Ethical differences in cultures Essay

Culture is defined by Lustig and Koester (2003) as an acquired set of shared values, norms and beliefs by a group of people. It is the unifying element communities have. It is their image and identity. Other definitions classified culture as a means by which people communicate with each other, more importantly how they set goals. Goal setting in communities should coincide well with the culture it shall reside in. This is because of the observation that it is better that the goals match with culture, otherwise the people will not find the initiative to accomplish these goals. With that said, culture have a long-term perspective. Since culture is the silent agreement about how things should be in their community, one can assume that its influencing factors include their goals. Furthermore, setting group or community goals are one of the major elements that would affect culture. For example, if the community decided that they should be the cleanest county in the country, then they are framing how their culture should be like: conscious and disciplined. The perspective applied in culture is more long-term. However, this does not mean to say that culture cannot set short-term goals. This paper believes that culture does not give greater importance to rules and regulations because one can say that the rules and regulations are actually based on the culture of the community. It is more important to point what created the culture, which are the relationships and spirit involved within their group or community. Rules and regulations would stand as a form of guidelines for the people so that they will not deviate far from what has been silently agreed upon within the circle. But the relationships are those that binds everything as one culture. The article written by Eric Leocadio entitled Reinventing Our Culture Through Relationships concluded that people can change their culture by embracing relationships. Although the article regarded the different genders, it still pointed out that relationships create trust and understanding. Furthermore, this paper believes that relationships increases the desire to share interests and beliefs. They will be able to interact more, and have stronger bonds. Rules and regulations cannot produce the same thing from the people. Coercion is not a suggested activity to shape culture, unless they want the people to always have a sense of fear. To reiterate, culture is a shared aspect of the group or community involving values, beliefs and norms. With this said, it is possible that culture could be the standards by which the people live by. A culture will not tell what profession or gender is acceptable, but the people will. However, as time moves forward, the culture will eventually dictate for the people. They should stand firm upon the criteria they have set for themselves. There should not be constant changes, unless that is already the nature of the culture. However, most of the time, cultures are set through the years, and is difficult to change overnight. In summary, short term goals are set in accordance to the culture, while long term goals are the elements that strongly affects the culture of the community or group. Relationships are the factors that influence culture. Rules and regulations are created from their culture. In relation to how standards are set, the people subconsciously create the culture, and one day confer to this culture. With this said, it is quite funny to think that what man has created, man follows. Sometimes, man even follows blindly. References Leocadio, E. (n. d. ).Reinventing our culture through relationships. Retrieved January 15, 2007 from http://www. catalystlb. org/article_reinventing_relationships. php. Pratt-Johnson, Y. (February 2006). Communication cross-culturally: What teachers should know. Retrieved January 15, 2007 from http://iteslj. org/Articles/Pratt-Johnson- CrossCultural. html.