribute these
goods and services. Second is the social structure. The social
structure is the social organization, meaning how people are
arranged in society. This includes things like families,
associations, and politics. Third, there is the superstructure.
The superstructure is the ideology, meaning the worldview of
the people–how they perceive themselves and the world around
them. It is a shared sense of identity and includes things like
beliefs, values, and religion.

Here’s an example of these structures and how they are related

to each other in a culture. There is a culture in Western New
Guinea, called the Kapauku. The infrastructure (the economic
base) is based on plant cultivation and pig breeding. Growing
plants provide most of the food people need, but wealth is
determined by how many pigs you have. It’s a woman’s job to
feed the pigs, so they grow sweet potatoes in their gardens to
feed them. This affects the social structure (the social
organization) because the more pigs you have, the more
women you need to feed and care for them. So, having multiple
wives is encouraged. So, the infrastructure (raising pigs) affects
the social structure (marriage and family involves having
multiple wives). But, in order for all the men to have multiple
wives, there must be more women than men. In order to make
sure there are enough women to go around, the men are not
allowed to kill women during wars. So, ideas related to war
(which is part of the superstructure) are affected by the social
structure, which is then influenced by the infrastructure.

Culture is Adaptive
Now let’s move on to the next of the characteristics of culture–
culture is adaptive. Adaptation is how an organism adjusts to
its environment. There is biological adaptation, which involves
biological changes. Over time, humans have biologically
adapted to their environment–for example, people who live
closer to the equator tend to have darker skin color, while those
who live further from the equator tend to have lighter skin color.
The darker skin color protects people from the higher amounts
of UV radiation in areas near the equator.
But there is also cultural adaptation, where culture helps
humans adapt to their environment. For example, we weren’t
born with fur coats to be able to survive in cold climates. But
culture has given us a way to make clothing, build fires, and
create shelters so that we can adapt to living in cold climates.
Because culture helps people adapt, people can live in many
different environments on Earth, and even in outer space! We
have also adapted using culture by creating things like
antibiotics and vaccines, and by creating agricultural techniques
that allow us to produce huge amounts of food.
However, not all aspects of culture are adaptive. Some are
neutral and don’t affect people’s ability to survive. And some
aspects of culture can be maladaptive, meaning they can
threaten people’s existence in the long term. For example,
factories create pollutants that destroy our air quality, and if this
is not limited, the air could eventually be too poor for humans
(and many other organisms) to survive.
Another thing to note is that cultural adaptation is relative. This
means that what is adaptive in one culture may not be adaptive
in another culture. Here’s an example. In the United States, you
need to be able to read and write and do basic math in order to
adapt to American culture. But, these things are pretty much
worthless to a person whose life involves herding cattle in a
remote village somewhere else in the world. So these skills are
adaptive in the USA, but they may not be adaptive in other
areas of the world.

And, the ability of an aspect of culture to be adaptive can

change over time. For example, introducing guns and
snowmobiles would be a cultural adaptation for Inuit hunters in
Alaska. With these technologies, they would be able to hunt
caribou easier, which means that people would eat better,
which then affects their health. But after a while, these cultural
things may be maladaptive, because there is a chance the
hunters could kill off all of the caribou, and then a major source
of food would be gone.
Here’s another example. In ancient times in Mesopotamia,
people developed irrigation. This cultural adaptation resulted in
the ability to grow more food in that area of the world. But, over
time, irrigation made salt build up in the soil, and this was a
major factor in that society’s collapse.
Also, some aspects of culture are not adaptive for all the
members of that society. For example, cultural things like war
and slavery have not benefited everyone. And, cultural
practices like human sacrifices and the killing of twins in many
cultures were also not beneficial for everyone.
So, culture helps people adapt to their environment, but this can
change over time. Some aspects of culture can also be
maladaptive as well, either for certain members or for the
society as a whole.

Culture is Dynamic
And now let’s move on to the last of the characteristics of
culture–culture is dynamic. Cultures are not static–they change
over time. But why do they change? One way they change is
through diffusion. Diffusion is the spreading of an idea, thing,
or behavior between cultures. Cultures are not isolated–
different cultures have been in contact with each other
throughout history.
Here’s an example of diffusion. Traditionally, many sub-
Saharan African cultures thought that larger women were
beautiful, and thin women were not attractive. But now, the
Western ideas of thin women being beautiful and larger women
being unattractive are being spread to those African cultures. In
some places, women in those cultures are now adopting these
Western values and are trying to lose weight.
There are 3 types of diffusion–direct, indirect, and
forced. Direct diffusion is when two cultures interact with each
other, such as through trade or intermarriage. Indirect
diffusion is when traits move from one culture to another
through a third culture. For example, culture #1 may trade with
culture #2, who trades with culture #3. So, culture #3 ends up
with cultural items from culture #1, even though they haven’t
been in direct contact. Forced diffusion is when one culture
forces its way of life on another culture. The second culture
changes through assimilation. The people are forced to take
on the beliefs and behaviors of the dominant culture, causing
their own culture to become extinct.
Another thing to note is that diffusion doesn’t just flow from
complex societies to simpler societies. Diffusion goes in both
directions. For example, when Europeans met the Native
Americans, diffusion went both ways. The Europeans received
medicines, and foods like corn, beans, squash, and yams. And,
sometimes when a new cultural element is adopted into a new
culture, changes are made. For example, when pizza came
from Italy to the United States, it was modified to fit into
American culture.
Something else to realize is that when cultures come into
contact with each other, they don’t share every single aspect of
their cultures. If they did, there would only be one culture in the
world, created by all the original cultures meshing together.
Only some cultural traits are exchanged. For example, in parts
of rural Africa, the older you are the higher status you have. So,
these cultures probably would not accept the American culture’s
use of hair dye to remove grey hair. That part of American
culture may not be accepted, since in that African culture, grey
hair shows that you are older, and older age means higher
status.
So diffusion is one way that cultures change. But there is
another way, which is called acculturation. This is when there
is continuous contact between two cultures, and ideas are
exchanged. Each culture may change, or both may change, but
they are still two distinct cultures. For example, cultures may
exchange foods, music, languages, clothing, and
technology. An example of acculturation is the creation of a
pidgin language. A pidgin is a language made up of two
languages mixed together.
Yet another way cultures can change is through independent
invention. This is when people find new ways of solving
problems. However, many times people in different cultures
have come up with the same solution to a problem, each on
their own. For example, agriculture was invented in both the
Middle East and Mexico–not because the cultures were in
contact, but because both cultures came up with agriculture
independently as a way to solve the problem of providing food
to people in that society.
And another reason cultures change is due to globalization.
Different cultures around the world are now interlinked and
interdependent–we live in a global village. Globalization
involves the spread of culture, usually Western culture, around
the world through forces like international business, travel and
tourism, the media and the internet, and migration.

Learn More
So, as you can see, there are many characteristics of culture. It
is learned, shared, symbolic, integrated, adaptive, and dynamic.
Culture is learned through enculturation. Culture is shared
among its members, but there are subcultures and
countercultures. Culture involves symbols, and it is transmitted
from generation to generation through symbols as well. Culture
is integrated and involves infrastructure, social structure, and
superstructure. Culture is adaptive, but it can also be
maladaptive. And culture is dynamic–it changes over time due
to diffusion, acculturation, independent invention, and
globalization.
 Characteristics of Culture

Culture has five basic characteristics: It is learned, shared, based on symbols,

integrated, and dynamic. All cultures share these basic features.

 Culture is learned. It is not biological; we do not inherit it. Much of learning culture is
unconscious. We learn culture from families, peers, institutions, and media. The process
of learning culture is known as enculturation. While all humans have basic biological
needs such as food, sleep, and sex, the way we fulfill those needs varies cross-culturally.

 Culture is shared. Because we share culture with other members of our group, we are able
to act in socially appropriate ways as well as predict how others will act. Despite the
shared nature of culture, that doesn’t mean that culture is homogenous (the same). The
multiple cultural worlds that exist in any society are discussed in detail below.

 Culture is based on symbols. A symbol is something that stands for something else.
Symbols vary cross-culturally and are arbitrary. They only have meaning when people in
a culture agree on their use. Language, money and art are all symbols. Language is the
most important symbolic component of culture.

 Culture is integrated. This is known as holism, or the various parts of a culture being
interconnected. All aspects of a culture are related to one another and to truly understand
a culture, one must learn about all of its parts, not only a few.

 Culture is dynamic. This simply means that cultures interact and change. Because most
cultures are in contact with other cultures, they exchange ideas and symbols. All cultures
change, otherwise, they would have problems adapting to changing environments. And
because cultures are integrated, if one component in the system changes, it is likely that
the entire system must adjust.