Culture, A definition
Culture is a cognitive framework that guides our subjective understanding of the world and shapes our behavioural interactions with other people. It is a way of thinking about the world and the way that attitude manifests itself as behaviour. Culture is perception and perception manifest. In social application, it is the act or fact of a group of individuals thinking about and interacting with the world within the same framework. The dictionary defines culture as “the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society.” From a Darwinian perspective, culture represents the thoughts, actions and patterns of behaviour adopted by individuals who faced the unknown and prevailed. Updating of culture necessarily requires the incorporation of ideas and structures utilised by those who prevail against new iterations of the unknown that arise due to the passage of time and societal innovation.
The genesis of culture
The world is shrouded in chaos, this chaos or “the unknown” which is characteristic of unexplored nature causes anxiety due to its capacity for both danger and promise. Culture arises as an antidote to this anxiety, It represents the state of order that emerges from exploration of the unknown and reconstituting it into the “known” removing its a-priori affective valence which is anxiety and or fear. As a result of the actions undertaken by those who face the unknown and triumph rules governing interpersonal interactions and interactions with nature arise, these rules help regulate affect by rendering parts of the world as known(order) even for those members of society who haven’t voluntarily faced the unknown. Culture in essence provides structure and predictability. “Participation in the processes and representations comprising cultural structure means heightened capacity to predict behaviour of self and other, therefore capacity to regulate emotion” Dr. Jordan Peterson, Maps of meaning.
Society and culture
Society is characterised by a group of people engaging in interpersonal interactions mediated by culture. When people within a society have the same cultural values, it is possible for them to have a sufficient level of trust for each other which enables them to engage in personal interactions without fear or anxiety, and this happens as a consequence of everyone operating within the same value structure. They all have the same conceptions of what’s good and bad, and relatively the same overarching goals which means every individual’s behaviour within this society is rendered to some extent predictable. Individuals are also less likely to act radically different from each other when they share similar value structures, this maintains equilibrium within a society.
The expression, preservation and transmission of culture
Most of the raging debates about culture focus on fashion, food, religion e.t.c which on their own are not culture but merely symbols of culture. All cultures develop cultural Symbols, sometimes as a way of differentiating themselves from the other and at times due to practical necessity. A society that resides in a desert may develop a style of dress to better cope with the environment and as a consequence, this style of dress may in time come to be recognised as a symbol for that society and its culture. Symbols also stand as a way of conveying a meaning recognised by all members of a particular culture.
Appreciation of music, food and other art forms does not represent appreciation of culture, it is merely the appreciation of external characteristics that symbolise it. To appreciate a culture is to embody its ideals and to live by its values plus beliefs, in essence, it is to practice its ideology. One can appreciate the fruits a culture bears but that does not mean one understands it, to do so would be to live by its values. Even bad culture can bear seemingly good fruit so an analysis of the results alone is not enough pass judgement.
Culture and art
Cultures develop art as a way of expressing the culture’s ideology in a dramatic structure as well as communicating that ideology across its members and across time. This may take the form of music, painting, architecture, sculpture e.t.c. Art serves as a vehicle for the expression and preservation of cultural values, art on its own is not culture, it is both a symbol representative of culture and a tool for communicating the values of a culture.
Culture and religion
Religion can be a part of culture but faith alone is not culture, the two are often confused because they are very closely linked. Many cultures grow out of religious doctrine and vice versa. However one may practice a religion that is very different from the culture they identify with. There are many Americans, Australians, Canadians e.t.c who practice different religious faiths but have all adopted western cultural values. There are also billions of people on earth who practice Christianity but are from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds. Religion does play a more significant role in our modern-day cultures than is often recognised, such concepts as intrinsic human rights for instance can trace their existence back to Judeo-Christian principles.
Cultural symbols in society
Due to the interconnected nature of the world we live in now, cultural symbols have crossed borders and can now be found all around the world, sometimes in places very distant from where they were originally conceived. Fighting for exclusive ownership of cultural symbols as if they were culture itself is rampant, this fighting includes and is generally comprised of people who have an ethnic connection with the place where the symbols originate. In most cases however, these individuals have adopted very different cultures from the one they claim to fight for and reside very far away from any places that actually practice the culture they yearn to represent. We want to feel like a part of something greater than ourselves so sometimes we grasp at straws and fight for cultural symbols that represent what our grandparents embodied but we barely understand.
Cultural appropriation
In light of all this, what is usually called “cultural appropriation” tends to be at most cultural symbol appropriation and to what extent that is a negative thing is entirely subjective. Cultural appropriation would be to steal not only the symbols of a particular culture but the culture’s entire perceptual framework and value system. This to me does not even seem probable, and it is not entirely self-evident that this would be a bad thing even if it did somehow occur. All cultures learn useful ideas from the different cultures they encounter and this is actually something essential for human progress.
Culture, race and ethnicity
Our modern-day societies consist of people from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and all these people live and work together harmoniously because even though externally they may look very different, they all operate within the same cultural framework. An example of this is well illustrated by many of today’s children’s cartoons. These may feature a young Indian boy in traditional garb, a young Caucasian girl in western fashion and a little African girl dressed in a colourful dashiki. This serves as an attempt by the media creators to depict multiculturalism, the depiction works until you pay attention to the behaviour of the characters. Watching the characters interact you quickly start to realise that their differences are only external and the same cultural structure mediates all their interpersonal interactions, they may even be speaking the same language with distinctive vocal accents. This sad reductionist version of multiculturalism that relies on symbolic imagery to create the illusion of multicultural interaction is widespread in contemporary entertainment and often stems not from malice but a lack of understanding of what culture is. It does not matter what your background is because even your parents and siblings can be part of a culture different from yours. Ultimately it boils down to how you frame the world and how you behave within it, that is your culture and in part your character.
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is defined as “the presence of, or support for the presence of, several distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society.”
This as an abstract concept is not bad, even desirable, however in practice it is complicated. What is multiculturalism in practice? There is multiculturalism as defined by two or more different cultures living together as one coherent society or multiculturalism as defined by people from different cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds living together as one society governed by a single cultural framework. Only one of these forms of multiculturalism can function without causing conflict. One of the reasons why this is such a hard topic to deal with is because most people conflate culture with race, religion, ethnicity e.t.c, which makes any position opposed to multiculturalism sound racist or intolerant, however given the true definition of culture, opposition to multiculturalism is not an opposition to any ethnic, religious or racial group but an opposition to the idea of a functional society comprising of fragmented cultural groups.
Given the fact that culture forms the preliminary guidelines for social interaction, multiculturalism is only a desirable form of social organisation when some precise requirements are met.
These are as follows:-
When two or more cultures inhabit the same geographic location and form a society, it is necessary for
- Everyone involved to adopt one of the cultures present
- When this is not possible, the formation of a new culture to govern all future interactions is necessary
If this does not happen, conflict is inevitable because no institution or society can function when everyone operates on different principles. In the case of sovereign states, it is the society that dictates what culture governs the country and its the duty of that country to ensure that everyone who is a part of the community is aware of the culture and conforms to it. A visitor or new inhabitant of a sovereign state has to comply with the rules of the culture that underpins the society and state or face retribution from the state because it is the state’s job to maintain the peaceful coexistence of its citizens.
An interesting phenomenon takes place when people of different cultures find themselves in the same country. They break down into small groups/communities comprised of people that share the same cultural values. These groups act like small surrogate societies within a larger society and some people may live for decades in a country without ever learning the language spoken by the majority of people in that country, they never feel the need to interact with anyone outside the confines of their smaller society. On the surface, this is all well and good, but because all these smaller communities exist in the same social environment with other societies, social interaction is inevitable and this is when conflict arises. Disagreements about things like morality and what governs social interactions between individuals will ensue. There will likely be conflict on political policy as well stemming from conflicting cultural values, the “abortion laws” debate is a prime example of this. A society that consists of these fractured communities cannot function properly for long and conflict is inevitable.
All this said I believe that:-
Multiculturalism, as defined by two or more different cultures living together as one coherent society is not possible.
Multiculturalism, as defined by people from different cultural, social and ethnic backgrounds living together as one society governed by a single cultural framework is probable.
Are all culture’s equally worthy of respect?
Some cultures advocate murder, the oppression of women and class or racial segregation. Indeed these are unique cultures nonetheless but their adopted beliefs beg the question,
Are all cultures equally worthy of respect? The nineteenth-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche once said “Truth serves life” so I believe culture is only truly good if it serves well the needs of its people without oppressing or otherwise negatively affecting them in the process. No matter how unique a culture is if its beliefs and ideals are not consistent with or against fundamental human needs, then that culture is not worthy of respect.
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Thoughts, Theories And Reflections 