ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that what we describe as culture can be thought of a collection of codes particular to where we were brought up and where we live. That helps explain why the French way of life is so different from the American way of life and why both are so different from the Japanese way of life. 'The chapter deals with the work of Clotaire Rapaille on national codes, its theories about culture codes, a discussion of how cultural codes shape conversation, and work by sociologist Orrin Klapp on codes and identity. It also deals with Umberto Eco's ideas about aberrant decoding and Basil Bernstein's work on different language codes. The way we understand these codes is tied to our socioeconomic classes, and they help shape our identities and sense of possibility. We must recognize that codes are culturally acquired, which means that they are communicated to us by others parents, priests, peers, and pop culture.
