We need to understand our own culture first
Before we can change it
To be part of developing our culture towards peace, it is vital we all gain an awareness of what our culture is. And why we need to be actively involved with its evolution. This article presents culture as a group’s way of living that emerges and adapts over time. We will seek to explore, in coming articles, how we as individuals can influence our culture towards peace. For now, let us explore this concept of culture. It has many dimensions that interact with each other. We may find places we as individuals, or as the groups we are involved in, where we can intervene to orient our way of life more towards peace.
National culture is profoundly influenced by this variety of contextual factors, including geography, climate, ecosystems, and historical developments. These factors create unique challenges and opportunities, shaping the way groups of people interact with their environment and with one another over time. As time goes on, things that may have been appropriate in the past may no longer be positive. For example, nations have developed more and more powerful weapons and sought to avoid war by increasing the size of the threat of war. Once nuclear weapons appear, it no longer makes sense to even consider war as it would wipe out all of humanity.
The diagram below overviews the various dimensions of culture. Starting from the outside with contextual factors, like the climate and natural resources available, going through to the shared worldview and beliefs that emerge. As external factors like weather influence a culture, so too the internal implicit factors, like values, influence the external. For example,the way the economic system operates or the development of the built environment.
Culture can be described as the shared and collective way of life that emerges over time, shaping a group’s thinking, feeling and acting. It is a system that includes values, beliefs, norms, technologies and practices.
Here are some characteristics of culture
Learned Behaviour: Culture is acquired, not innate. It is transmitted through socialisation processes such as family upbringing, education, media, and institutional norms.
Shared and Collective: Culture is a collective phenomenon, emerging from shared experiences and interactions within a group over time. It is not tied to individuals but to groups like nations, communities, or organizations.
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Factors influencing the development of a group’s culture.
Development of culture too, is influenced by its context, including the influence of physical, historical and ideological factors.
1. Geographical and Climatic Factors
Impact on Lifestyle and Economy:
Agriculture: Fertile lands and temperate climates encourage farming-based economies, while arid regions might foster pastoralism or trade.
Housing and Architecture: Cold climates lead to insulated homes, while hot climates may result in open-air structures to allow ventilation.
Food and Cuisine: The availability of local resources (e.g., rice in East Asia, fish in coastal areas) strongly influences traditional diets and culinary practices.
Social Structure:
Harsh climates may require collaborative survival strategies, fostering collectivist cultures.
Milder climates with abundant resources may allow for more individualistic lifestyles.
2. Ecosystem and Natural Resources
Resource Availability: Access to abundant natural resources can foster wealth and leisure, enabling cultural pursuits such as art and philosophy (e.g., Ancient Greece).
Ecosystem Challenges:
Forested areas may encourage wood-based crafts and myths surrounding trees.
Regions prone to natural disasters (earthquakes, floods) often develop resilient, risk-averse cultures.
Environmental Adaptations:
Nomadic cultures emerge in areas with scarce or shifting resources (e.g., deserts or tundras).
Sedentary cultures arise in regions with stable ecosystems (e.g., river valleys like the Nile or the Indus).
3. Historical and Political Context
Colonialism and Conquest: Historical colonization often introduces or imposes new cultural elements, merging or clashing with indigenous traditions.
Wars and Alliances: Repeated conflicts or cooperation can foster nationalism and shared cultural identity.
Religious and Philosophical Movements: Historical figures and movements (e.g., Confucianism in China, the Renaissance in Europe) deeply imprint values on a nation’s culture.
4. Interaction with Other Cultures
Trade and Exchange: Cultures located on trade routes (e.g., the Silk Road) often integrate diverse influences into their traditions.
Isolation vs. Connectivity: Isolated geographies, like islands, tend to preserve unique cultural traits longer, while connected regions evolve through exchange and adaptation.
5. Political Economy.
Currencies that function nationally, where everyone accepts them as means of payment encourage the development of the economy. The availability of monetary systems, including credit facilities, encourage the investment in industries which in turn creates jobs and products to purchase.
Some economic systems enable the systematic transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, creating a culture of haves and have-nots.
Adaptive Solutions to Local Challenges
Cultural practices often emerge as adaptive responses to environmental or societal challenges:
Kinship and Social Norms: Extended families may be more common in agrarian societies to support large-scale farming.
Festivals and Rituals: Celebrations often coincide with seasonal cycles (e.g., harvest festivals).
Communication Styles: High-context cultures (where implicit understanding is key) often develop in stable, close-knit communities, while low-context cultures (direct and explicit) are more common in diverse or transient populations.
Two levels of culture
Researchers identify two levels of culture, the explicit and the implicit. This is represented by the two levels at the center of the diagram.
Explicit Culture includes visible and tangible elements such as art, food, and dress.
Implicit Culture includes intangible elements like assumptions, worldviews, and beliefs.
The manifestation of culture
Culture manifests on all levels, encompassing the learned and transmitted patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting. It can be seen in symbols, values and practices.
Symbols (e.g., language, gestures, and objects with shared meaning).
Values (deeply held beliefs about what is important or desirable, like freedom, hierarchy, or equality).
Practices (observable behaviors, rituals, or traditions).
Infrastructure (the way the built environment takes shape, technology, institutions).
As the diagram illustrates, a context shapes the development of the culture and its worldview, but the implicit worldview will also shape the culture.
By understanding culture as a response to these diverse factors, we can better appreciate the variety and depth of cultural expressions worldwide.
For those who wish to change the culture, once we gain a better understanding of how the culture we live in developed, we can analyze the ongoing evolution of that culture. Which factors are working to develop the culture in positive directions, and are there culture no longer appropriate for the aims and desires of those in the group, and indeed appropriate for the changing contextual factors? We all want and need peace – all of the four dimensions we talk about.
There is another dimension that shapes culture, and that is what it is to be human. We all share traits that come from our genetic make-up. We smile when we see a puppy, we feel hunger, and we long for peace.
How can we shape our way of life to promote peace? This is a topic for our next articles and podcasts.