Culture: What Does It Mean to You?

Nedim Cano

GS 150: Unit Essay #1

Culture: What does it mean to you?

"What is culture?" Before you are even able to gather your thoughts into a response, your brain had already generated numerous thoughts related to culture. These thoughts are attributed to your personal past experiences, driven by the accumulation of various experiences throughout your daily life. If the question had been addressed to your neighbor, would you expect their response to match yours? Of course not; they grew up in a different family, have ancestors who emigrated from remote regions of the world, and may even appear to have "unusual" customs/traditions. While it's customary to assume that there are very few individuals who may share a similar understanding of how you interpret culture, it is fundamental to recognize that the lack of an explicit definition does not limit the meaningful nature of the idea in any regard. If fact, the core value is derived from the subjective nature of the term. When prompted, the idea of culture is difficult to convey. The idea is a reflection of your life experiences, encompassing each decision throughout your life journey. While the definition of culture may be unclear, the impact of culture is profound. In order to understand the significance of culture, it is fundamental to establish what the concept consists of, how it has been significant, and whether any conclusions can be drawn based on historical trends.

The idea of culture consists of an indefinite combinations, uniquely shaped by each individual's recollection of events and experience-based values. There aren't any specific characteristics we can use to capture the perception of every individual. However, we analyze the common trends and shared traits in order to determine the common root, from which a large majority derive their fundamental understanding of what culture means to them. For the vast majority of individual's, their culture consists of their heritage, family traditions, beliefs, and values. A combination of these factors can be used to describe almost anybody's personal understanding of the idea of culture. The order of importance and which category is most important will inevitably vary across each person; yet still is valuable in attempting to understand and access someone's culture, especially those cultures unfamiliar to us, personally. Your family may consider faith to be essential to your culture. Faith represents a set of customary values and beliefs shared by your family. To some cultures, faith is the driving factor to a majority of life decisions. Explicit principles may restrict you from certain activities, dress a certain way, or attend events based on traditionals drawn for that particular faith. For other families, faith may play a miniscule role in