nguyenduytung
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Join date : 2014-03-18
 |  Subject: Level of culture  Sun Mar 23, 2014 12:00 pm | |
| [size=13.3333]Culture is often compared to an iceberg much of it lies beneath the surface, out of our immediate awareness. We generally respond to the surface values that we can sense; however, to truly understand a culture, we must also explore the behaviors below the waterline. This is a useful metaphor for examining the technical, formal, and informal levels of culture :
[/size] [size=13.3333]•The technical level[/size] [size=13.3333]is the explicitly clear and visible portion of our cultural iceberg and includes the artistic, technological, and materialistic components of a culture as well as its institutional systems. We generally find the fewest intercultural misunderstandings or problems at this level. Still, changes at this level can dramatically alter the balance of forces that maintain a culture. For example, the introduction of snowmobiles into the nomadic reindeer herding tribes of Greenland transformed some small family enterprises into large business conglomerates that monopolized the herding activity and dispossessed other tribal members.
•The formal level of our cultural iceberg rests at sea level, partially above and slightly below the surface. The formal level includes the norms, rules, roles, traditions, rituals, customs, and communication patterns of a group. Norms provide a guide for how group members should behave, and rules
clarify what is mutually considered “right” and “wrong” by a group. Roles define and explain expected or actual performance in relationships or social situations, whereas traditions, rituals, and customs describe regular practices within a culture. The communication patterns of a group denote how members communicate with others as well as their associations. who communicates with whom about what.
•The informal level of our cultural iceberg extends far below sea level and includes the cultural history and core values and beliefs that shape a culture’s world view and influence cultural identity. Cultural history, or the origin and background of a culture, can generate insight into the norms of a group and assist us in understanding a culture’s identity. Cultural identity is our sense of who we think we are, and because we participate in many cultural systems and belong to various groups, we develop multiple identities that come into play at different times depending on the circum stances and context Cultural identities commonly emerge through daily social practices and reflect the values and worldview of the culture. Values form the core of a culture and convey what is good and bad as well as express what is proper and improper or what is normal and abnormal behavior . A culture’s worldview is its “set of more or less systematized beliefs and values in terms of which evaluates and attaches
meaning to the reality that surrounds it”
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nguyenduytung
Posts : 32
Points : 69
Thanked : 23
Join date : 2014-03-18
| | Subject: Re: Level of culture Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:59 pm | |
| up for you easy to understand  |
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