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Cultural ‘Chicken & Egg’
What do ‘Culture’ and chickens have in common? At first sight – not a lot; but they do share one common conundrum – which was first – the chicken or the egg? The same question is applicable to culture and it’s influence on our lives – does it grow out of who we are or is it fashioned by what we do? A possible answer is - YES.
Germanic culture is quite distinctive as reflected in the music and creative arts, as well as in the disciplined approach to social and work ethics resulting in a reputation for precision engineering. The German language is inherently aggressive in sound, the sentence structure places more emphasis on action verbs than other European languages. Again, does our language influence the way we think, or does the language that we use come out of how we think and behave? There could be a case for the later as we observe the English language being extended and changed by youth and fashion cultures as well as the growing dominance and dependence upon technology in daily life and the associated language that is generated around it. The French would move heaven and earth to ensure that their ways are protected and their culture is differentiated between English and German cultures – all done in the most poetic way…
But historically there is often one nation that would not observe or truly understand cultural differences – they will usually be the dominant power in the world – currently that is the United States of America. Many American companies have suffered as a result of thinking that the European countries are just a collection of ‘vanilla’ states that all respond similarly to marketing approaches. The underlying mindset is that Europe is just an extension of the United States – and it is only a matter of time before it is integrated into the American Culture and ‘shown how to live properly’ – as the Americans do! Curiously, in an effort to resist the conforming and controlling economic and political pressures from the States, the European Union is working hard to create a vanilla and culture-less society via an anonymous central legislation.
So, culturally - which does come first – the chicken or the egg? Do our values and visions shape our culture or is it the other way around? The inspirational poem 'Casabianca' by Mrs. Felicia Dorothea Hemans, recounts the story of an extraordinary incident of devotion and heroism witnessed during the Battle of the Nile in 1798, and touches the question of ‘why do we do what we do, when we do it?’ In Spike Milligan classic ‘left-of-stage’ abridged version of the poem he makes his own unique and insightful observation on human behaviour. His version reads “The boy stood on the burning deck, when all but he had fled – TWIT..”. Both versions allude to a set of values and vision that emulates certain behaviours that are rooted in the culture that they were created within. What is the culture of the West and what behaviour does it encourage in the pursuit of economically measured success; at what price?
Approaching the question of behavioural motivations but from a different perspective - Jean Paul Sartre observed in the 1920’s that all philosophy is attempting to answer one basic question - “why is there something instead of nothing”? How we answer that seemingly abstract question determines the way that we live and behave – what we value in life, what we consider as irrelevant and ultimately the significance of life in the face of the conundrum “what’s it all about?”
To bring this down to a more personal level, most of us are seeking answers to some fundamental questions – ‘who am I, what am I doing here, and does anybody care?’ These questions often drive a lifelong search for satisfactory and empowering answers that are frequently re-engineered as experiences cause us to re-evaluate earlier assumptions. An alternative response is to live in denial – avoiding the questions – either because they are too hard and abstract or because life’s experiences have been too painful to examine too closely. However, behind either of these and other alternative responses there lies an awareness of ‘eternity’ (or a reality beyond our everyday experiences) that will not go away or be satisfied with superficial explanations.
The culture that we live in provides a backdrop that enables us to come to terms with some of these questions. There are ‘givens’ that we adopt as behavioural norms which carry with them implied acceptable and unacceptable questions to ask. We draw comfort and security from the culture around us – it gives us a place of ‘belonging’ and something to react and test ourselves against. But does the culture we live in do us a disservice – with all of its unwritten laws and conventions that shape and to some degree subliminally constrain our thinking and attitudes?
Are we the masters of our destiny as we may suppose and strive to achieve or are we slaves to a higher force that is imbedded into the cultural influences that we consciously or unconsciously adopt? Which comes first – the cultural ‘chicken’ or the personal lifestyle ‘egg’? Do we have the authority and responsibility to change the culture if it is seen to be damaging to our health and well-being – or are we just ‘pawns in someone else’s game’?
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