86 Examples of Human Culture

John Spacey, August 01, 2021

Human culture are the meanings and understandings that emerge with the shared experiences of groups. Culture emerges without anyone directly controlling it. This can be contrasted with systems such as a society that are implemented with a design and plan. The term human culture is a broad term that applies to global culture, national cultures, regional cultures, city cultures, traditional cultures, school cultures, organizational cultures, super cultures and subcultures. The following are illustrative examples of human culture.

Accountability	Aesthetics
Architecture	Art
Artifacts	Businesses
Capabilities	Celebrations
Ceremonies	Communication
Comradery	Concepts
Crafts	Customs
Dance	Designs
Enculturation	Entertainment
Epic Experiences	Etiquette
Events	Expectations
Fashion	Festivals
Film	Folklore
Foods	Games
Goals	Habits
Hairstyles	Heritage
Hobbies	Holidays
Humor	Ideas
Identity	Initiation Rites
Institutions	Intentions
Jewelry	Know-how
Knowledge	Language
Leisure	Lifestyle
Literature	Markets
Media	Memes
Music	Myths
Norms	Nostalgia
Pastimes	Politeness
Products	Recreation
Religion	Respect
Responsibility	Risk Avoidance
Risk Mitigation	Risk Taking
Rites of Passage	Rituals
Roles	Sense of Belonging
Sensibilities	Services
Shared Beliefs	Social Groups
Social Status	Socialization
Sport	Stories
Styles	Symbols
Technologies	Traditions
Transportation	Trust
Values	Virtual Experiences
Way of Life	Writings

A culture can involve social structures and institutions such as families.

Cultures can impose expectations, roles, responsibilities and accountabilities. For example, a school culture that assigns special responsibilities to seniors.

Businesses can be part of a culture. For example, an old cafe in a park that adds something to a neighborhood culture.

Capabilities are talents and abilities. For example, a school culture that cultivates cultural competence by giving students diverse local and global experiences.

Enculturation is the way that an individual joins a culture. For example, attending a cosplay event in order to immerse yourself in cosplay culture.

Epic experiences are experiences that are deeply meaningful to a culture. For example, a sports culture that views winning a particular competition as an epic experience.

Cultures are a means for setting and managing expectations at the level of a group. For example, a city culture where littering is completely socially unacceptable. This is independent of any rules enforced by systems such as laws and a legal system.

Heritage is cultural value that has been passed down from past generations. For example, literature or traditional knowledge that is important to a culture.

Intentions are goals that focus on behavior over results. Cultures commonly value intentions such as trying your best to treat people with kindness and respect.

Cultures may also value goals. For example, a culture that places value on the accumulation of material wealth.

Know-how such as a culture where parents commonly teach their children how to prepare a proper meal.

Language is the cornerstone of human thought and is important to culture. For example, you can't fully understand a national culture without being able to think in its language or languages.

Lifestyle and culture aren't the same thing but they are completely intertwined. Your cultures will typically influence your lifestyle.

Way of life is the deep side of lifestyle whereby people believe that certain approaches to life are important. For example, a culture that values spending time with family.

Norms are informal rules or expectations that are observed by a culture. For example, the norm that goths wear black.

Material things such as crafts and products are certainly part of culture. For example, a classic breakfast cereal that is familiar to most Americans such that it represents a common reference or experience.

Risk avoidance, risk taking and risk mitigation are a common element of culture. In some cases, societies are designed to maximize safety, security, comfort, convenience and economic production. Culture exists to give meaning beyond cold logic. For example, the Onbashira Festival in Japan involves riding giant timbers down a mountainside. This is an incredibly dangerous pursuit in the midst of a society that is often risk avoiding.

Sensibilities are mild emotions that are triggered by situations. For example, the feeling in Japanese culture that wearing outdoor shoes on interior floors is uncleanly.

Cultures create a sense of trust. Postmodern theory tends to present society as a power struggle whereby all elements of culture are simply intended to control. This misses out on the depth of the human experience. Humans are more than competitive machines and have many dimensions that have nothing to do with power struggles.

86 Examples of Human Culture

Culture

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