According to the National Library of Medicine, there are at least 3,800 cultures in the world. But of course, the number is far higher in reality. There are a lot of different ways of life. Think politics, religion, literature, art and music, philosophy and more. Studying sociology changed my perception of social influence on human behaviour. Four years of studying social life, social change and the consequences of human behaviour rewired how I understand people.
Where you were raised has a lot to do with your beliefs about anything. Your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and way of life are not your own. Our minds are social constructs. Cultures are not objective inventions. They function on faith, not truth. They are passed on. But it doesn’t mean they are any less real or significant. Cultures are shared experiences and traditions handed down through generations. They have no scientific basis.
Yet, they persist.
They have deep emotional value. They bind people together. Certain beliefs and values in some cultures accepted as true or right are often based on faith or tradition rather than objective evidence.
Writer Walter Lippmann wisely noted, “Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, thequality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilisation.”
Cultures rarely change, and when they do, it’s a very slow process. But historians who study how societies change over time have found that changes in society lead to changes in thought and emotion. Our mental and emotional lives evolve with society.
You grew up in one culture.
I grew up in another.
Cultures are social structures. They are not always logical, but they maintain social order and create predictability. People believe in their power. They feel real effects. These effects may not be scientifically proven, but they are how humans pass on values and lessons for life. Your culture, or mine, is a sense of belonging and identity.
I inherited my cultural values from my family and my country. My perceptions of the world were largely influencedby nurture. Many of my private thought patterns are not actually my own. My emotional responses to the many life experiences are part genetics part nurture. In some cultures, showing anger is acceptable. In others, it is frowned upon. You follow these rules without thinking. You express emotions in culturally appropriate ways. You might suppress certain feelings. This is not a personal choice. It is a social norm. Our society teaches us these rules. I think and act in a certain way because it’s the limit of my culture.
Many of our thoughts and emotions are social constructs.
It’s a concept that has deep roots in social science. Sociologists have dozens of research studies that support this. We learn how to think and feel from our environment. The process starts the minute we are born. We are taught how to interpret the world. Our social experiences wire our brains. Language then becomes the lens. Different languages create different worldviews. Our language limits our understanding.
Philosophers argue that our sense of self is shaped by social constructs. We define ourselves through our interactions with others. Our identity is not purely personal. Your self-image is influenced by social feedback. “The limits of my language means the limits of my world,” says philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. The only way to take control of social influence on your life is to become aware of how culture is changing you. Recognise the social roots of your thoughts and emotions. Reflect on your thoughts and emotions: why you act and respond to life the way you do. Awareness leads to greater self-understanding. It can help you see the broader context of your mental life.
I rarely questioned my way of life until now.
I’m supposed to defend and be proud of where I grew up and learned to be a functioning member of society. But should I accept my culture as the only truth? Should cultures evolve? Why do practices persist despite new knowledge? Do people know they don’t have to continue that way of life if they don’t like it? If it doesn’t bring out the best in me, I can reconsider passing it on to my kids. There’s more to a way of life than a single lens.
Writer Kurt Vonnegut beautifully explains:
“I’ve often thought there ought to be a manual to hand to little kids, telling them what kind of planet they’re on, why they don’t fall off it, how much time they’ve probably got here, how to avoid poison ivy, and so on. I tried to write one once. It was called Welcome to Earth. But I got stuck on explaining why we don’t fall off the planet. Gravity is just a word. It doesn’t explain anything. If I could get past gravity, I’d tell them how we reproduce, how long we’ve been here, apparently, and a little bit about evolution. I didn’t learn until I was in college about all the other cultures, and I should have learned that in the first grade. A first grader should understand that his or her culture isn’t a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own society. Cultural relativity is defensible and attractive. It’s also a source of hope. It means we don’t have to continue this way if we don’t like it.”
Cultural values are not always rational. But changing them is hard. Cultures are not about truth, though. They are about meaning. They provide identity. They create community. That is why they endure. A culture is shared faith. They shape our world. They define our lives. People appreciate their value. So they keep passing them on to new generations. Cultures will always be slow to change. People continue to pass on their cultures unconsciously.
Culture may not be logical, but it holds symbolic significance.
They connect people to their heritage. But culture has to serve us. There are thousands of cultures, and they all have survived generations. Find and apply what can work for you. Put your lens to the test. I like what economist, journalist, barrister and writer Tom Kettle once said, “Culture is simply the hospitality of the intellect. Your mind is open to new ideas and larger views; when they enter, you know how to receive them, and to entertain, to be entertained, and take what they have to offer without allowing them to dominate you.”
Take responsibility for what you think, say or do.