“The culture of a society is the way of life of its members…” Ralph Linton.
Culture is a collection of knowledge, beliefs, norms, values, traditions acquired by human as a member of a society. It determines in a fundamental way the desires, the perceptions, the preferences and the behaviors.
Knowing our family myths and cultural roots, and recognizing the diversity of individuals and cultures, means giving ourselves the opportunity to understand our similarities and differences, and thus foster communication and exchanges.
Culture has multiple layers:
- country or region;
- ethnicity and religion;[1]
- company or organization;
- business or profession.
It is made of elements that are visible (fashion, architecture, the arts…) and of others, norms and values, that are not, at least immediately.[2]
Everyone looks at their culture in an unobjective way: we (all) perceive other cultures in relation to our culture – these are our cultural stereotypes.
[1] Kotler, Keller & Manceau (2015). Marketing Management, 15e éd., Pearson France, p.183
[2] Fouquoire, B., (n.d). Understanding cultural diversity. Retrieved on december 2018 from Equipage, http://www.equipaje.fr/en/books/cross-culture/definitions
