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DEFINING CULTURE

To define culture is very difficult. Many people defined it with different concepts and

notions since they interpret it in various ways. Michael Silverstein, for example, defines the

culture as “encyclopedic knowledge unevenly distributed over socio-historically specific

groups of people who actualize their groupness through interaction, principally, discursive

interaction.” This definition seems to be parallel with my own understanding of culture, which

covers that culture is shaped by its people. When some people come together and become a

group, their beliefs, values, languages, communications acts, etc. come together as well. By

start living together and besides, start learning how to live together, they shape their customs

– which eventually creates the notion of culture.

As Silverstein mentions, culture is associated with social groups. Many various people

share culture. Cultural behavior is shared by a specific group. Since nearly everybody belongs

to a particular group – such as religious group, an ethnic group, or just a company group-

everybody carries some traces of a type of culture, or maybe of many cultures. In other words,

everyone is a member of cultural groups.

The reason why Silverstein uses “encyclopedic knowledge” could be as a culture is

learned. Culture is learned from the people we have interaction with. We as a new-born start

to watch our family and get used to some types of attitudes and behaviors. Two babies raised

in two different culture would behave differently. Alternatively, parents or others could

explain to us some notions. For example, two consider somebody as beautiful could have

different expectations in different cultures. In summary, culture is acquired through learning,

and there are variations in what a child learns.

In my opinion, it would not be wrong to say that culture is made up of our lifestyle,

knowledge, habits, assumptions, expectations, norms, moral values, and common sense.
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Culture consists of symbols, ideas, things, and concepts that we use to communicate and

interact not only with the others but with the notions and life. Culture has an impact on how

the individuals behave, think, even how they walk, sit, run, etc.