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Culture is one of the core concepts of this course. So how can ‘culture’ be defined?

We can approach the concept of ‘culture’ from many different angles.

When people think of culture, they often think of the products of a cultural group (e.g. their art, their music). Others argue that culture is in the minds of people, and that those that are ‘like-minded’ form a sub-culture.

For the time being, we will adopt Helen Spencer-Oatey’s definition:

“Culture is a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values, orientations of life, beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioural conventions that are shared by a group of people, and that influence (but do not determine) each member’s behaviour and his/her interpretations of the ‘meaning’ of other people’s behaviour.” (Spencer-Oatey, 2008, p. 3)

The definition emphasises that, on one hand, culture is grounded in individual orientations. On the other, it suggests that these orientations are shared by a group. Moreover, Spencer-Oatey makes an important distinction between being influenced by these assumptions and values and being determined by them, the latter of which would suggest that individuals have no behavioural flexibility at all. This point is crucial to bear in mind as you progress through the course.

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