Edwin Hoffman en Arjan Verdooren - Diversity competence

1.1  What is culture?

Unfortunately, nowadays one of the main problems of the concept of culture is that it is easily used simplistically or even opportunistically. This leads to state ments such as ‘I don’t think that is part of his culture’, ‘My culture does not allow me to do this’, or ‘Those cultures do not mix’. Instead of creating deeper under standing and effective communication, such views can lead to either-or and us versus-them scenarios. This section is devoted to providing a deeper and broad er understanding of the nature of culture by discussing its various aspects. 1.1.1 Culture is everywhere – and nowhere When trying to understand the significance of culture for human experience and interaction, one could state that culture is both everywhere and nowhere. It is everywhere , in the sense that it affects people’s feelings, thoughts and ac tions on many levels and occasions. Human beings need to make sense of their experiences to properly function. In doing so, they can develop different under standings of their lives and the world they live in. People need to give meaning to what they do, since there is no inherent meaning in their actions as such . Cul ture plays a crucial role in giving meaning to experiences. For instance, shaking hands in itself has no meaning, unless people give it meaning, e.g. as a way of greeting and paying respect. Culture, in its broadest sense, thus has to do with everything that is developed by people to organize their lives and experiences. In this sense, culture is like the wind (thanks to Maarten Bremer for this met aphor): invisible yet always there, somehow steering people in one direction while making it difficult for them to go in another direction. And as with the wind, you notice it most when you go against it . People are often unaware of how they are influenced by culture, until they are confronted with unfamiliar cultural patterns. People are ‘socialized’ into a culture from a young age, by their parents, their family, teachers, peers and others. It may come as a shock when they learn that other people have been raised in different ways, and their first response is often to reject ideas or behaviours they are unfamiliar with. A professor says, ‘When I first started teaching international groups of students, I was often very upset when some of my students didn’t look me in the eye while I was talking to them. I felt they were not listening to me or even disrespecting me. When I told this to a colleague, he explained to me that many of our students are taught that it is considered polite to avoid eye contact, especially between people of different social registers (like a student and teacher, or a child and his elder relatives). For many of them, it is considered disrespectful to look someone straight in the eye when being talked to, especially by teachers.’

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