Culture Basics: Your Guide to Cultural Concepts

culture tips put you on the global map

navigating the world of culture

Want the skinny on what culture is, why it matters and how it impacts your life, work and relationships?

Read these six short posts and get up-to-speed.

Six Concepts about Culture You Need To Know

  1. The # 1 Reason Why Culture Matters
  2. Who’s Your Culture Mama?
  3. The Most Important Question about Cultural Literacy
  4. Work, Family and Other Cultural Values
  5. Are You Hungry for Power?
  6. We’ve Got the Sweetest Taboos

What is Culture?

Good question.

Culture is a tricky term to pin down. It’s been variously defined as:

  • “the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
  • “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (English Anthropologist Edward B. Tylor, Primitive Culture, 1871)
  • “the collective programming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people from another” (social psychologist Geert Hostede)

There’s even a list of 21 definitions of culture culled from Twitter interviews.

Whatever definition you subscribe to, it’s pretty clear that culture is all pervasive.

Want more cultural tips and resources? Click here to subscribe to free weekly updates.