DEFINITION OF CULTURE

Culture comes in many guises. A Google search on ‘‘culture’’ resulted in around 469 million hits. Social scientists have not come to any consensus on a definition of culture. The literature offers a host of definitions. Wikipedia gives the following definition: ‘‘all the ways of life including arts, beliefs and institutions of a population that are passed down from generation to generation.’’8 The Dutch cultural anthropologist Hofstede defines culture as ‘‘the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category from those of another.’’9 Triandis, a well-known social psychologist, refers to culture as ‘‘the shared perceptions of the social environment.’’10 Terpstra and David offer a more business-oriented definition:

Culture is a learned, shared, compelling, interrelated set of symbols whose meanings provide a set of orientations for members of society. These orientations, taken together, provide solutions to problems that all societies must solve if they are to remain viable.11

Despite the wide variety of definitions, there are common elements that span the different formulations. First of all, people learn culture.12 In other words, it is not biologically transmitted via the genes (nurture, not nature).Asociety’s culture is passed on (‘‘cultivated’’) by various peer groups (family, school, youth organizations, and so forth) from one generation to the next. Second, culture consists of many different parts that are all interrelated. One element (say, one’s social status) of a person’s culture does have an impact on another part (say, the language that this person uses). So, a person’s cultural mindset is not a random collection of behaviors. In a sense, culture is a very complex jigsaw puzzle in which all the pieces hang together. Finally, culture is shared by individuals as members of society. These three facets—cultures being learned, shared, and composed of interrelated parts—spell out the essence of culture.

Cultures may be defined by national borders, especially where countries are isolated by natural barriers. Examples are island nations (e.g., Japan, Ireland,Australia) and peninsulas (e.g., South Korea). However, most cultures cross national boundaries. Also, most nations contain different subgroups (subcultures) within their borders. These subgroups could be defined along linguistic (Flemish versus Walloons in Belgium) or religious (Buddhist Sinhalese versus Hindu Tamils in Sri Lanka) lines.

Few cultures are homogeneous. Typically, most cultures contain subcultures that often have little in common with one another. Needless to say, the wide variety of cultures and subcultures creates a tremendous challenge for global marketers.