Internal Changes In American Culture

Culture is defined by Sir Edward B. Tylor (1871) as a “complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law … by (a human) as a membered society”, these concepts are learned through experience and participation. The context in which a culture is observed is pivotal for an accurate assessment of its societal characteristics within populations around the world. Furthering our understanding of how behavior and actions are influenced by material and non-material components. For example, In American culture pigs are viewed as farm animals that can be consumed or kept as pets. Nonetheless, cultures influenced by religions such as Judaism interprets pigs, quite differently, as unclean and forbids its consumption. A well-versed understanding of other cultures facilitates Transcultural interactions, preventing the notion that other …show more content…
Although world cultures vary throughout regions, it affects individuals and societies differently. For individuals, culture formulates a sense humanity that creates traditions, self-awareness and orders chaos. For societies culture conveys a collective identity which societies correspondingly utilize to interpret the world. Culture has a dynamic nature with internal and external changes. Internal changes in culture often occur generationally or through technological advances. For instance, American culture in past generations had implemented public policies such as Jim Crow to enforce racial segregation. Civil rights movements were fundamental in repelling these policies, however attitudes of the majority population regarding civil rights of minority groups remained negative. In American culture today we no longer hold those negative sentiments, this shift of attitudes regarding civil rights occurred generationally. External changes in culture occur from interactions between cultures such as migration, conquest or wars. In closing, cultural differences allow for countries to arrive to contrasting