The difference between culture and diversity stems from the fact that culture represents a society’s characteristics by means of several phenomena, while the term diversity, on the other hand, talks about differences in individuals. Diversity discusses how people who belong to one culture may differ from each other by means of various features. A country can be mono-cultural or multicultural and each culture symbolizes the peoples’ way of living, their beliefs and creativity, etc. Culture is not a biological product, but it is a man made thing. Also, it is so dynamic as well as always changing. The English anthropologist, Edward B. Tylor is said to have first used the term Culture in his book “Primitive Culture”, which was published in 1871. According to him, culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” Here, Tylor refers to universal human capabilities but they may differ according to the cultural differences.
What is Culture?
Culture is not biologically inherited but socially acquired. An infant learns culture by observing the society and an individual can contribute to the culture in several ways. Culture in a particular community shows how creative the people are and the peoples’ lifestyles are symbolized by it. Music, art, food, clothes, housing patterns, traditions, behavioral patterns, etc. are some of the components in a culture. Culture is something that is subjected to change over the time. Depending on the peoples’ needs, attitudes and tastes, culture in a particular society may change from one period to another. Moreover, anthropologists and researchers have found artifacts and several cultural items which belong to the past era and based on them we can describe the lifestyle of the ancestors. Further, we can see how one culture differed from another and how some cultural items were common in many cultures. However, we always have to keep in mind that the artifacts, clothes, food, etc. are mere representations of a culture because culture itself is a very abstract idea. However, culture is one of the major representations of a community and it made integration among people who had different skills. It is an essential need for the living of human beings because it is the culture that assimilates diverse individuals as one group in a community.
What is Diversity?
The word diversity itself suggests the meaning variety or difference. In a community, there can be many people who have different skills and abilities. Not all people share the same qualities or capabilities. By means of diversity, we look at these differences in an optimistic way and the concept of diversity shows the idea of recognition and admiration of these individual differences. Each in the world has his/her unique qualities and skills which may have been characterized by particular culture that they are living in. For example, we can distinguish ethnicity, religion, gender, race, physical abilities, political and other social beliefs of each separately but all people should have the tolerance and acceptance to these differences.
What is the difference between Culture and Diversity?
When we analyse both these terms, we can see a relationship between culture and diversity. It is apparent that the diversities exist in the cultures and they are characterized by the cultures. Also, culture is the main thing that brings diverse individuals together to form a unique living style. Further, culture uses the different skills of people for the improvement and the development of the culture itself as well as the society.
• On the other hand, culture is something that represents a community existence whereas diversity refers mainly to individual differences.
• Different skills of people assist to enrich a culture and it is always people who make a culture.
• Diversities may sometimes be biologically inherited and sometimes they are socially acquired.
• However, culture and diversities in individuals may go hand in hand since both exist together in the society.
Images Courtesy:
- Vietnam Culture by Leo (CC BY 2.0)