Culture - Definitions & Meaning

Culture can be said to be a set of socially acquired values that society accepts as whole and transmits it to its members through language and symbols. (Consumer Behavior, Henry Assael, 6th Edn., Thomson Learning, 2001, pp. 459.)

Cultural values are more deep rooted than lifestyle values. For example, a person may be defined as a lover of music, who regularly attends all music concerts. This could also be said to be a component of his or her lifestyle. A more deep seated cultural value may be that he comes from a family of music lovers and it is the desire for continuing with the tradition and involvement which takes him to attending music concerts. Thus culture reflects a society's shared meanings and traditions.

Howard and Sheth have defined culture "as a selective, manmade way of responding to experience, a set behaviour pattern". Thus, culture consists of traditional ideas and in particular the values which are attached to these ideas. It includes knowledge, belief, art, morale, law, customs and all other habits acquired by man as a member of society. An accepted concept about culture is that it includes a set of learned beliefs, values, attitudes, habits and forms of behaviour that are shared by a society and are transmitted from generation to generation within that society.

In India, we have our own shared beliefs, values, customs which distinguishes us from the rest of the world. The uniqueness of our culture can be seen from the joint family system prevalent in many states, the caste system, the living style, customs, rituals, etc., followed by the people at large. These habits and forms of behaviour have been in practice for so long, that they are very often taken for granted. Our culture also includes mores or fairly strong cultural norms (respect for elders, patriotism, etc.) and these, if violated are likely to earn the condemn of the society.

From the Figure 8.2 we can see that culture can be graphically represented. Influences from various institutions and elements of society, such as Education, Politics, Religion etc. combine in complex ways, which will give rise to the resultant culture and customs and this, in turn, can be seen in our attitudes and behaviour.

Keith Williams (Behavioral Aspects of Marketing, 1990) has suggested five main characteristics of culture:

• Culture exists to serve the needs of the society

• Culture is acquired from society, throughout our life time

• Culture is learned through interactions with other members of the culture

• Culture is transferred from generation to generation with new influences constantly being added to the cultural 'soup'

• Culture will be adaptive to the needs of the society.

Cultural Values

Milton J Rokeach has defined cultural values as beliefs that a general state of existence is personally and socially worth striving for. Figure 8.3 shows cultural values as defined by Rokeach. Value systems are the relative importance which cultures place on the values. For example, Indian culture has for many generations valued family togetherness (joint family system) and inner harmony as a part of our value system. While in America or the Westem culture more emphasis or value is placed on individual accomplishment.

Rokeach has considered cultural values as terminal values or goals to be attained or developed. He has also defined another category of values, instrumental values which are the means of achieving the desired goals.

Rokeach's classification of cultural values can be used for studying purchasing behaviour. It may be said that terminal values are the ultimate purchasing goals and instrumental values are consumption specific guidelines to attain these goals. So in terms of consumer behaviour: 

• Product attributes are the means of attaining goals

• Instrumental values are consumption specific values or vehicles for attaining goals

• Cultural specific terminal values are the ultimate purchasing goals.

To a certain extent cultural values will help marketers to plan the marketing strategy. Cultural values are more likely to influence broad purchasing patterns. For example, a better understanding of the motivation behind brand purchases can be worked out by having a look at the culturally derived purchasing values.

Measurement of Culture

Because of the multifaceted nature of culture, certain techniques can be used for its measurement, these are:

• Projective tests: These tests are helpful in assessing individual's motivation and personality.

• Attitude measurement tests: These tests will be useful in determining beliefs and values. 

• Depth interviews and group discussions: These methods can be used to discover the emerging cultural characteristics.

• Observation: Through this method it possible to gain valuable insights into more obscure aspects of culture which may not be amenable to direct questioning (some of consumers' behaviours are ritualized which will be noted through observation).

• Content analysis: This technique uses an analysis of past and present media to know the cultural changes. This analysis can be carried out on a cross-cultural basis also.

Characteristics of Culture

1. Culture is a Learned Response

 As a human being living in the society, the consumer is required to behave in a particular way as desired by the socio cultural environment. Consumers/ individuals learn to behave through experience. The cultural field represents a set of stimuli and a set of responses appropriate to the stimuli. The individual will be either rewarded or punished, directly or indirectly for adopting responses to relevant stimulus situations. This procedure continues till the individual learns to match his set of responses to the cultural ideology.

Right from his childhood, a person has observed his parents showing respect to elders and maintaining a respectful distance while talking to them. This custom gets imprinted in the mind of the child and is carried over even when he becomes an adult.

2. Culture Includes Inculcated Values

Cultural norms and values are inculcated and passed on from generation to generation by specific groups and institutions. Much of our behaviour is determined by culture. There are various institutions like an individual's family, institutes imparting education, religious organizations, customs, traditions, etc., which help in transmitting cultural values, beliefs, traditions and customs from generation to generation.

For instance, in South India, young girls by tradition are required to learn classical dance and music. In rural areas North Indian girls traditionally dress up in Salwar Kameez, whereas, the South Indian girls are mostly found wearing 'skirt and blouse or sarees".

These traditionally inculcated values and beliefs are also reflected and seen in the behaviour and consumption pattern of the individual related to his/her eating habits, style of dressing, etc.

3. Culture is a Social Phenomenon

An individual's way of thinking and behaving is governed by the society and the group he interacts with. The process of rewarding normative behaviour and punishing deviant behaviour is the outcome of the acculturation (learning a culture of which one is not native) and socialization (learning one's own native culture). The society punishes individuals with deviant behaviour or non conformers by:

• staring at the person who may walk on the public road with an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders and make the couple feel uncomfortable or

• stare and comment on a young woman who may attend her friend's marriage wearing a shirt and pant rather than the traditional silk saree or Salwar Kameez.

Drinking is considered as a 'taboo' and condemned by the society. If a young boy takes to drinks, the society will condemn the parents of the boy saying "you have not done an adequate job of socialization!"

Nevertheless, today with India being recognized as a global economy, some of the typical social acceptance of an individual's behaviour have undergone changes. This could probably be attributed to the mingling of various cultures. For instance, women are working as top executives earning on par or more than their male counterparts, traveling around on official work and so on. With exposure to global lifestyles and culture, there could be changes observed in her style of dressing.

4. Culture is Gratifying and Continues for a Long Time

The society rewards people whose behaviour are gratifying for its members. In India, people have a lot a faith in the preachings of various religious heads. These religious heads are able to communicate and speak about the customs, traditional values and beliefs to the public through religious discourses. Such people are given due importance and recognition for contributing to the welfare of the society. The respect and gratification for those who continue this practice goes down from generation to generation. This is also a part of our culture.

5. Cultures are Similar and yet Different

All the cultures across the world will address certain common (or similar) aspects. For example, a few of the elements found in most of the societies could be a calendar, cooking, education, family, body gestures, rituals, customs etc. However in each society there could be variations in the nature and practice of these elements. An understanding of these elements can help marketers in analysing the consumer behaviour of the particular society.

6. Culture Prescribes the Ideal Standards of Behavior

Each culture prescribes certain specific do's and dont's of behaviour which members of that society are ideally supposed to follow. These could take the form of norms, guidelines or sanctions. Style of dressing, consumption of food and drinks etc. These will to a great extent act as a guide to the prescribed culture.

As seen above culture is responsible for inculcating a particular behavioural pattern in an individual. Thus, an understanding of the role played by the culture in shaping a person's behavioural pattern will help the marketing manager to cope with the non rational aspects of consumer behaviour.

Traditional And Changing Indian Values

With the passage of time, India has been witness to changes occuring in some of the values practiced. These are briefly discussed below.

Diversity in Religions, Culture, Customs

In India, we have people belonging to various religious groups-Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis. Alongside there are also various sects, sub sects, castes and sub castes. Each religion has its own customs, rituals and practices which are followed for generations together. Even there are diversities in the languages spoken across the various states alongwith hundreds of dialects. Few of the changes can be seen in the form of amalgams of languages that have risen due to floating population

As mentioned earlier in the chapter almost every religious community has its own traditional style of dresses, ornaments and jewellery. Of course, with the changes in demographics, many of the rituals have undergone changes. For instance, traditionally wearing heavy jewellary was the trend. However, now light, trendy designed jewellery is preferred, keeping in tune to the changing times.

Even in the case of food habits, rice is the staple food in the Southern states while, wheat is consumed more in the Northern states. Of course, there is seen visible changes in food consumption with people in Southern cities consuming wheat products as co food items and certain South Indian delicacies becoming popular in the North.

Traditionalism and Materialism

Traditionalism refers to more emphasis on family patriotic values and work culture. Indians have always been family oriented. Even when far away from home, we have tried to integrate the family values and the new lifestyles and this is extended even to the work-culture. The family values of respect for seniors, women and the importance of family togetherness is kept in mind while reaching out for personal development and self actualization.

The ads of Club Mahindra Holidays, Cox and Kings Travel etc. emphasize family outings together. The belief that purchase of Gold and Jewellery on specific days (like Akshaya Tritiya or Dhanteras) is still practiced. While there is also seen a move-towards adorning oneself with light, delicate and trendy branded jewellery. Thus there seems to be a blend of traditional customs with a more pragmatic outlook.

Along with traditionalism, consumers are also displaying materialism in their behaviour of accumulation of wealth and products and objects. Today, too much is available too soon. i.e goals are achieved easily when one is young (early 20's), drawing handsome of salary and perks (plus house and four wheeler). Individuals are tasting success very early when compared to their parents. Consequently, such individuals become consumers who hold strong material values and place a lot of importance to possessions and treat these as a means of achieving happiness.

 Orientation Towards Youthfulness

With exposure to global lifestyle, some of the western values seem to have caught on with the Indians. We have always in the past revered the elders and their suggestions and experiences used to be accepted with great respect. However, now there is a mature market (acknowledged by marketers) who have developed a passion to look younger and fitter than their biological age.

Importance of Self-fulfillment

As more individuals have been able to fulfill their dreams either through opportunities abroad or by pursuing it here, now there is seen a desire in them towards self- fulfillment. They have tasted worldly success through purchasing material goods and enhancing their lifestyle. Hence they are seeking a deeper satisfaction from their day-to-day living. More than the monetary aspect they are giving importance to personal enhancement and a meaningful life. For this, they are focusing on:

• Being physically healthy and fit

• Alongwith work, healthy diversions by pursuing their hobbies, or get involved in other activities as an expression of self fulfillment

• A yearning to learn more about one's culture and giving back something to the society by undertaking social work activities.

'Mindset of Scarcity' has given way to Consumerism

In the pre liberalization era, there existed a mindset of scarcity partly because of the 'socialistic leaning' that India had as a nation and partly due to the 'frugality' code i.e., at that time consumers had little or no choice when it came to products. Hence consumers continued to use products long after they were out of vogue. In fact, Indian housewives were seen recycling Amulspray, Farex and Dalda tins, using them for storage since it (tins) had value.