Meaning and Nature of Culture:-

Culture is an aggregate of the learned beliefs, attitudes, values, norms and

customs of asociety or group of people, shared by them and transmitted from

generation to generationwithin that society.

Culture too changes with time. The society that developed the culture is

continuously beingexposed to new experiences. Further, the society or group is

not a fixed body of people. Newgenerations are being brought into it and some

new members from other cultures are beingassimilated. With the increased

mobility of persons, flow of information and young person’sjoining the group;

cultures expand, dilute, subdivide and change.

The changes in culture are however not rapid and never drastic. The changes

reflect the movefrom old ideas to the new and also acceptance of ground realities

brought in byenvironmental or generational changes. Therefore changes can

only be gradual.

The word culture or the concept itself is flexible and can be stretched to cover

different typesof aggregation. When we speak of Eastern culture it includes vast

world stretching fromEgypt and Russia to India and Indonesia. It is perfectly

legitimate for us to take up study ofsubcultures of this Eastern culture like the

Russian culture or Indian culture. A combinationgroup or cross-culture group like

“Indian immigrants” can also be recognized and studied, aslong as the group is

of adequate size and importance as body of consumers.

We have already defined that culture is an aggregate of beliefs, attitudes etc.

culture can beviewed as a “blessing” and a preserve of values, heritage, arts and

good behavior. It can alsobe a “baggage” when we consider that it transmits

some irrational and out-of-date attitudesincluded in it as custom.

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The main vehicles of culture are the family and the religious institutions where

the individualis “taught” much of the ideas, beliefs etc., that from the culture. This

teaching is reinforced asmoderated by two other vehicles namely the educational

institution and the mass media.

Characteristics of Culture:
•
Culture is invented: It cannot be viewed as something that just “exists” and
waiting
to be discovered. People are responsible for inventing their culture and this
invention
consists of three interdependent components:
1.Ideological component refers to ideas, beliefs, values, and approaches to
defining
what is right and wrong, or desirable and undesirable.
2.Technological component is concerned with the skill, arts, and crafts that
provide
human with the means to produce goods by using what is available to them in
their environment.
3.Consumer component enables humans to live in the family systems and
market it
possible to coordinate their behavior effectively with others actions.
•
Culture is leaned: It is not like biological features or instinctive. The process of

learning cultural blues begins early in life largely through social interactions

amongfamilies, friends, in settings in such as educational and religious

institutions; growingchildren are firmly indoctrinated with ways of behaving,

thinking and feeling. Someof the core cultural values that have been passed

down through generations in Indiaare belief in god, respecting elders, husband

domination, being polite to ladies,accepting arranged marriage, viewing marriage

as a union between two families andliving in joint families etc.

•
Culture is Shared by a firmly large group of human beings living in organized

societies and works as a linking force. Generally, common religion and language

arethe critical elements that the American pop culture is being shared by a large

numberof other countries through the availability of several products such as

coca cola,McDonald’s burgers, Levi’s jeans, movies and music etc.

•
Culture satisfies needs: Its components are passed down through generations

because they are gratifying. Culture offers order, direction and guides societies in

allphases of life by providing tried and trusted ways of meeting the

physiological,personal and social needs and due to these reasons people feel

comfortable in doingthings in the customary way. Cultural values and customs

etc. are followed as long asthey keep on offering satisfaction, even when we are

exposed to other culture.

Though advertising is considered an important agent in bringing about social

change,from the marketers point of view an important mission of advertising is to

reinforceestablished cultural t and aiding in the development of new tasted,

habits and customs.

•
Culture is not static: some cultures are relatively more resistant to change than

others but they do change gradually and continuously. These changes, however,

maybe very slow in some cultures while others may be more dynamic and

receptive tochanges. Since cultures are not static and change rapidly or slowly in

differentsocieties, this becomes quit an important consideration from the

marketers point ofview. For example, traditionally the role of women in India was

confined within thehousehold. As a rule, they were married at an early age,

looked after household dutiesand bore children. In urban India, at least, the role

of women is gradually gettingredefined. More and more women are acquiring

higher and technical education andentering several professions, which earlier

were the sole domain of men. As a result of

•

this, dual income households are emerging, with smaller families and increased
buying power. This has thrown up several, and important, opportunities to
marketers.
Such cultural changes in India can be directlyattributed to the influence of
western
cultures and media influence, which emphasize freedom and equality to women.
Culture can divided into two distinct components.
Influence of Culture on consumer behavior

While there are a large number of areas where the individual is conditioned by

his culture, forour study we will focus on certain areas where his consumer

behavior comes influence. There are:

•
Consumption of food, clothing and housing
•
Perception on messages and media, and
•
Receptivity to new ideas and change
Food:Food perhaps is the area where preferences are any way very individual
and very
marked. Additionally, culture introduces certain preferences. The examples of
preference
induced by cultures are
•
Kosher foods – for persons of Jewish subculture
•
Avoidance of beef – by Hindus and Sikhs
•
Avoidance of pork – by Muslims
•
Vegetarian food – large subcultures in India
•
Sea foods – for subcultures in the Far East
Clothing By sheer logic, clothing preference should depend on climate and
weather.

However, one can observe many peculiar preferences exhibited by consumers

who can beidentified as belonging to a subculture. The preferences in these

cases appear to be culturallyinherited. Otherwise there is no other explanation

why Italian gentry in Toronto or Indianladies in San Francisco are shopping for

silks and why custom dictated elaborate dressesunsuitable for the local and

prevailing climate are purchased all the year round, by ethnic groups.
Housing people of a certain class brought up in the western culture may view the
house as a

caste to protect their privacy whereas persons in the same class brought up in

Eastern culturewant to treat the house as a showpiece as well as a place for

interacting with kith and kin.Such cultural influences affect the choice of location,
material, construction and décor of thehouses the consumer buys and this has to

be kept in mind by the marketers.

Marketers also hold varying conception of culture. A traditional marketing view in
this
perspective, culture is viewed as a relatively unchanging background for
behavior, consisting

primarily of values and norms.Values are enduring beliefs about desirable

outcomes thattranscend specific situations and shape one’s behavior. If asked,

people can usually stateimportant values: honesty, dependability, and so forth,

for example. Cultures vary in thestrength of members’ beliefs in a limited number

of universal values.Norms are informal,usually unspoken rules that govern

behavior.