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Where do we find culture?

Well, as an earlier presentation, culture exists inside our heads in the form of

beliefs, norms, ideas, and values endorsed by members of the culture.

So that would refer sometimes that as personal knowledge.

But culture also exists in our heads in the form of the same beliefs,

values, and norms, but in this case not endorsed by us.

But the ones we believe those around us endorse,

that's what we call shared knowledge.

Both personal and shared knowledge exist in our heads, but personal knowledge is

based on our own values, and beliefs, and opinions as nurtured by the culture.

Whereas shared knowledge is our opinion

of how others around us share those values and beliefs.

Next, we're going to do an exercise to illustrate a distinction between personal

and shared knowledge.

But let's just keep in mind, that in both cases, both personal and shared knowledge,

we're talking about culture inside the person, culture in our heads.

Culture don't only exist inside our heads, culture also exists around us.

Culture is ubiquitous in everything that it's around us in society.

Culture is evident in social institutions, for instance, or

things that we human beings built to operate efficiently between each other.

For instance, let's illustrate with an example.

In the US, which is a more individualistic culture as we described earlier,

maternity leave is 12 weeks unpaid.

So in the individualistic US culture, we have decide collectively

that a woman should only have 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave.

And then after that, she should be ready to take care for herself.

But let's contrast that with another country, the Czech Republic,

which is a less individualistic and more collectivistic Central European culture.

Well, their maternity leave is 3 years paid, then what is driving this?

Well, in a more collectivistic environment,

there's a higher pressure to take care for each other.

And then, society develop rules and

regulations to provide women when they are pregnant with a higher social support.

So culture exist in our social institutions and construction.

Culture also exist in monuments and constructions,

things that we build to represent the culture.

Let's review a couple of examples, for instance in the United States, in

the American culture, one of the biggest monuments is the Statue of Liberty.

What does the Statue of Liberty symbolize?

Well, the name says it itself, liberty and freedom.

So the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of freedom

in a country that we described before as being individualistic.

And as a consequence, independence and

freedom are important values in the culture.

So Americans have agreed that the Statue of Liberty symbolizes American culture,

because it embodies the values of independence and

freedom that are important in this culture.

Let's see another monument in another culture, the Great Wall of China,

is a symbol of unification and preservation of Chinese traditions.

Defending ourselves from potential enemies,

and maintaining our culture alive for millennial.

Then, we said before, that China is a vertical collectivistic culture,

if you remember from our discussion at that time.

Protection of the status quo, tradition, respect for

tradition, are very important things in vertical collectivistic cultures.

So when we see the Great Wall of China, it embodies these values.

And then it becomes easier for the Great Wall of China to emerge as a consensual

representation of Chinese culture, or

to emerge as a cultural symbol due to the embodiment of this important values.

Culture also exists around us in monuments and constructions that are more mundane.

We think for instance in Chinese culture, in Chinese architecture,

there is a very strong emphasis on what is called bilateral symmetry.

And this is related to this understanding in Chinese culture that

things should be in harmony with the environment.

Then architecture in Chinese culture reflects the values of, and the importance

of harmony with the environment, and then that's reflected in our constructions.

Culture also exist around us in songs, and books, and developmental materials.

Remember, that culture is shared knowledge that we acquire.

How do we acquire this knowledge?

Well, part of this knowledge is acquired through our development as human beings.

Then not surprisingly, developmental materials, as in songs and

books are also impacted by the culture.

So for instance in American culture, years ago there was a very popular character for

children, his name was Barney.

And in Barney's programs, there were a lot of songs that emphasized uniqueness,

emphasized how much you could pursue your dreams, emphasized how you were different,

separate from others, very unique, very special.

Remember, we've been talking in this video how American culture's an individualistic

culture.

We saw that in the Statue of Liberty, now we see it in songs and themes and

developmental materials that emphasize independence, uniqueness, being different

from others, and pursing your own dreams, which are all individualistic themes.

But contrast that with developmental materials in collectivity cultures,

like those in Latin America.

In many Latin American cultures, kids start to learn how to read and

write using a book, that the first page of the book starts with how to read and

write the sentence, I love my mom, or [FOREIGN] in Spanish.

So it sounds like a coincidence, but we see that as a reflection of the culture.

In a collectivistic culture in which interdependence and

relationship with closing groups is really important,

it's not surprising that the first phrase that our children learn how to read and

write emphasizes that interdependence between the mom and the child.

So culture also exists in songs, books, and developmental materials.

Culture is also pervasive in popular games.

So for instance,

in American culture, one of the most popular games is American football.

American football is a game that emphasizes competition,

sometimes in a little bit of an aggressive fashion.

Is a rugged sport in which people are sometimes fighting with each other.

If we remember from our vertical individualistic orientation in America,

would say that this notion of competition, race and

[INAUDIBLE] is fighting ruggedness becoming important things.

So this is also capturing popular games.

Now think for instance in China.

A popular game is Jianzi, it's a Badminton like game played with a shuttlecock,

and which the idea is to balance this shuttlecock.

That emphasizes again, the notion of harmony, health, relationship between you

and the environment, precision, balance, maintenance of the status quo.

This is a game that is being played for hundred of years, and

is still popular in China.

So games can also reflect the culture.

Culture is around us in foods, and that's kind of obvious in a way.

We all want to eat the things that are popular in the culture, but I'm not

referring here only to the popularity of foods, but to the meaning of foods and

how people think about foods, and how foods become very iconic of the culture.

So let's take for instance again, American culture.

In American culture, one of the most popular foods is breakfast cereal.

And in particular, we have a particular type of breakfast cereal or

foods that we eat in the morning, that we call baby finger foods.

And these baby finger foods,

as the word reflects, is foods that babies can eat with their fingers.

Why is important that a baby can eat something by himself in

an individualistic culture.

Well it is important, because it emphasizes from a very early stage,

that notion of independence and freedom.

And if you can feed yourself, you're a lot more independent, than if you cannot.

But in other cultures that are more collectivistic,

this notion of baby finger foods or of kids feeding themselves is unheard of.

What these cultures emphasize is the interdependence,

in which the mother feeds the baby.

So culture is also present in foods.

Culture is obviously represented in consumer products, more generally.

And we're going to start talking about that in the future videos, but

let me just give you an example.

For instance, in American culture, jeans is a very iconic American product.

And again, jeans is a piece of garment that doesn't require too much caring,

is rugged, is durable, is very comfortable.

So then it's associated with the idea of being free,

having freedom to pursue your own activities comfortably.

Then not surprisingly, in American culture jeans become a very iconic product.

Finally, culture is also present in brands.

And this is going to be the key

thing we're going to be discussing in the future, how culture is embodied by brands?

But in the same way that culture is embodied around us in monuments,

In products, in foods, is also going to be present in brands.

Let me give you an example,

Harley Davidson is an iconic American brand of motorcycles that is typically

associated with values of individualism, freedom, independence, ruggedness.

If you remember the theme of what we've been discussing in this video about

American culture is this notion of the individualistic emphasis on independence,

freedom, self-reliance, doing your own things.

So then Harley Davidson embodied those values, and then becomes an American icon.

In the same way that for instance Prada is an Italian symbol for

Italians that emphasizes that notion of hedonism that

often times we associate with Italian culture.

So we find this cultural symbolism of brands in may different cultures.

And what we're going to discuss in the next videos,

is how we imbue brands with those meanings to create a stronger connections.

But summarizing what we learn from this video, first, culture is safe but

in our heads as values and beliefs.

And outside our heads in things that surround us, in material objects,

social institution.

In the head, culture manifest itself in our own personal beliefs and

values that being nurture by the culture, but

also in our knowledge about others beliefs and values.

So what others around us value and believe.

Outside the head, culture manifests itself in social institutions,

in monuments and buildings, in the sports and games, in foods,

in consumer products, and finally in brands.

In the next video,

we're going to focus more on this notion of cultural symbolism in brands.

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Lesson 1-4 Where Does Culture Exist or Manifest Itself?

Global Impact: Cultural Psychology

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