Lesson 1: What is Culture?
A Definition of Culture
There is no one definition of culture. Looking in the book, "Global Marketing Management," I found the following definitions.
Geert Hofstede, a well known cultural anthropologist, defines it as, “the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category from those of another.”Another definition offered by Vern Terpstra and Kenneth David says:
“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.”
Yet another definition, found in the book "International Marketing," says “culture is the entire social heritage of the human race.” The book goes on to quote Colette Guillaumin and says that culture is “the totality of knowledge and practices, both intellectual and material of society...[it] embraces everything from food to dress, from household techniques to industrial techniques, from forms of politeness to mass media, from work rhythms to the learning of familiar rules.”
While each definition has a different emphasis, they are agree that there are common elements. This list of elements comes from the book "International Marketing."
