Monica-Nicoleta Constantin

1st Year 2016-2017, 1st Semester, AISI Master Studies

What is a Culture?

The general definition of a culture may sound like this : ‘A culture is a set of patterns of human
activity within a community or social group and the symbolic structures that give such activity
significance. Customs, laws, dress code, architectural styles, social standards, religious beliefs,
and traditions are all examples of cultural elements. As I see, the culture is defined by the
‘repetitive’ behavior of its people.’

Also, I believe in the principle of the ‘onion layer of a culture’ since a nation’s habits, traditions
and customs were and are still collected from and/or enriched by other nations. As long as the
world is spinning we are going to be affected by other cultures. If we take the Valentine’s Day as
an example we know that it used to be celebrated with great excitement only in the American
Culture but this ‘tradition’ of celebrating love escalated quickly in Europe and it also reached
Romania. Every year when 14th of February is approaching, we see how the influence grew
bigger and we became to celebrate love different then in the past (e.g. Dragobete – Romanian
Love Day). We adopted a new tradition which in the future will be even more popular and I am
sure that some of us actually think that we also have a saint named Valentin, so to give the
celebration a Christian touch.

Even if the subject of defining culture may arise strong opinions, I agree that there are the
following layers of a culture:

First, there is the body of cultural traditions that distinguish your specific society. When people
speak of Italian or Japanese culture, they are referring to the shared language, traditions, and
beliefs that set each of these peoples apart from others. In most cases, those who share your
culture do so because they acquired it as they were raised by parents and other family members
who have it.

The second layer of culture that may be part of your identity is a subculture. In complex,
diverse societies in which people have come from many different parts of the world, they
often retain much of their original cultural traditions, e.g. Romanians in Italia, Muslims in
Germany.
Monica-Nicoleta Constantin
1st Year 2016-2017, 1st Semester, AISI Master Studies

The third layer of culture consists of cultural universals. These are learned behavior patterns that
are shared by all of humanity collectively. No matter where people live in the world, they share
these universal traits. Examples of such "human cultural" traits include:

1. communicating with a verbal language consisting of a limited set of

sounds and grammatical rules for constructing sentences

2. using age and gender to classify people (e.g., teenager, senior citizen,
woman, man)

3. classifying people based on marriage and descent relationships and

having kinship terms to refer to
them (e.g., wife, mother, uncle, cousin)

4. raising children in some sort of family setting

5. having a sexual division of labor (e.g., men's work versus women's

work)

6. having a concept of privacy

7. having rules to regulate sexual behavior

8. distinguishing between good and bad behavior

9. having some sort of body ornamentation

10. making jokes and playing games

11. having art

12. having some sort of leadership roles for the implementation of

community decisions

To provide personal answer to the question ‘What is Culture?’ I would say that a culture is
everything that country is made of, plus the external imagine that it projects to the world.
Monica-Nicoleta Constantin
1st Year 2016-2017, 1st Semester, AISI Master Studies

The onion culture self-experienced or

how I forgot which culture I belonged to?

There is a sheer evidence that groups and people are different from each other but we tend to
believe that deep inside we are all the same. This makes us ‘ignore’ other countries specificity
when it comes to culture and we tend to minimize the cultural differences.

I made the same mistake while I was living abroad, I was minimizing the cultural differences
because I was mesmerized by the people and the beauty of the surroundings and also because I
had huge expectancies regarding the cultural differences, I thought it would be tough and hard to
live there and even daily interactions would be hardened by the lack of speaking the same
language and sharing the same traditions, but when I moved to Turkey I saw that things looked
familiar and were not so hard to relate to, so I started absorbing the new culture. The more time, I
spent in Turkey, the more I minimized my own culture and unconsciously I was dragged into the
new one day by day.

I could only see this difference only when I came back to Romania, after two years of carefully
and steadily building up my personal culture.

Returning back to what I had called ‘home’ and proudly represented as ‘my culture’ has never
been that hard as I experience my first ‘reverse culture shock’ in my own country. When you
are living abroad, you develop a higher sense of intricacies in simple daily interactions. The
cultural differences in your foreign country sharpen your abilities and when you come back to
your roots, the antenna is still there. You pick up ‘frequencies’ and ‘signals’ that people around
you either cannot hear or choose to ignore.

From the most simple things such as offering an elder person the seat on the bus or taking a ride
with the bus even if you do not have a ticket, completely strangers offering paying the ride for
you and the bus driver being tolerant about it. The normality of asking the bus driver to stop
wherever you would like to get off the bus, may this be almost in the middle of the way. The
Monica-Nicoleta Constantin
1st Year 2016-2017, 1st Semester, AISI Master Studies

trust and the fraternity people share in Turkey overwhelmed me as there is no change of staying
hungry, thirsty or without a shelter. People will always be glad to help referring you as their
sister (abla) or brother (abi).

I realized that are so many cultural differences between countries and one of the most pregnant
but which does not strike you at first, is religion. People organize their society based on religious
rules may this be spoken or unspoken, in Turkey, religious people have better jobs, they are
better paid even though most of the society unspokefully condemns it. Here, in Romania or
another Christian country, being a strong Christianity supporter would not bring you any job
promotion. In Turkey people who do not believe in an Entity, are seen as outcast while in a free
democratic country you are personally unrestrained to believe in anything you like without
getting eyebrows raised at you.

In Turkey is perfectly normal and acceptable that a men cheats his wife while the wife cheating
his man is unconceivable.

A well-traveled person sees their home country’s flaws more clearly. I see the negligibility and
the divisiness in people. I see the beauty and the benefits too. I condemn and raise my country in
the same time. I admire our traditions and I know that the feeling of listening carols on the streets
and seeing people playing ‘ursul’ or ‘capra’ is unique and nobody but your Romanian fellow will
understand it.

The truth is the once you choose the path of living abroad you collect things, ideas and behaviors,
you have to take responsibility of what you become. Travelling is beautiful, as well as, seeing
and understanding different cultures but what nobody tells you, is that when you come back, you
will want different things out of life than before you left. Home will not look the same anymore,
you will learn that the experiences you gather make you who you are. You carry them with you
and that’s where they do the most good-with you. You collect layers of maturity which you
continuously add to your personal culture.
Monica-Nicoleta Constantin
1st Year 2016-2017, 1st Semester, AISI Master Studies

Cultural dimensions according to Geert Hofstede

-Turkey-

Figure 1. A Comparison between Turkey and Romania regardin Geert

Hofstede’s cultural dimentions

According to Itim International we can find the above chart when analyzing Turkish culture. We
can get a good overview of the deep drivers of Turkish culture relative to other world cultures.
Monica-Nicoleta Constantin
1st Year 2016-2017, 1st Semester, AISI Master Studies

Power-Distance

Turkish style is represented by dependent, hierarchical, superiors often inaccessible and the ideal
boss is a father figure. Power is centralized and managers rely on their bosses and on rules.
Employees expect to be told what to do. Control is expected and attitude towards managers is
formal. Communication is indirect and the information flow is selective. The same structure can
be observed in the family unit, where the father is a kind of patriarch to whom others submit.

Individualism
The fundamental issue addressed by this dimension is the degree of interdependence a society
maintains among its members. It has to do with whether people´s self-image is defined in terms
of “I” or “We”. In Individualist societies people are supposed to look after themselves and their
direct family only. In Collectivist societies people belong to ‘in groups’ that take care of them in
exchange for loyalty.

In Turkish society “We” is important, people belong to in-groups (families, clans or

organizations) who look after each other in exchange for loyalty. Communication is indirect and
the harmony of the group has to be maintained, open conflicts are avoided. The relationship has a
moral base and this always has priority over task fulfillment. Time must be invested initially to
establish a relationship of trust. Nepotism may be found more often. Feedback is always indirect,
also in the business environment

Masculinity
The society is be driven by competition, achievement and success, with success being defined by
the winner/best in field – a value system that starts in school and continues throughout
organizational life.

Conflicts are avoided in private and work life and consensus at the end is important. Leisure time
is important for Turks, it is the time when the whole family, clan and friends come together to
enjoy life.
Monica-Nicoleta Constantin
1st Year 2016-2017, 1st Semester, AISI Master Studies

Uncertainty

In order to minimize anxiety, people make use of a lot of rituals. For foreigners they might seem
religious, with the many references to “Allah”, but often they are just traditional social patterns,
used in specific situations to ease tension. Turkish people trust their law and political system.