What are the seven traits of culture?

Traits: Seven (7) Major Traits of Culture

1. Learned

   Not innate but something acquired because of where one is raised. If you are conceived in one culture but born and raised in another (i.e. transferred at birth) - you acquired the culture of the second, not the first.

   Learned through interaction, observation, and imitation

   Conscious - being told, reading

   Unconscious - most culture is learned unconsciously - i.e. through language for example

   Learned from a variety of sources Proverbs

   Folk tales and folklore

   High Culture: poetry, art, music

   Mass media (especially TV in this generation)

2. Transmitted

   Each generation (older) passes it on to the younger - and constantly reinforces it. If not transmitted, a culture dies.

3. Based on Symbols

   Language (verbal and nonverbal) is key element / but also from images, icons.

4. Changeable

   No culture is static. The culture of your grandparents or parents is not identical with your own (a major cause of the so-called generation gap).Changes occurs from:

   • innovation (discovery) e.g. television, computer, women's movement
   • diffusion (borrowing) e.g. McDonalds worldwide
   • acculturation (long-term contact with another culture) e.g. Taco Bell?
5. Integrated

   One dimension affect other dimensions. Consider how the Civil Rights Movement in the US (initially concerned with voting rights) spread to encompass multiple parts of the USA.

6. Ethnocentric

   A trait found in every culture - the belief that one's culture is superior and more worthy than another. While it is important to have a positive view of one's self, ethnocentrism can be a major hindrance to intercultural communication - can shut others out, lead to derogatory viewpoints.

7. Adaptive

   In order to survive, culture must adapt. Example - roles of women in USA after WWII.