As I am often in contact with people from all around the world, sometimes I am asking myself: what makes a “culture” – geography, history, language, politics, belief system?

I can in principle agree with the Wikipedia definition (a bit convoluted though)…

Culture is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, attitudes, and habits of the individuals in these groups. Culture often originates from or is attributed to a specific region or location.

World Values Survey

Recently I ran into the “World Values Survey” website, that really gave me a new understanding of how a culture can be defined and even compared.

The WVS has over the years demonstrated that people’s beliefs play a key role in economic development, the emergence and flourishing of democratic institutions, the rise of gender equality, and the extent to which societies have effective government.

Inglehart–Welzel Cultural Map

The map presents empirical evidence of massive cultural change and the persistence of distinctive cultural traditions. Main thesis holds that socioeconomic development is linked with a broad syndrome of distinctive value orientations. Analysis of WVS data made by political scientists Ronald Inglehart and Christian Welzel asserts that there are two major dimensions of cross cultural variation in the world:

1) Traditional values versus Secular-rational values and

2) Survival values versus Self-expression values.

WVS Database – Findings and Insights

Any thoughts?