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Surface culture Vs. Deep culture
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Surface culture Vs. Deep culture
Surface culture include food , arts, religious practice , historical and contemporary figures. Deep culture include ceremony, marriages, aesthetic, ethics, family ties, health and family medicines, folk myth, sex role etc. One might think that culture is about the same as a way of life. The reason of selecting Finnish culture and to find out the difference between surface culture and deep culture. Finnish culture is something that you have to experience on the spot in order to fully understand it. Although relatively small, Finland has extensive traditions and cultural manifestations, which often vary in detail from region to region. Although people, culture and customs may be different in, for example, Lapland compared to the Helsinki metropolitan area, all regions of Finland and their people share basically the same customs, values and culture (Ruuhijärvi & Hyvärinen, 2006).
According to this line of thinking, culture includes all the things that people, and nations have learned to do during their history, to appreciate what they have learned to believe in and to enjoy. Cultural traits are learned, not inherited. Culture includes, for example, art and literature, ways of thinking and knowing, behaviors or patterns, such as showing or hiding emotions, or maintaining physical distance from others, greeting or eating, body language, lifestyle, tradition, the fundamental rights of the individual, convictions and value systems.
Each individual carry with them the ways of thinking and the ways in which they know and act, which they have learned throughout their lives. Learning takes place especially in childhood. In other words, culture is formed by the shared attitudes, values, beliefs, practices, goals, and practices of a particular institution, organization, nation, or group.
Culture is always a collective phenomenon, not an individual phenomenon. Culture is shared, at least in part, with people living or living in the same social environment, such as the same neighborhood or school or workplace. There, culture was just learned. There are elements in all cultures that only a few members of a cultural district support, and they also vary. So there is no cohesive culture as such. In every culture, there are always those who do not follow the norms or customs maintained by the majority or share the central ideas of the culture. According to Geert Hofstede, culture consists of unwritten rules of social play . Every Finn knows how to operate in Finland according to unwritten rules, all of which he has never even thought of.
Literature
The visible and invisible parts of culture can be divided into visible and invisible parts. The visible parts of culture are easier to classify and compare and to discuss. The visible parts of the culture also change faster than the invisible parts. Invisible parts are more difficult to identify and to understand their significance. An iceberg comparison is often used to illustrate the division between visible and invisible parts. It shows only a fraction of the mountain above sea level. It means that the biggest and most meaningful part of what a culture is invisible (Shaules, 2010). For example, there is a prominent part of culture the food we eat, food manufacturing practices, clothing, buildings, people-to-people interaction, set of values, norms and the concepts by which we think and express ourselves
Cultural values and practices
Expressions of different cultures can also be divided into values and practices that are like onions: different manifestations are found on different layers. Peeling the onion layer by layer gives you a deeper insight into some culture. From the elements of culture, the practices are on the surface and the values are at the core of the bulb.
Cultural practices
Cultural practices are symbols, heroes, and rituals and are visible. However, their cultural significance is invisible, and their meaning can only be interpreted by a person of cultural significance.
rituals
Joint activities that are technically unnecessary to achieve the desired thing but are considered socially necessary / highly relevant within a given culture. They are therefore performed for their own sake. These include greetings, tributes, social and religious ceremonies such as weddings or funerals.
heroes
living or dead persons, real or imagined, whose traits are valued and therefore act as behaviors.
symbols
words, gestures, pictures and items that have a special meaning and need to share the same culture to understand. words in a particular language, clothing, hair styles, flags, status symbols New symbols are easy to develop, and old ones disappear. They are copied from one cultural group to another.
The values of culture
Furthermore, values are the core of culture. Values tend to prefer one thing or one thing to another. The values point in two directions, good and bad, plus and minus; good-bad, dangerous-safe, paradoxical-logical, irrational-rational etc. Talking about values can sometimes be difficult, because then you have to justify why one thing is actually considered to be better or safer. One has to acknowledge and question one's own motives, emotions and taboos, which may not be used to detailing. If your own culture is like the air you breathe, a foreign culture is like water: both require special skills to survive. This is exactly what intercultural encounters are about. (Van Vianen, De Pater, IKristof-Brown, & Johnson, 2004).
Concludingly, the notion of 'culture' includes not only tangible things such as traditional meals and events, but also, inter alia, the values of citizens. Finns around the world are known for their quiet and even inward-looking nature and customs, but this stems from the fact that Finland values its own space and modesty. In addition, honest values, independence, individuality and equality are important values for Finns. Another extremely Finnish value and attribute is the famous craze found in every Finn. The most important values characteristic of Finns do not differ too much from one region to another, unlike, for example, regional differences in traditional foods in Finland. In addition to intangible values, nature is a very big part of the value culture for Finns. Here in the land of thousands of lakes, nature is a very important part of Finns' lives, and it often tones the everyday life of many. Finns enjoy jogging in the nature, spending refreshing holidays in hiking national parks and engaging in outdoor activities in nature.
References
Ruuhijärvi, J., & Hyvärinen, P. (2006). The status of pike‐perch culture in Finland. Journal of
Applied Ichthyology, 12(3‐4), 185-188.
Shaules, J. (2010). A beginner's guide to the deep culture experience: Beneath the surface.
Nicholas Brealey.
Van Vianen, A. E., De Pater, I. E., Kristof-Brown, A. L., & Johnson, E. C. (2004). Fitting in:
Surface-and deep-level cultural differences and expatriates’ adjustment. Academy of Management Journal, 47(5), 697-709.
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