Hi. I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today we're going to talk about culture, and how we can define it and describe it. First of all, let's talk about how we define culture.
Culture involves a group of people, a form of social human organization, and these people identify themselves as a member of this group. And they have shared assumptions and beliefs. So they share symbol systems, norms, traditions, and viewpoints towards the world.
And these viewpoints about the world are considered cultural worldviews, and we can express these world views in various means. Typically in culture, we don't directly teach what we believe or our world views. Rather, we express them through various elements.
And we see this in art, and proverbs, and music, and food, and language. This is all a part of our culture as a whole, but doesn't specifically define culture. So these are ways in which we express our culture and our worldview.
So for instance, specific cultures throughout the world have their own languages and ways in which they communicate, and these assumptions are all shared by the group. So we know what specific words mean in our language, and we have that mutual understanding.
Our culture that we belong to-- or cultures in general-- will have their own set of norms. And the norms of a culture are those behaviors and perceptions that the group believes to be right, true, or proper. And these cultural norms are expressed through the rules that are set, and the traditions, and communication, and other means as well. So we express our norms through these means as a way of demonstrating what our culture believes to be right, true, or proper behavior and perceptions.
Our culture is a big part of ourselves as individuals. It's what we grew up in. It's how we see the world. And because we are so embedded in our culture, we assume that our cultural worldview-- or our culture-- is universally true. So what we believe to be right and true is right and true for everybody across the world.
And we believe this until we have specific training or contact with other cultures where we figure out or find out that they have different norms than our own. So what I believe is right and true is not necessarily right and true for everybody else throughout the world. And when we realize this, or before we realize this, we can have miscommunication or conflict.
So cultural differences can have an effect on our communication or conflict, because we may have not had that contact with other cultures, and so we assume that that individual agrees with our cultural worldview. And so at times, we can send off wrong communication cues, or even a conflict can arise over these cultural differences.
So when we are interacting with an individual from a culture outside of our own, we need to really be aware that they may have different cultural viewpoints than our own, and be sure not to make assumptions. And we need to ask those clarifying questions so we can avoid miscommunication and conflict.
Let's look at our key points on models and definitions of culture. Before we go, we need to understand that cultures are not static. So they don't remain the same. They evolve over time. And as you know from being in your own culture, there have been things that have changed, and that's due to our needs and experiences as members of the group.
And a culture is a group of people that share norms, traditions, and worldviews. And they all agree upon, as a group, that these norms, traditions, and worldviews are right, true, and proper for that group. And these are embedded into the culture and the group members very deeply.
And because of this, we often think that our traditions and norms and rules are universal, so everybody must believe the same thing. And until we come in contact with another culture or have specific training, we may run into some cultural differences. And this can cause conflict and miscommunication.
So it's important to not make assumptions, and be aware, and ask clarifying questions so we can avoid cross-cultural conflict and miscommunication. Here are your key terms before we go. Feel free to pause and look at them a little bit closer. Thank you so much for taking the time out, and I can't wait to catch you again next time.