ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the definition of culture and identifies the various aspects of social and cultural environments. There are over 160 definitions for the term culture. The socialization process indicates how parents, friends, educators, and other members of a particular society influence an individual and how interactions within these societal groups cultivate an individual's value system. People in different societies have developed different cultures in response to their natural and social environments. Globalization has significantly increased interactions between countries. People in masculine cultures stress acquiring power, success, and fortune. People in feminine cultures place higher value on quality of life and relationships with others. Power distance refers to the degree to which people in a society accommodate unequal distributions of power. Uncertainty avoidance refers to the degree to which people want to stay away from uncertain or ambiguous situations. The Hall model, developed by American anthropologist Edward T. Hall, focuses on how cultural context influences communication between community members.
