Culture: Definition, Characteristics, Functions, Aspects

Where Does The Word Culture come from?

Culture consists of all learned, normative behavior patterns – that is, all shared ways or patterns of thinking and feeling as well as doing.

Culture is like the air we breathe. It is so obvious that we cannot escape from it. It pervades our lives so much that we cannot actively feel its impact. It affects every sphere of our lives very secretly but strongly, so frequently that we do not have the opportunity to even think of its (cultural) impact.

Its impact is like the secret chemical that turns a caterpillar into a butterfly with all the beauty that was the caterpillar’s potential.

The word ‘culture’ comes from the Latin word ‘cultura,’ related to cult or worship. In its broadest sense, the term refers to the result of human interaction.

Society’s culture comprises the shared values, understandings, assumptions, and goals learned from earlier generations, imposed by present members of society, and passed on to succeeding generations.

Sometimes an individual is described as highly cultured, meaning that the person in question has certain features, such as his/her speech, manner, and taste for literature, music, or painting, which distinguish him from others.

Culture, in this sense, refers to certain personal characteristics of an individual.

However, this is not the sense in which the word culture is used and understood in social sciences.

Sometimes culture is used in popular discourse to refer to a celebration or an evening of entertainment, as when one speaks of a ‘cultural show.’ Culture is identified with aesthetics or the fine arts, such as dance, music, or drama.

This is also different from the technical meaning of the word culture.

Culture is used in a special sense in anthropology and sociology. It refers to the sum of human beings’ lifeways, behavior, beliefs, feelings, and thoughts; it connotes everything they acquire as social beings. Culture has been defined in several ways.

There is no consensus among sociologists and anthropologists regarding the definition of culture.

Some writers add to these definitions some of the important” other capabilities and habits,” such as language and the techniques for making and using tools.

Meaning of Culture

Culture is a comprehensive and encompassing term that includes what we have learned about our history, values, morals, customs, art, and habits.

Culture is the complex of values, ideas, attitudes, and other meaningful symbols created by people to shape human behavior and the artifacts of that behavior as they are transmitted from one generation to the next.

The above definition highlights three important attributes of an individual’s culture.

First, it is ‘created by people,’ evolving due to human activities, and passed on to the succeeding generations.

Second, the impact of cultural influence is both intangible and tangible. People’s basic attitudes and values directly result from their cultural environment. Beliefs in freedom of speech and choice, heterosexuality, and God are products of human action.

Additionally, people leave physical evidence of their culture through art and craftwork, buildings, furniture, laws, and food.

Third, the cultural environment evolves, and it most often evolves over lengthy periods. Changes in women’s roles in the home and business and the outward desire for leisure time have come about quite slowly. Other changes, however, occur more quickly. Clothing styles, for example, come and go rather hastily.

It is the human-made part of the environment, the total way of life of a people, and the social legacy that the individual acquires from his group. The culture into which we are born provides many ready-made solutions to problems growing out of the geographic, biological, and social environment in which we live.

Definition of Culture

Beliefs in freedom of speech and choice and God are products of human action. Additionally, people leave physical evidence of their culture through art and craftwork, buildings, furniture, laws, and food.

Culture may also be defined in other ways.

Culture has been defined in some ways, but most simply, as the learned and shared behavior of a community of interacting human beings.

British anthropologist Edward Taylor states, “Culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as. a member of society”.

According to Phatak, Bhagat, and Kashlak, “Culture is a concept that has been used in several social science disciplines to explain variations in human thought processes in different parts of the world.”         ‘

According to J.P. Lederach, “Culture is the shared knowledge and schemes created by a set of people for perceiving, interpreting, expressing, and responding to the social realities around them.”

According to R. Linton, “A culture is a configuration of learned behaviors and results of behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society.”

According to G. Hofstede, “Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.”

According to H.T. Mazumdar, “Culture is the total of human achievements, material and non-material, capable of transmission, sociologically, i.e., by tradition and communication, vertically as well as horizontally.”

According to Philip Kotler, “Culture is the set of basic values, perceptions wants, behaviors learned by a member of society from family and other important institutions.”

According to Warren J. Keegan, “Culture includes both conscious and unconscious values, ideas, attitudes and symbols that shape human behavior and that are transmitted from one generation to the next.”

Culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding learned through socialization. These shared patterns identify the members of a culture group while distinguishing those of another group.

According to Kroeber, “the mass of the learned and transmitted motor reactions, habits, techniques, ideas, and values – and the behavior they include – is what constitutes culture. It is all those things about men that are more than just biological or organic, and that are also more than merely psychological.”

These ready-made solutions are provided in the form of cultural patterns relating to the ideology, role definitions, and socialization procedures of the society in which we live.

These cultural patterns are transmitted to individuals through such social institutions as the family, educational institutions, religious institutions, and social classes, using languages, parents’ attitudes and behavior, and reading.

As a result, the cultural patterns that consumers learn to influence their ideas and values, the roles they play, how they carry those roles out, and how their needs and desires are handled.

E. B. Taylor defined culture as that complex whole, including knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.

Culture is thus composed of people’s common habits and patterns of living in daily activities and common interests in entertainment, sports, news, and even advertising.

Culture is a comprehensive concept that includes almost everything that influences an individual’s thought processes and behaviors. Culture does not include inherited responses and predispositions. Rather it is acquired. One more thing should also be borne in mind about culture.

In modern complex societies, culture seldom provides detailed prescriptions for appropriate behavior.

Rather, it supplies boundaries within which most individuals think and act. You should also remember that the nature of cultural influences is such that we are seldom aware of them. An individual behaves, thinks, and feels like other members of the same culture because it seems natural.

The concept of culture has been debated in anthropological literature for at least two centuries and has acquired almost as many definitions as those trying to define it.

According to Singer, recent definitions of culture have grown progressively more formal and abstract. Culture has often been loosely defined as behavior observed through social relations and material artifacts.

Although these may provide some raw data for a construct of culture, they are not the constituents of culture. In a deeper anthropological sense, culture includes patterns, norms, rules, and standards that find expression in behavior, social relations, and artifacts.

These are the constituents of culture. Singer’s definition revealed this development: ‘Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior, acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups including their embodiments in artifacts.

The essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e., historically derived and selected) ideas, especially their attached values. Thus, according to the above definition, culture is the conditioning elements of behavior and its products.

Referring to Ralph Linton, Berkman, and Gilson, in their book ‘Consumer Behavior – Concepts and Strategies,’ defined culture as ‘patterns of learned behavior held in common and transmitted by the members of any given society.’

Thus, culture consists of those behaviors of a society that are well-established and accepted by the members of that society. These patterns are followed by the majority.

For example, most Bengali women wear ‘sharee,’ an established pattern of behavior in this culture. There are exceptions to this pattern as well.

For example, some women may wear T-shirts and trousers, but this is not a pattern since it is not found in the majority’s behavior. Let us now explain this definition at some length.

Characteristics of Culture

All organizations have a culture because they are embedded in specific societal cultures and are part of them. Some values create a dominant culture in organizations that help guide employees’ day-to-day behavior.

There is also evidence that these dominant cultures can positively impact desirable outcomes, such as successfully conducting mergers and acquisitions, supporting product innovation processes, and helping firms cope with rapid economic and technological change.

To be successful in a particular culture, a marketer must understand the culture’s characteristics. Some of the characteristics were discussed earlier while explaining different definitions of culture. Here we shall highlight those and others not mentioned earlier. The characteristics may be named:

Culture is a Learned Behavior

Not all behavior is learned, but most of it is learned; combing one’s hair, standing in line, telling jokes, criticizing the President, and going to the movie all constitute behaviors that had to be learned.

Sometimes the terms conscious learning and unconscious learning are used to distinguish the learning.

Some behavior is obvious. People can be seen going to football games, eating with forks, or driving automobiles. Such behavior is called “overt” behavior. Other behavior is less visible.

A culture that it (culture) is learned rather than programmed genetically.

As an individual grows in a particular environment, he learns about different aspects of culture through interacting with other society members.

One learns cultural values, norms, beliefs, etc., formally, informally, or technically.

Formal learning occurs when senior members teach different cultural aspects to juniors; informal learning occurs as a result of the child’s imitation of behaviors of others such as elder brothers, sisters, parents, or heroes and heroines as well as celebrities; technical learning occurs as a result of formal education received from different institutions.

These three types of learning affect our consumption behaviors, which marketers should take into active consideration in their planning and should try to reinforce them.

Culture is Abstract

Culture exists in the minds or habits of the members of society. Culture is the shared ways of doing and thinking. There are degrees of visibility of cultural behavior, ranging from persons’ regularized activities to their internal reasons for so doing.

In other words, we cannot see culture as such; we can only see human behavior. This behavior occurs in a regular, patterned fashion and is called culture.

Culture Includes Attitudes, Values, and Knowledge

There is a widespread error in the thinking of many people who tend to regard the ideas, attitudes, and notions they have as “their own.”

It is easy to overestimate the uniqueness of one’s attitudes and ideas. When there is an agreement with other people, it is largely Unnoticed, but when there is a disagreement or difference, one is usually conscious of it.

Your differences, however, may also be cultural. For example, suppose you are a Muslim, and the other person is a Christian.

Culture also Includes Material Objects.

Man’s behavior results in creating objects.

Men were behaving when they made these things. Making these objects required numerous and various skills, which human beings gradually built up through the ages. Man has invented something else, and so on.

Occasionally, one sees that man does not really “make” steel or a battleship.

All these things first existed in a “state of nature.”

The man merely modified their form and changed them from the state in which they were to the state in which he now uses them. The chair was first a tree which man surely did not make. But the chair is more than trees, and the jet airplane is more than iron ore and so forth.

The Members of Society share a culture.

The patterns of learned behavior and behavior results are possessed not by one or a few people but usually by a large proportion.

Thus, many millions share such behavior patterns as automobiles or the English language. Persons may share some part of a culture unequally.

Sometimes people share different aspects of culture.

Culture is Super-Organic

Culture is sometimes called super organic. It implies that “culture” is somehow superior to “nature.” The word super-organic is useful when it implies what may be quite a different phenomenon from a cultural point of view.

For example, a tree means different things to the botanist who studies it, the older woman who uses it for shade in the late summer afternoon, the farmer who picks its fruit, the motorist who collides with it, and the young lovers who carve their initials in its trunk.

The same physical objects and physical characteristics, in other words, may constitute a variety of quite different cultural objects and cultural characteristics.

Culture is Pervasive

Culture is pervasive; it touches every aspect of life. The pervasiveness of culture is manifest in two ways.

First, culture provides an unquestioned context for individual actions and responses. Cultural norms govern not only emotional actions but also relational actions.

Second, culture pervades social activities and institutions.

Culture is a Way of Life

Culture simply means the “way of life” of a people or their “design for living.” Kluckhohn and Kelly define it in his sense:” A culture is a historically derived system of explicit and implicit designs for living, which tends to be shared by all or specially designed members of a group.”

Explicit culture refers to similarities in words and actions which can be directly observed.

For example, adolescent cultural behavior can be generalized from regularities in dress, mannerisms, and conversation. Implicit culture exists in abstract forms, which are not quite obvious.

Culture is Idealistic

Culture embodies the ideals and norms of a group. It is the sum total of a group’s ideal patterns and norms of behavior. Culture consists of the intellectual, artistic, and social ideals and institutions that the members of society profess and strive to confirm.

Culture is Transmitted among Members of Society

Persons learn cultural ways from people.

Many of them are “handed down” by their elders, parents, teachers, and others. Other cultural behaviors are “handed up” to elders. Some of the transmission of culture is among contemporaries.

For example, the styles of dress, political views, and the use of recent labor-saving devices. One does not acquire a behavior pattern spontaneously.

He learns it. That means that someone teaches him, and he learns. Much of the learning process for the teacher and the learner is unconscious, unintentional, or accidental.

Culture is Continually Changing

One fundamental and inescapable attribute (a special quality) of culture is the fact of unending change.

Some societies sometimes change slowly, and hence in comparison to other societies, seem not to be changing. But they are changing, even though not obviously so.

Language is the Chief Vehicle of Culture

Man lives not only in the present but also in the past and future.

He can do this because he possesses a language that transmits what was learned in the past and enables him to transmit the accumulated wisdom to the next generation.

A specialized language pattern serves as a common bond to the members of a particular group or subculture.

Although culture is transmitted in various ways, language is one of the most important vehicles for perpetuating cultural patterns.

Culture is Integrated

This is known as holism, or the interconnected parts of a culture.

All aspects of a culture are related to one another, and to truly understand a culture, one must learn about all of its parts, not only a few.

Culture is Shared

Cultural values, beliefs, norms, etc., are shared by most members of a given culture because they gratify our needs. As the members of a society transmit them to the next generation, they are practiced by the majority.

They are also taught to us by our educational and religious institutions.

Some exceptions may not share the core beliefs, values, and attitudes of their culture, but the majority are highly likely to hold them. For example, most Muslim males go to mosques on Fridays to say the ‘Jumma’ prayer, and it is considered a social activity.

Culture Satisfies Needs

Individuals are having different types of needs. They need food, clothing, shelter, medicine, love and belongingness, esteem and status, achievement, and several physicals, social, and psychological needs. How these needs will be satisfied is being determined by the culture.

For example, the hunger need is satisfied with different food items by people of different cultures. In Bali, Indonesia, a man is likely to satisfy this need by eating mango, whereas a Bangladeshi will take rice to meet this need.

By providing standards, culture dictates people about what to buy, when to buy, how to buy, how to use and consume different products, and above everything else, what lifestyle one should assume to satisfy his needs.

Culture is Dynamic

This simply means that cultures interact and change.

Because most cultures are in contact with other cultures, they exchange ideas and symbols. All cultures change. Otherwise, they would have problems adapting to changing environments.

And because cultures are integrated, the entire system must likely adjust if one component in the system changes.

No culture is static. Cultural swings take place. As the environment is changing, culture has to be changed to survive.

Therefore, culture is a dynamic concept rather than a static one. As cultural norms change, they bring changes in our consumption and lifestyles. To be successful in the dynamic culture, marketers should carefully and continuously monitor the changes and modify their products accordingly for them (products) to be accepted by the consumers.

Culture is Transmissive

Culture is transmissive as it is transmitted front one generation to another.

Language is the main vehicle of culture. Language in different forms makes it possible for the present generation to understand the achievement of earlier generations.

Transmission of culture may take place by imitation as well as by instruction.

Culture Varies from Society to Society

Every society has a culture of its own. It differs from society to society. The culture of every society is unique to itself. Cultures are not uniform.

Cultural elements like customs, traditions, morals, values, and beliefs are not uniform everywhere. Culture varies from time to time also.

Culture is Gratifying

Culture provides proper opportunities for the satisfaction of our needs and desires.

Our needs, both biological and social, are fulfilled in cultural ways. Culture determines and guides various activities of man. Thus, culture is defined as the process through which human beings satisfy their wants.

So we can easily say that culture has various features that embody it in an important position in organizations and other aspects.

Functions of Culture

We will review the functions that culture performs and assess whether culture can be a liability for an organization. Culture performs some functions within an organization.

• First, it has a boundary-defining role; it creates distinctions between one organization and another.
• Second, it conveys a sense of identity for organization members.
• Third, culture facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger than one’s individual self-interest.
• Fourth, it enhances the stability of the social system. Culture is the social glue that helps hold the organization together by providing appropriate standards for what employees should say and do.
• Finally, culture serves as a sense-making and control mechanism that guides and

shapes employees’ attitudes and behavior. It is this last function that is of particular interest to us.

The role of culture in influencing employee behavior appears to be increasingly important in today’s workplace.

As organizations have widened spans of control, flattened structures have been introduced, and teams reduced formalization and empowered employees. The shared meaning provided by a strong culture ensures that everyone is pointed in the same direction.

Importance of the Cultural Study

The influence of society’s religious, family, educational, and social system on consumers’ behavior and their impacts on marketing comprise a company’s cultural environment. It would be difficult to overlook the importance of culture as a motivator of consumer behavior.

While it is easy to state the general significance of culture, it is more difficult to define the term to receive general acceptance.

Consequently, it is hard to be precise about the impacts of culture on consumer behavior. Cultural dimensions among countries vary even more than economic ones, so it becomes difficult to find general patterns at best.

For example, even though Western European countries’ economic characteristics are similar, their cultural dimensions make for very different eating habits.

Certainly, culture is the most pervasive external force on an individual’s consumption behavior. How people work and play, what they eat, how they eat, how and what they buy, and the cultural traditions and socially developed modes of behavior are all affected.

Even a slight change in them can significantly alter how and what people buy.

For example, in the US, in the early 1980s, some religious groups began a movement to boycott products promoted on certain highly popular but “immoral” (sex-oriented) Consumer Behavior Television shows.

Over 6000 churches joined the movement, and some companies agreed to cease their advertising on those shows.

Marketing executives must consider the importance of the cultural setting in which consumer behavior occurs. The attitudes people possess, the values they hold dear, the lifestyles they enjoy, and the interpersonal behavioral patterns they adopt are the outcomes of the cultural setting.

These forces affect the marketplace by influencing other external forces. They undoubtedly have a bearing on government standards, the state of the economy, and the intensity of competition and technological development.

You should remember that cultures vary from country to country, so consumption patterns among people vary.

Failure to carefully consider cultural differences is often responsible for monumental marketing failures. In fact, it has been convincingly argued that the root cause of most international business problems is the self­reference criteria, i.e., the unconscious reference to one’s own cultural values.

Marketing across cultural boundaries is a challenging and difficult task. You know that consumer behavior always occurs within a specific environment, and an individual’s culture provides the most general environment in which his consumption behavior occurs.

Cultural influences broadly affect buying behavior because they permeate our daily lives. Our culture determines what we wear and eat and where we reside and travel. It broadly affects how we buy and use products and influences our satisfaction with them.

For example, in our urban culture, time scarcity increases because of the number of females working. Because of the current emphasis we place on physical and mental self-development. Many people shop and buy time-saving products, such as instant noodles, to cope with time scarcity.

Culture, to some degree, determines how products are purchased and used, which affects the development, promotion, distribution, and pricing of products.

From the premise given above, it is now quite evident that studying the market’s culture where you operate or plan to operate is vital for your success and even existence.

Understanding culture is important to you as a marketing manager because it always provides approved specific goal objects for any generalized human want.

3 Components Of Culture

If you study a modern or backward culture, you will identify three important components of it. 3 components of culture are;

1. cognitive component,
2. material component, and
3. normative component.

In other words, the culture of a particular society is composed of three distinct elements or components. Let us now have a brief discussion on them:

Cognitive Component

The basic component of any culture is one relating to people’s knowledge about the universe’s creation and existence. This aspect is based on either people’s observations or on certain factual evidence that they have.

An individual of a backward culture believes in gods, superstitions, and other objects as a part of their cognitive aspect. But, in a technologically advanced society, the cognitive aspect is based on scientific experiments and their applications.

The cognitive component of an advanced society’s culture is quite distinct from that of a primitive one because of the refinement of knowledge through systematic testing and observation.

Material Component

Another important component of any given culture is the material feature of society. It consists of all the tangible things that human beings make, use, and give value to. The material component varies from culture to culture as the cognitive component.

It is based on the technological state that society has achieved and understood, looking at society’s artifacts. The artifacts include the type of housing where people live, the furniture they use, and other material goods they possess.

Since it is tied to the level of technological advancement of society, the material features of cultures are very diverse as technological achievements vary.

Cognitive Component

The other important component of a culture is the cognitive component. The cognitive component is composed of society’s values and norms, which guide and regulate behavior.

In other words, it consists of the values, beliefs, and rules by which society directs people’s interactions. Understanding culture means understanding its values.

Values are shared standards of acceptable and unacceptable, good and bad, desirable and undesirable. Values are abstract, very general concepts that are expressed by norms.

Norms are rules and guidelines that set forth proper attitudes and behaviors for specific situations.

For example, in South Asian countries, the culture places a high value on religious training; therefore, our norms specify formal religious education for every child up to a certain age. Mass religious education norms create a need for religious teachers, books, and other related materials.

Among the values the culture holds, some are core or central values, while others are peripheral values. Core values are the deeply held enduring beliefs that guide our actions, judgments, and specific behaviors, supporting our efforts to realize important aims.

Although not as deeply embedded or fundamental as central values, our peripheral values reflect our central ones. You may value regular exercise and a low-salt, low-cholesterol diet if you value your health. You may also abstain from smoking cigarettes and drinking alcoholic beverages.

Marketers should give a deep look at each of the three components of culture discussed above as they determine the consumption of goods and services by people of a particular culture to a great extent. Failure to understand them may become a grave concern for marketers.

3 Aspects of Culture

If we explain the above definition, we can identify three aspects of a given culture;

1. culture is a pattern of behavior,
2. culture is learned, and
3. culture is transmitted from one generation to the next.

Culture is a Pattern of Behavior

Culture refers basically to the style of behavior. This style is found to be present in the behaviors of the majority of people living in a particular culture.

This pattern varies from culture to culture, and as a result, consumptions vary among countries. The pattern of behavior you will see in South-Asian culture will definitely not be seen in other cultures. The behavior established by culture is found to be practiced by the majority as it satisfies their needs.

Someone not following the established pattern of behavior is likely to be condemned by others in society. Since the majority follows the same style of behavior in a particular culture, it becomes a pattern.

To be successful, marketers must find out the patterns of behavior and design their marketing strategies accordingly to be successful in a culture.

Culture is Learned

The second important aspect relating to culture is that we learn it through experiences and interactions.

The aspects of culture are not found in an individual right from his birth. He rather learns those from others in society as he follows, observes, and interacts with them. Since experiences vary among people of different societies, they learn different things resulting in differences among cultures.

For example, a South-Asian child grows up in a European country among Europeans and will definitely not learn South-Asian cultural aspects but the European cultural aspects, influencing his behavior.

It clearly indicates that culture is learned, not present from birth, which is why people of different cultures see the same object or situation differently.

The reason is that their learning differs. For example, wearing mini-skirts by females is seen negatively in South Asia, whereas it is seen positively in Western countries. Since people of two different cultures learn differently, they are likely to view the same object differently.

People learn about their cultures from their parents and different social organizations and groups. This will be discussed later.

Culture is Transmitted from One Generation to the Next.

We have in our culture in terms of values, ideas, attitudes, symbols, artifacts, or other, and we are likely to conform to those.

We follow the patterns of our cultures and teach them to the next generation to guide them. This process of transmitting the cultural elements from one generation to the next is known as ‘Enculturation”.

Thus, cultural elements do not persist in one generation but are transmitted to the next generation and survive the entire life span of an individual. That is why a lot of similarities in behaviors are found between people of two different generations.

Cultural Symbolism

A symbol may be defined as the sign or representation of something moral or intellectual by the images or properties of natural things, such as “the lion is the symbol of courage.” It may also be defined as a figure or character standing for a letter or word. Symbols make people different from other animals because people create and use symbols, unlike other animals.

Obviously, marketers need to be aware of the symbolic nature of their products and packaging. Though one naturally wants to avoid unintended symbolic messages, symbolism can enhance product appeal if used correctly.

For example, several brands of cosmetics for young women are packaged in cylindrical containers, which are obviously phallic symbols.

But the question arises, “How do you know the meanings of symbols used by people?” To find the answer, you should first know the types of symbols used by people and, second, discover their inherent meanings as they are used.

Different studies on cultures have identified two types of symbols used by people to communicate among themselves. They are:

1. Referential symbols.
2. Expressive symbols.

Referential symbols are those that mean or indicate specific objects. For example, the word “pen” means an item used for writing purposes. It is easy for marketers to understand the meaning of referential symbols, and as a result, they do not face many problems with regard to referential symbols.

Expressive symbols are those that may carry different meanings for people of different cultures.

They need to be interpreted within the particular cultural context since they carry connotative or implied meanings. People of different cultures may interpret the meaning of the same expressive symbol differently.

Thus, their meanings are not limited.

For instance, an expressive symbol, such as a thumbs-up gesture, may signify appreciation to an American, whereas the same symbol may carry a negative connotation to a Bangladeshi. Marketers, therefore, face a lot of problems with regard to expressive symbols.

Misinterpretation of an expressive symbol may cause a monumental loss to a marketer. For example, if a US citizen finds a baby wearing a blue outfit, he would most likely assume the child is male. The same assumption may not be true in other parts of the world. In Holland, for example, blue connotes femininity.

There could be many other examples of different interpretations of the same symbol by people of different cultures.

Red is considered an unlucky sign in Chad, Nigeria, and Germany. The same color is considered positive in Denmark, Romania, and Argentina. Yellow flowers are signs of death in Mexico and infidelity in France. The number seven is considered unlucky in Singapore, Kenya, and Ghana.

On the other hand, it is considered a lucky number in India, Morocco, Nicaragua, and here in Bangladesh. A triangle is a negative sign in Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan but a positive in Colombia.

Failure to recognize the meaning assigned to a symbol can cause serious problems.

For example, a leading US golf ball manufacturer was initially disappointed in its attempts to penetrate the Japanese market. Its mistake was packaging its golf balls in sets of four, which is a symbol of death in Japan.

Another manufacturer of water recreation products suffered heavy losses in Malaysia because the company’s predominant color, green, was associated with the jungle and illness in Malaysia.

Since the meaning of symbols varies from culture to culture, marketers must take them into active consideration when doing business in other cultures.

Useful Concepts of Cultural Analysis

Cultural dimensions among countries vary even more than economic dimensions, so it becomes difficult, at best, to find general patterns.

Analyzing a total, the unified cultural system means identifying its values and norms, observing how these normative aspects are translated into the group and individual behavior, and examining the material aspects of the culture.

The symbols people use to communicate, how they view other cultures, and the changes that occur vary greatly among cultures. Marketers should have a sound idea of these three aspects – cultural symbolism, cultural relativism, and cultural change – to take appropriate marketing action.

Failure to consider the above aspects carefully may cause irrecoverable loss and even the firm’s demise. The connotations associated with body motions, greetings, colors, numbers, shapes, sizes, and above everything else, symbols vary considerably across cultures.

A few examples are shown in the table next page. Marketers may identify these variables through several techniques, one of which is a ‘participant-observer’ technique developed by Malinowski.

Here, the observer enters a culture, observes people, asks questions, and identifies different aspects of it (culture).

Anthropology, you know, contributes to an understanding of the cultural setting in which purchase behaviors take place. Several anthropological studies were undertaken to identify different aspects of cultures that are to do with consumer behavior.

Quite a few concepts were identified from these studies, of which three notably influence consumer behavior.

They are: ‘cultural symbolism,’ ‘cultural relativism,’ and ‘cultural change.’ We shall now discuss them in turn in the following sections:

Cultural Influences on Consumption

The culture into which consumers are born provides many ready­made solutions to problems growing out of the geographic, biological, and social environment in which they live.

These ready-made solutions are provided in cultural patterns relating to ideology, role definitions, and socialization procedures of the society in which they live.

These cultural patterns are transmitted to individuals through social institutions such as ly, educational institutions, religious institutions, social and language attitudes, behavior, and public school instructions.

As a result, the cultural patterns that consumers learn to influence their ideas and values, their roles, how they carry those roles out, and how their needs and desires are handled.

Culture provides patterns that guide individuals in the satisfaction of their biological needs.

Thus, the child learns the diet pattern of his culture, modesty, hygiene of elimination, proper conduct of sexual affairs, and propriety patterns in a dress. The requirement for food, for example, is met in every society.

However, the specific foods that his culture determines an individual regards as acceptable. For instance, the Chinese dislike milk and milk products, while dairy products are an important part of the English diet.

Cultural patterns are how people satisfy their needs and create desires that influence their buying behavior.

For example, the learned desires of certain consumers for cigarettes may be just as compelling as their food requirements.

So, too, the desire for a late-model television set, which may be learned from culture, may occupy a high position in the list of products a newly married couple wants.

Cultural Relativism

Another important concept revealed from anthropological studies regarding culture is ‘ethnocentrism’, which gave birth to the concept of cultural relativism. One of the basic human tendencies is to consider their cultures as superior to others.

This tendency is found to be present both in advanced and technologically backward countries. In an eastern country, people ourselves as friendly, warm, and hospitable.

According to us, Western people are heartless. Again, Westerners consider us dirty and backward.

We conclude this way because we measure other cultures by our own cultural context. This tendency to view and judge other cultures by the standards and context of one’s own culture is known as ‘ethnocentrism.’

If an individual views other cultures based on this concept, he will always think that the way he does things is right and standard, whereas the way people of other cultures do things and behave is either substandard or wrong.

If a marketer adopts his marketing strategies for other cultures guided by the concept of ethnocentrism, his chances of becoming successful there are slim.

The reason is that the way he will develop, price, distribute, and promote the product will not match the standards of those other cultures.

From this experience, researchers have developed the concept of cultural relativism. Under the cultural relativism concept, marketers view and judge other cultures by the standards of those cultures, not by their (marketers) own cultural standards.

Thus, cultural relativism is the elementary proposition of judging a particular culture and the behavior of people of that culture in the social and cultural context of the culture in question.

Marketers, if they want to be successful in other cultures, should study consumer behavior following the concept of cultural relativism.

Subcultural Differences Affecting Marketing Decisions

Because of the important differences within any culture, marketers must be aware of diverse subcultures -examining them individually and on their own terms. We know that those identified with a subculture tend to think and act alike in certain respects, which has important implications for their lifestyle.

Recognition of this has led to experimentation with market segmentation to develop an effective marketing strategy adapted to market targets believed to have special promise.

Marketers must recognize that even though their operations are confined to a particular country, a division or district, or even to one city, subcultural differences may dictate considerable variations in what, how, and when people buy.

To deal with these differences effectively, marketers may have to alter their product, distribution systems, price, or promotion to satisfy members of particular subcultures.

A particular subculture takes on marketing importance if it constitutes a significant part of the population and specific purchasing patterns can be identified.

Marketers should also keep in mind that, in reality, subculture is not a sufficient basis for market segmentation. They need to be aware of how subcultural characteristics influence buying behavior.

Moreover, they should also bear in mind that one subcultural background may interact with other aspects, such as social class, personality, lifestyle, etc., during the buying decision process.

Marketers should be interested in subcultures to the extent that they can serve their unique needs. Marketers should understand that if the subculture members, no matter how distinct from the dominant culture, do not differ in their needs and behaviors associated with a particular product area, the subculture does not require recognition as a separate group.

Understanding subcultures helps marketers focus on sizeable and natural market segments. Marketers should also keep in mind that, like culture, subcultures also change.

Therefore, continuous monitoring of subcultural characteristics may help marketers bring appropriate and timely marketing strategies to make them more market-oriented.

Subcultural Differences Affecting Marketing Decisions

Because of the important differences within any culture, marketers must be aware of diverse subcultures -examining them individually and on their own terms. We know that those identified with a subculture tend to think and act alike in certain respects, which has important implications for their lifestyle.

Recognition of this has led to experimentation with market segmentation to develop an effective marketing strategy adapted to market targets believed to have special promise.

Marketers must recognize that even though their operations are confined to a particular country, a division or district, or even to one city, subcultural differences may dictate considerable variations in what, how, and when people buy.

To deal with these differences effectively, marketers may have to alter their product, distribution systems, price, or promotion to satisfy members of particular subcultures.

A particular subculture takes on marketing importance if it constitutes a significant part of the population and specific purchasing patterns can be identified.

Marketers should also keep in mind that, in reality, subculture is not a sufficient basis for market segmentation. They need to be aware of how subcultural characteristics influence buying behavior.

Moreover, they should also bear in mind that one subcultural background may interact with other aspects, such as social class, personality, lifestyle, etc., during the buying decision process.

Marketers should be interested in subcultures to the extent that they can serve their unique needs. Marketers should understand that if the subculture members, no matter how distinct from the dominant culture, do not differ in their needs and behaviors associated with a particular product area, the subculture does not require recognition as a separate group.

Understanding subcultures helps marketers focus on sizeable and natural market segments. Marketers should also keep in mind that, like culture, subcultures also change.

Therefore, continuous monitoring of subcultural characteristics may help marketers bring appropriate and timely marketing strategies to make them more market-oriented.

Conclusion: Understanding Culture is important

Culture is the human-made part of the human environment and is the sum of total knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, laws, customs, and other capabilities and habits acquired by humans as members of society.

Culture is a comprehensive concept that includes almost everything around us and influences an individual’s thought processes and behavior. It would be difficult for a marketer to succeed if he overlooks culture’s importance as an indicator of behavior.

So, it is a must for marketing executives, business executives, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers to consider the importance of the cultural setting within which consumer behavior occurs.