How Do People Define Culture?

Realizing the fact that I’m a student who’s taking a Sociology class at Northwestern University in Qatar, I have definitely gained a better insight into the mechanism of this study in real life, as well as noticing how cultures and societies are greatly affected by each other. And of course, knowing the core elements of these two subjects is essential to achieve the full acknowledgement of this study. Although it’s true that I have heard the terms “subculture, norms, taboos” and many other terms in my life before, I have never actually knew how can they be applied on societies and on “real people” until I took this course. For instance, I never knew the vital and pivotal roles that norms play in a society until I had to break some of them in order to be able to write my first short project, a norm violation experiment.

However, people that have never taken such a class, have never read a book about it, or have never gone through special social situations absolutely have their own ideas and perceptions about the real meaning of culture. Some people might define it in a very generalized way, saying that it is all the apparent elements of a society. They would definitely include “frequently-referred-to” terms, such as traditions, celebrations, architecture, and religion. They might also clarify and say that religion can’t be considered a cultural element unless it is reflected through symbols, clothes, or special ceremonies. True. But this answer is clearly not what a sociologist or a sociology student is aiming for.

People often consider culture to be material culture only; the explicit things that they can touch and see (Griswold, “Culture and Societies in a Changing World). In contrast, they often ignore the non-material—implicit—culture, in which it is represented in beliefs, values, norms, gestures, and other implied elements of a society. The conception that people have about identifying cultures through their exterior elements—only—is false. Sociology wouldn’t even exist without the linkage between the implicit and the explicit elements of a society. A good explanation of what I’m trying to elaborate can be illustrated through the following example:

When you go to a church, you don’t expect to see soldiers standing in lines, practicing and drilling for their second heroic mission. You would expect the place to be quiet and peaceful, and you would expect to see people praying or reading the Bible because that’s the way it goes in sacred places. There are special religious rituals, behaviors, and atmospheres that conquer the place and they don’t have to be materially placed right in front of you that tell you how to act or behave. It all comes out of you spontaneously.

I interviewed a few people from the Education City in Qatar to know how they define culture from their own perspectives:

Intelligence & Culture

To define culture, we can point at a group of people who have mutual understandings, experiences, and beliefs. Culture shapes our way of living, and contributes in building our standards in life. The interaction between different cultures highlights major differences and similarities as well. Some people find it difficult to cross their cultural zone and prefer to maintain a formal interaction between alienated cultures. However, Some people have the ability to adapt to outsiders and interpret their gestures and attitude just the way they do with their compatriots. This is called ‘Cultural intelligence’.



It requires for a person with cultural intelligence to use his senses to understand that the people he’s interacting with are different from his compatriots. After conducting, the person can easily anticipate what the reaction of the people will be and his inferences will be stereotype-free. People who are socially efficacious among their colleagues, are the ones who end up being accepted by alienated cultures. Also, those who are detached from their culture are able to interact and adapt with other cultures. However, those who are attached to the norms of their society are mostly considered as alienated people and they have a difficult time adapting to strangers. Interaction is the most important step that a person should carry out in order to advance her or his perceptions of various cultures. People with cultural intelligence will not relay on taking training programs and learning about a cultures’ customs, but will use their own learning strategies to understand the mutuality between the alien culture and their own. Also, the study of foreigners’ body language is one way to win their trust and openness. Through that, we can make ourselves understand how to interact with other cultures and adopt with them through logical strategies and respect. We have to observe the surroundings of unfamiliar cultures and focus on what is common with our own.



What many people are not aware of is that intelligence tests and especially the IQ test rooted based on racial and cultural bigotry. The creators of the modern testing field have advocated eugenics. “Eugenics is a movement concerned with the selective breeding of human beings” (Robert Sternberg). The initial aim for eugenics is to have humans with certain traits mate together and have their offspring inherit these traits. Therefore, a better human race is formed. IQ tests that have been taken by people from different ethnic backgrounds have indicated dissimilar average scores. A study used to measure a group of students’ intelligences has demonstrated that white students with privileged backgrounds were identified for their high-analytic intelligence, and those with high scores in practical and creative skills were racially and economically diverse. Within racial groups, genetics have their influence on some factors of intelligence. However, the IQ test is not able to indicate these factors that caused differences in the results of racial groups. When a society is highly diverse, creating a closed system by concentrating one certain type of students will result in neglecting the achievements of other types of students. Thus, The society is unintentionally neglecting what other groups have to offer.



Cultural intelligence is only one segment of many intelligences out there. There are many factors that influence intelligence and individuals perceive different factors on their culture and environment. Success is our initial goal in life; intelligence can contribute in playing a big role in achieving our goals. Our thoughts that we have in mind are applied through our actions and intelligence helps us develop them to a sophisticated and more organized level.

Use your finger to stir my tea, and for dessert I’ll suck your teeth.
Be too sweet and you’ll be a goner, yup, I’ll pull a Jeffery Dahmer.
Listen to the track on the official Kesha channel on youtube.



Those were words from the second verse of Ke$ha’s Cannibal from the Extended Play of the same name. Of course, after hearing the disturbing lyrics, ignoring the catchy beat, I decided to simply search this unfamiliar name. Of course, I understood the rest of the lyrics; she wants to eat boys for breakfast and lunch and she’s proud of calling herself a cannibal that she shouts "I am cannibal." That at first didn’t disturb me as much. On the contrary, I thought it was creative for the EP to be called Cannibal since it’s kind of a step higher in her diet from her debut album Animal, but that’s not the point. The point is that she used the name in her song and I simply had to Google it; Jeffery Dahmer.

It turns out that Jeffery Dahmer was a real cannibal, before he was ironically murdered in jail the same way her killed his fist victim. Enjoying his secret activity as a cannibal and a necrophiliac (someone who satisfies his pleasures over corps and dead bodies) and especially bodies he kills himself. With more research, I found out that there’s an influence from the surrounding society to this created monster. He grew up in this environment where he picked up the habit of dissecting dead animals when he’s young, and it’s only natural that he’d want to progress to something bigger as he grows old; something bigger here being the human bodies.



Now, I’m seeing that pop music is spreading things I didn’t know because with it I learned more about the cannibal culture, as an example. There are different movies and books which are inspired by real life societies and culture of cannibals. The scariest productions of all are TV documentaries about the real cannibals. There’s obviously a real social aspect and a taboo that can’t be denied, or where would those songs, movies and books have their inspiration from? And I guess the way pop culture deals with this horrifying act is by making it part of it. In Ke$ha’s case, she made this image of cannibalism somewhat acceptable. When something becomes part of the pop culture, even out of another culture, it seems familiar and therefore we’re not afraid of it anymore. Why? Because it connects to us and becomes popular within us as well. I’m not trying to say we’ll grow to be cannibals, but we won’t fear it until we witness it.

Read this blog post to see the association of pop culture and societies acceptance of taboos.