Answer:
4 Geertz (1973) asserts that members of cultures go about their daily lives within
shared webs of meaning. If we link García and Geertz’s defi nitions, we can imagine
culture as invisible webs composed of values, beliefs, ideas about appropriate behavior,
and socially constructed truths.
5 One may ask, why is culture made up of invisible webs? Most of the time, our
own cultures are invisible to us (Greenfi eld, Raeff , & Quiroz, 1996; Philips, 1983), yet
they are the context within which we operate and make sense of the world. When we
encounter a culture that is diff erent from our own, one of the things we are faced with is
a set of beliefs that manifest themselves in behaviors that diff er from our own.
6 In this way, we oft en talk about other people’s cultures, and not so much about
our own. Our own culture is oft en hidden from us, and we frequently describe it as
“the way things are.” Nonetheless, one’s beliefs and actions are not any more natural or
biologically predetermined than any other group’s set of beliefs and actions; they have
emerged from the ways one’s own group has dealt with and interpreted the particular
conditions it has faced. As conditions change, so do cultures; thus, cultures are
considered to be dynamic.
Individual Diff erences Within Cultures and the Dynamic Nature of Culture
7 Individual cultural identity presents yet another layer of complexity. Members
of the same culture vary widely in their beliefs and actions. How can we explain this
phenomenon? Th e argument for a “distributive model” of culture addresses the
relationship between culture and personality (García, 1994; Schwartz, 1978). Th is
argument posits that individuals select beliefs, values, and ideas that guide their
actions from a larger set of cultural beliefs, values, and ideas. In most cases, we do not
consciously pick and choose attributes from the total set; rather, the conditions and
events in our individual lives lead us to favor some over others. In summarizing Spiro’s
concept of “cultural heritage,” García (1994) draws a distinction between “cultural
heritage” and “cultural inheritance.” Cultural heritage refers to what society as a whole
possesses, and a cultural inheritance is what each individual possesses. In other words,
each individual inherits some (but not all) of the cultural heritage of the group.
8 We all have unique identities that we develop within our cultures, but these
identities are not fi xed or static. Th is is the reason that stereotypes do not hold up:
no two individuals from any culture are exactly alike. While living inside a culture
allows members to become familiar with the total cultural heritage of that society,
no individual actually internalizes the entire cultural heritage. In fact, it would be
impossible for any one person to possess a society’s entire cultural heritage; there are
inevitably complex and contradictory values, beliefs, and ideas within that heritage, a
result of the conditions and events that individuals and groups experience. For example,
arranged marriage has long been a cultural practice in India based on the belief that
the families of potential spouses best know who would make a desirable match. More
and more frequently, however, individuals reject the practice of arranged marriage; this
is partly due to the sense of independence from family brought on by both men’s and
women’s participation in a rapidly developing job market. Th e changing experience
of work is shift ing cultural attitudes towards family and marriage. Th ese diff erent
experiences and the new values, beliefs, and ideas they produce contribute to the
dynamic nature of culture.
Explanation:
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