Culture

What Is Culture?

Healthcare providers must understand what culture is to perform culturally compe-

tent medical care for patients of diverse ethnic, cultural, or minority groups. Several

related terms such as race, ethnicity, minority, and social class must be recognized

and distinguished. Let us first define what culture is.

Culture

Culture refers to the unique behavioral patterns and lifestyles shared by a group of

people that distinguishes that group from others. Culture is characterized by a set of

views, beliefs, values, and attitudes toward life that is transmitted from generation to

generation. Culture may be expressed in various ways that regulate life—through cus-

toms, etiquette, taboos, or rituals. It is manifested in the activities of daily life and

reflected in cultural products, such as common sayings, legends, drama, art, philosophi-

cal thought, religions, and political and legal systems. Culture influences health and ill-

ness in the ways people conceptualize a given illness, seek help, utilize the healthcare

system, relate to healthcare providers, and accept medical treatment prescriptions.

In practice, the identification of the cultural background of an individual can be

problematic, because the impact of culture can be conscious or unconscious (in other

words, the person may or may not be aware of it). Culture is abstract and can be amor-

phous; is not static over time and is often in flux (that is, subject to cultural change

over time and through different generations); and its impact on subgroups of people

(even those living within the same society) may vary greatly within subcultures.

Language is one of the instruments through which culture is transmitted and

expressed. Through language, a person communicates not only semantic meanings,

but also underlying conceptions, values, and attitudes that can be very different

among different cultural systems. Comprehending another person’s culture through

his or her language can therefore be quite challenging, particularly when that

language is very different from one’s own