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Documenti di Cultura
WHAT IS CULTURE?
The word culture is derived from the Latin cultura, branching from colere, which means “to cultivate”. Culture is
one of the most difficult concepts to define, not because it is hard to find, but because it is difficult to separate
culture from what isn’t culture. Culture surrounds us, guides us, and is our world. Most general, the term culture
according to UNESCO implies a set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features of society
or a social group, and that it encompasses, in addition to art and literature, lifestyles, ways of living together, value
systems, traditions and beliefs. Different human societies have different cultures. The process of passing culture
from one generation to the next is called socialization. Through socialization, the entire way of life such as
language, beliefs, and customs are taught to a nation. There are various factors that influence socialization such as
family, school, religion, peer groups, media, the Internet and other sources.
WHAT ARE VALUES?
Everyone has some sort of primary values. These play a part in their value system. Values vary across people and
culture. Values are formed from experiences with the outside world and change with time. Values are applied
properly when applied in the right area in the right time. Values have great influence on one’s choice; they guide
decisions by allowing choices to be compared to associated values. Most of the values developed early in life may
be resistant to change. In short, values are ideas or beliefs which a person find important in life.
CULTURAL VALUES
Groups and societies have values that are shared by its members. People share a culture even if each member’s
personal values do not entirely agree with some values withheld in the society. This illustrates the human ability to
adapt in environments with different values and extract aspects valuable to them. The spread or influence of one
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culture on another is known as cultural diffusion. An alternative way how a culture can be modified is through
acculturation. Values are a significant part of culture because they guide the rest of culture. Values are usually
influenced by norms. Norms are the expected behavior we should adopt once we are part of that culture. Some
norms are enforced formally; these are usually referred to as laws. The main aim of having these norms is to
organize society and help to eliminate anarchy. It is these values that influence people and society. Cultural
artifacts tell us a lot about the culture that created them and what values they embraced.