Putting It Together: Culture

In this section you looked at what makes up culture and how we absorb cultural norms. You saw how human societies developed from our earliest existence to the present-day, and how the functioning of society impacts personal experience by constructing our social realities, including our technology-driven and increasingly globalized social realities.

You also learned about different aspects of culture, such as material and non-material culture that we often take for granted as simply “being there” without questioning why it is there. You learned that it is very easy to understand and like your own culture better than that of others, especially when you are confronted with unfamiliar cultural norms.

Finally, you learned how the three main theoretical perspectives help to explain culture and the role of technology, and how they may also help us to predict future cultural shifts.

In the video that follows, Julien S. Bourrelle suggests that we can relate to another culture in three ways. Do you agree or disagree? How do you see the world through cultural glasses? How is culture related to diversity?  As you watch, consider how Bourrelle’s talk helps to bridge what we learned about culture in this module with the next topic of socialization.