What is culture?
Culture is the shared set of beliefs, values and patterns of behaviour common to a group of people.
Popular dimensions of culture include:
- language
- interpersonal space (for example, the distance between people when they interact or communicate)
- time orientation (that is; how important concepts of time, deadlines, appointments or punctuality may be)
- religion
- the role of agreements (for example, in Australia and New Zealand and many other countries, contracts are expected to be in writing, whereas to request a written agreement from an Indonesian who has given his ‘word’ may be quite disrespectful).
Culture shock is the confusion and discomfort a person experiences in an unfamiliar culture. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to consider one’s own culture as superior to all others.