Characteristics of Culture

Culture has following features:
1. Culture is invented: It cannot be viewed as something that just “exists” and waiting to be discovered. People are responsible for inventing their culture and this invention consists of three interdependent components:
(a) Ideological component refers to ideas, beliefs, values and approaches to defining what is right and wrong, or desirable and undesirable.
(b) Technological component is concerned with the skills, arts and crafts that provide humans with the means to produce goods by using what is available to them in their environment.
(c) Organisational component enables humans to live in the family system and makes it possible to coordinate their behaviour effectively with others’ actions.
2. Culture is learned: It is not like biological features or instinctive. The process of learning cultural values begins early in life largely through social interactions among families, friends, in settings such as educational and religious institutions.
3. Culture is shared by a fairly large group of human beings living in organised societies and works as a linking force. Generally, common religion and language are the critical elements that largely help people share values, customs, norms and experiences.
4. Culture satisfies needs: Its components are passed down through generations because they are gratifying. Culture offers order, direction and guides societies in all phases of life by providing tried and trusted ways of meeting the physiological, personal and social needs and due to these reasons people feel comfortable in doing things in the customary way.
5. Cultures are similar but different: There are certain similarities among all cultures and many elements are present in all societies such as athletic sports, adornment of body, cooking of food, a calendar, family, government, language, religious rituals, language, dancing, music and many others elements. There are, though, very significant variations in the nature of these elements in different societies and may exhibit important differences in consumer behaviour.
6. Culture is not static: Some cultures are relatively more resistant to change than others but they do change gradually and continuously. These changes, however, may be very slow in some cultures while others may be more dynamic and receptive to changes.