2.1: What is Culture?

What is culture?

In the summer of 2026, the United States, Canada, and Mexico jointly hosted the FIFA World Cup. Games were played across 16 cities, 11 states and provinces, in 3 countries. Teams from 48 nations competed, with Spain ultimately taking home the title. In the picture above, you see fans celebrating in Los Angeles, California at SoFi Stadium, which hosted eight matches including the U.S. Men’s National Team opener. The World Cup is an excellent metaphor for understanding the relationship between culture and communication. The global event brought diverse cultures into one shared space, allowing us to see how language, values, and behaviors intersect and shape the way people interact.

When people hear the word “culture,” many images often come to mind. Perhaps you immediately think of attending the ballet, an opera, or an art museum. Other people think of traditional dress like that seen from Mexico in the picture at the top of the chapter. However, the word “culture” has a wide range of meanings for many people. For example, when you travel to a new country (or even a state within your own country), you expect to encounter different clothing, languages, foods, rituals, etc. The term “culture” is a highly debated concept among academics. In 1952, A. L. Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions for the word “culture.” Culture is often described as “the way we do things” (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952). In their book, the authors noted, “Considering that concept [of culture] has had a name for less than 80 years, it is not surprising that full agreement and precision has not yet been attained” (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952, p. 223). Kroeber and Kluckhohn predicted that eventually, science would land on a singular definition of culture as it was refined through the scientific process. Unfortunately, the idea of a single definition of culture is no closer to becoming a reality today than it was in 1952 (Baldwin et al., 2006)

For our purposes, we are going to talk about culture as “a group of people who through a process of learning are able to share perceptions of the world which influences their beliefs, values, norms, and rules, which eventually affect behavior” (Wrench et al., 2020). Let’s break down this definition. First, when we talk about “culture,” we are starting off with a group of people. One of the biggest misunderstandings that newcomers to cultural studies have is that an individual can have their own personalized culture. Culture is something that is formed by the groups with which we grow up and are involved throughout our lives.

Second, we learn about our culture. In fact, culture becomes so ingrained in who we are that we often fail to recognize our own culture and its daily impact on us. Just like language, everyone is hardwired to learn culture. The culture we pick up is ultimately a matter of the group(s) we are born into and raised in. Just like a baby born to an English-speaking family isn’t going to magically start speaking French out of nowhere, neither will a person from one culture accidentally adopt another culture.

Third, what we learn ultimately leads to a shared perception of the world. All cultures have stories that are taught to children that impact how they view the world. If you are raised by Jewish or Christian parents/guardians, you will learn the creation story in the Bible. However, this is only one of many creation myths that have abounded over time in different cultures:
• The Akamba in Kenya say that the first two people were lowered to earth by God on a cloud.
• In ancient Babylon and Sumeria, the gods slaughtered another god named We-ila, and out of his blood and clay, they formed humans.
• One myth among the Tibetan people is that they owe their existence to the union of an ogress, not of this world, and a monkey on Gangpo Ri Mountain at Tsetang.
• The Aboriginal tribes in Australia believe that humans are the descendants of gods (Leeming & Lemming, 2009).

Ultimately, which creation story we grew up with was a matter of the culture in which we were raised. These different myths lead to very different views of the individual’s relationship with both the world and with their God, gods, or goddesses.

Fourth, the culture in which we are raised teaches us our beliefs, values, norms, and rules. Beliefs are assumptions and convictions held by an individual, group, or culture about the truth or existence of something. For example, in all of the creation myths discussed in the previous paragraph, these are beliefs that were held by many people at various times in human history. Next, we have values, which are essential and lasting principles or standards held by a culture regarding desirable and appropriate courses of action or outcomes. This definition is a bit complex, so let’s break it down. When looking at this definition, it’s important first to highlight that different cultures have different perceptions related to both courses of action or outcomes. For example, in many cultures throughout history, martyrdom (dying for one’s cause) has been something deeply valued. As such, in those cultures, putting oneself self in harm’s way (course of action) or dying (outcome) would be seen as both desirable and appropriate. Within a given culture, there are guiding principles and standards that help determine what is desirable and appropriate. In fact, many religious texts describe martyrdom as a holy calling. Within these cultures, martyrdom is highly valued. Next, within the definition of culture are the concepts of norms and rules. Norms are informal guidelines about what is acceptable or proper social behavior within a specific culture. Rules are the explicit guidelines (generally written) that govern acceptable or proper social behavior within a specific culture. With rules, we have clearly concrete and explicitly communicated ways of behaving, whereas norms are not concrete, nor are they explicitly communicated. We rarely know a norm exists within a given culture unless we violate the norm or watch someone else violating the norm. The final part of the definition of culture, and probably the most important for our purposes, particularly in the context of interpersonal communication, is that these beliefs, values, norms, and rules govern how people behave.

Contributors and Attributions

Interpersonal Communication 2nd Edition Copyright © 2025 by Jason S. Wrench; Narissra M. Punyanunt-Carter; and Katherine S. Thweatt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.