cultural analysis research questions

Cultural Analysis

Volume 22.1, forum series 1: pandemics & politics, stephen olbrys gencarella.

Folk Research: A Query and a Critique

Sarita Ray Chaudhury

“Laugh like Surpanakha:” Modern Literary Re-Imagining of a Famous Villainess in Indian Folkloric Traditions

Tiago Pires

Ethnopsychiatry of the Devil: Demonic Possession as a Cultural Language for Subjective Suffering in Contemporary Italy

Book Review

Gregory Hansen Handbook for Folklore and Ethnomusicology Fieldwork (Gilman and Fenn)

Mary L. Sellers Midwestern Strange: Hunting Monsters, Martians, and the Weird in Flyover Country.

The Editors

Introduction: Changing Landscapes

Dom Tartaglia, Kaitlyn L. Kinney, Christine J. Widmayer, Annamarie Morel, Daisy Ahlstone, & Jared L. Schmidt

Becoming Folkwise: Sustaining Digital Community While Socially Distant (Essay)

Juwen Zhang

Making Sense of the Pandemic of Racism: From the Asian Exclusion Act in 1924 to the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in 2021

Response by: Fariha I. Khan

Lucy M. Long

Refrigerators, Cupboards, and Canning Jars: Emergent Meanings and Subversive Practices in Food Preservation and Storage During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Response by: Janet C. Gilmore

Andrea Kitta

God is My Vaccine: Religious Belief and COVID in the United States (Essay)

Levi Bochantin & James I. Deutsch

The Folkloric Roots and Pandemic Popularity of the QAnon Conspiracy Theory (Essay)

Interrogating Social Distancing: Pandemic and Farmers’ Protest in India

Adam Hinden, Ziying You, & Zhen Guo

Online Activism and Grassroots Memorialization in the Age of COVID-19: Dr. Li Wenliang's Virtual Wailing Wall

Response by: Frederik Schmitz

Volume 21.2

Approaching Climate Change Adaptation: Knowledge, Power, Communication

Volume 21.1

Creative Methodologies

Volume 20.2

Approaching Trauma through Laughter, Betrayal, and Othering

Volume 20.1

Volume 19.2

Tracking Knowledge

Volume 19.1

Ethnographies of Silence

Volume 18.2

Various Topics

Volume 18.1

Comparison as Social and Cultural Practice

Volume 17.2

Gesar Epic & The Punisher

Volume 17.1

Volume 16.2

Volume 16.1

Inheritance of the Digital

Volume 15.2

Volume 15.1

Everyday Practice and Tradition

What's in a Discipline? 50th Anniversary of SIEF

All Previous Volumes

Vol 1 to Vol 20.2

About Cultural Analysis

Established in 2000 in the Berkeley Folklore Archives, Cultural Analysis has published over 19 volumes and hosts a global editorial board and collective.

Cultural Analysis is global in scope, with an international editorial board. EDITORIAL BOARD

Submission Guidelines

Authors should submit research articles of approximately 8,000-10,000 words in length, in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th Edition, and include an abstract of 100 words and a "Works Cited" section. Authors must provide either an electronic or a paper copy of their article. Microsoft Word is the preferred format for all electronic copies. Electronic copies may be sent as e-mail attachments to [email protected] . Essays (2,500 to 3,500 words) are also welcomed.

373 Culture Research Topics & Ideas for Essays and Papers

• Icon Calendar 18 May 2024
• Icon Page 2868 words
• Icon Clock 13 min read

Culture research topics include various human behaviors and beliefs, offering a deep dive into societal norms, values, traditions, and symbols that have shaped and continue to shape civilizations across time and space. Themes encompass many areas, such as linguistics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, and arts. Topics also may include investigating the effects of globalization on indigenous cultures, the role of pop culture in shaping societal values, impacts of cultural assimilation, or tracing the evolution of language in a particular region. Studies in this field illuminate the tapestry of human existence, providing rich insights into unique human histories. Thus, culture research topics are not only intrinsically fascinating but also have crucial implications for policy, education, and understanding of identity, community, and coexistence in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world.

Hot Cultural Topics

• Unearthing Indigenous Histories Through Technology
• Cryptocurrency’s Influence on Art and Culture
• Ethical Dilemmas in Genomic Data Sharing
• The Intersection of Environmentalism and Fashion Trends
• Debating Authenticity in Social Media Influencer Culture
• Exploring Minority Representation in Hollywood
• Augmented Reality as a Cultural Experience
• Redefining Gender Norms in Video Gaming
• Street Art as a Political Commentary
• Future of Libraries in the Digital Age
• Culinary Trends Sparked by Plant-Based Movements
• Cultural Shifts in Privacy Perception Post-Social Media
• Language Preservation in a Globalized World
• AI and the Transformation of Creative Industries
• Mental Health Narratives in Popular Music
• Eco-Cities: Blending Urbanism and Sustainability
• Cross-Cultural Understanding Through Travel During Pandemic
• Consumerism and Minimalism: Contrasting Cultural Phenomena
• Unconventional Family Structures in Contemporary Literature
• Futurism in Architectural Design and Cultural Identity

Easy Cultural Essay Topics

• Influence of Digital Art on Cultural Identity
• Food Traditions as Cultural Symbols
• Relationship Between Language and Cultural Heritage
• Rise of E-Sports and Its Cultural Significance
• Virtual Reality in the Realm of Cultural Preservation
• Social Media as a Tool for Cultural Exchange
• Influence of Climate Change on Cultural Practices
• Anime and Manga: Japanese Culture’s Global Reach
• Cultural Perception of Privacy in the Era of Big Data
• Reality TV’s Effect on Cultural Stereotypes
• Cultural Implications of Urban Green Spaces
• Nostalgia and Culture in Retro Fashion Trends
• Understanding Cultural Context in Classic Literature
• Cultural Diversity in Modern Cinema
• Significance of Cultural Festivals in Building Community
• Influence of Sci-Fi on Our Perception of Future Cultures
• Cultural Perspectives on Mental Health in Popular Literature
• Globalization’s Effect on Indigenous Cultures
• Street Food and Its Connection to Local Culture

Interesting Culture Topics to Research for Essays and Papers

• Maori Culture and Traditions
• Intricacies of Japanese Tea Ceremony
• Voodoo Practices in Haitian Culture
• Celtic Traditions and Mythology
• Arab Bedouin Traditions and Nomadic Lifestyle
• Native American Tribes and Their Cultural Diversity
• Balinese Rituals and Spiritual Practices
• The Complexity of Tibetan Buddhism
• Greek Orthodox Customs and Traditions
• Culture of the Sami People in Scandinavia
• Andean Cultures: Incas and Their Descendants
• Mayan Civilization: Ancient Practices and Beliefs
• Yoruba Religion and Cultural Traditions in West Africa
• Nomadic Culture of the Mongolian Steppes
• Diverse Cultural Practices of Australian Aboriginals
• Culture of the Maasai Tribes in East Africa
• Persian Poetry and Its Cultural Significance
• Dance Forms and Culture of Polynesian Islands
• Cultures of the Amazon Rainforest Tribes
• Korean Hanbok and Traditional Dress Culture

Cultural Anthropology Topics for a Research Paper

• Decoding Symbolism in Ancient Mayan Art
• Understanding Power Structures in Tribal Societies
• Exploring Ritualistic Practices of the Australian Aborigines
• Influence of Globalization on Indigenous Cultural Practices
• Rituals and Customs: A Comparative Study Between Maasai and Zulu Tribes
• Investigating Linguistic Diversity in the Amazon Rainforest
• Dynamics of Cultural Adaptation in Refugee Communities
• Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation
• Comparative Study of Death Rituals Across Cultures
• Cultural Contexts of Folklore and Mythology in Slavic Societies
• Digital Anthropology: Social Media and Cultural Practices
• Cultural Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality in Pacific Island Societies
• Transcultural Psychiatry: Mental Health Across Cultures
• Insights into Cultural Healing Practices of Native American Tribes
• Foodways and Culture: A Study of Mediterranean Societies
• Dynamics of Social Change in Post-Colonial Societies
• Material Culture: Analysis of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts
• Cultural Interpretations of Climate Change in Arctic Communities
• Cultural Factors in Public Health: A Case Study of Sub-Saharan Africa
• Sacred Spaces and Cultural Identity: An Exploration of Hindu Temples

Cultural Criticism Essay Topics

• Postmodernism and Cultural Representation in Media
• Interrogating Orientalism: Western Perception of Eastern Cultures
• Deconstructing the Beauty Standard in Pop Culture
• Eco-Criticism and Interpretation of Environmental Narratives
• Analyzing Power Structures in Classic Literature
• Cultural Bias in Artificial Intelligence Systems
• Culture and Censorship: Freedom of Expression in Various Societies
• Unpacking Gender Stereotypes in Advertising
• Culture of Fear: Media Representation of Terrorism
• Colonial Narratives and Indigenous Voices in History Textbooks
• Cyber Culture: The Dark Side of Online Communities
• Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation: A Thin Line
• Cultural Hegemony and Minority Representation in Film Industry
• Ethnocentrism in Anthropological Research: A Critique
• Understanding Whiteness: Critique of White Privilege
• Body Image and Self-Esteem: A Critique of the Fashion Industry
• Religion and Cultural Bias in Western Feminist Discourses
• Consumer Culture and Critique of Fast Fashion
• Mental Health Stigma: Cultural Perspectives and Criticisms

Cultural Diversity Topics for an Essay

• Navigating Cultural Diversity in Multinational Corporations
• Multilingualism and Cultural Identity in Diverse Societies
• Cultural Diversity in Urban Design and City Planning
• Influence of Cultural Diversity on Public Health Policies
• Diverse Cultures: Integration Challenges in Immigration Policies
• Cultural Diversity and Ethical Considerations in Clinical Trials
• Understanding Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Education
• Cultural Diversity in Contemporary Literature: A Critical Analysis
• Representation of Cultural Diversity in the Animation Industry
• Multiculturalism and Its Influence on National Identity
• Promoting Cultural Diversity through Public Broadcasting
• Cultural Diversity and Inclusivity in Tech Industry
• Managing Cultural Diversity in International Space Missions
• Challenges of Cultural Diversity in Peacekeeping Missions
• Influence of Cultural Diversity on Artistic Expression
• Linguistic Diversity and Cultural Preservation
• Cultural Diversity in Global Climate Change Dialogues
• Cultural Diversity and Adaptation Strategies in Sports Teams
• Diversity in Cuisine: Culinary Traditions Across Cultures
• Cultural Diversity and Conflict Resolution in Global Diplomacy

Culture Heritage Research Topics

• Preservation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems
• Exploring Cultural Landscapes and Their Conservation
• Digital Archiving and Cultural Heritage Preservation
• Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage
• Cultural Heritage Tourism: Balancing Preservation and Promotion
• Intersections of Cultural Heritage and Climate Change
• Restitution of Cultural Artifacts: Ethical Considerations
• Reconstructing Cultural Heritage in Post-War Regions
• Maritime Cultural Heritage: Underwater Archaeology Challenges
• Cultural Heritage and Memory: Significance of Oral Histories
• Revitalization of Endangered Languages: Strategies and Challenges
• Historic Urban Landscapes: Conserving Cultural Heritage in Cities
• World Heritage Sites and Their Sustainability Issues
• Conservation of Ancient Manuscripts and Rare Books
• Sacred Sites and Cultural Heritage: Managing Religious Tourism
• Cultural Heritage and Identity in Diaspora Communities
• Management of Archaeological Sites: Balancing Research and Preservation
• Investigating Looting and Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property
• World Cuisine as an Element of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Cultural Phenomena Topics

• Unraveling the K-Pop Phenomenon: Cultural and Global Implications
• Cryptocurrency Culture: A New Financial Phenomenon
• Cross-Cultural Analysis of Conspiracy Theories
• Spread of Internet Memes: A Modern Cultural Phenomenon
• Cultural Aspects of the Global Wellness Movement
• Globalization and the Cultural Phenomenon of Fast Food
• Cyberculture and the Emergence of Virtual Communities
• Reality TV and Its Cultural Repercussions
• Influence of Celebrity Culture on Youth Values
• Pandemic Culture: Changes in Behavioral Patterns Due to COVID-19
• Examining the Cultural Phenomenon of Social Activism in Digital Spaces
• Coffee Culture: A Global Phenomenon With Local Variations
• Influence of Anime and Manga on Global Pop Culture
• Cultural Phenomena of Aging Societies in Developed Countries
• Nerd Culture and Its Influence on Entertainment Industry
• Fashion Trends as Reflections of Cultural Change
• Online Gaming Communities as Cultural Phenomena
• Cultural Shifts in Attitudes Toward Mental Health
• The Phenomenon of Remote Work and Cultural Implications
• Cultural Perception and Adoption of Renewable Energy Solutions

Cultural Psychology Research Topics in Culture Studies

• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Emotional Expression
• Psychology of Superstitions in Various Cultures
• Analysis of Collectivist vs. Individualistic Cultural Psychologies
• Cultural Factors Influencing Child Development
• Cultural Psychology of Grief and Mourning Rituals
• Understanding Perception of Time in Different Cultures
• Body Language and Non-Verbal Communication Across Cultures
• Examining the Cultural Context of Dreams
• Cultural Influences on Human Memory
• Cultural Diversity and Its Effects on Learning Styles
• Cognitive Biases and Cultural Influences: A Comparative Study
• Cultural Influences on Risk Perception and Decision-Making
• Psychological Perspectives on Folklore and Mythology Across Cultures
• Understanding the Cultural Aspects of Empathy
• Interplay of Language and Thought in Cultural Psychology
• Cultural Differences in Coping Strategies for Stress
• Cultural Influences on Perception of Pain
• Influence of Culture on Self-Esteem and Self-Concept
• Psychological Analysis of Taboos Across Different Cultures

Environmentalism and Culture Research Topics

• Cultural Practices in Biodiversity Conservation
• Green Architecture: Cultural and Environmental Interactions
• Cultural Perceptions of Climate Change in Island Nations
• Understanding Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Environmental Stewardship
• Environmental Ethics in Native American Cultures
• Ecotourism and Its Influence on Local Culture
• Influence of Environmental Movements on Contemporary Art
• Cultural Factors Affecting Renewable Energy Adoption
• Influence of Traditional Farming Practices on Biodiversity
• Cultural Aspects of Waste Management Practices
• Sacred Natural Sites and Their Role in Conservation
• Cultural Landscapes and Strategies for Their Preservation
• Impact of Climate Migration on Cultural Identity
• Rituals and Myths Related to Nature Across Cultures
• Impact of Environmental Policies on Indigenous Cultures
• Understanding Cultural Dimensions of Urban Green Spaces
• Influence of Culture on Perceptions of Genetically Modified Organisms
• Culture and the Transition to a Circular Economy
• Perceptions of Water Scarcity in Different Cultures
• Cultural Responses to Deforestation in Rainforest Communities

Gender and Culture Research Topics

• Exploring the Cultural Construction of Masculinity
• Perception of Beauty Standards Across Different Cultures
• Cultural Interpretations of Transgender Identities
• Influence of Cultural Norms on Gender Equity in Education
• Understanding Gender Roles in Indigenous Cultures
• Implications of Matrilineal Societies for Gender Equality
• Cultural Factors Affecting Women’s Political Participation
• Gender Dynamics in Traditional Rituals and Festivals
• Intersectionality of Gender, Culture, and Religion
• Gender Representation in Global Advertising
• Investigating Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Literature
• Cultural Perception of Non-Binary Gender Identities
• Influence of Gender Roles on Career Choices Across Cultures
• Cultural Factors Influencing Maternal Health
• Gender Dynamics in Migration and Displacement
• Influence of Culture on Men’s Mental Health
• Gendered Spaces: A Cultural Perspective
• Culture and Gender Inequity in Access to Healthcare
• Cultural Perspectives on Domestic Roles and Responsibilities

Globalization and Culture Topics

• Understanding the Cultural Implications of Globalized Media
• Cultural Resistance to Globalization in Indigenous Communities
• Globalization and the Spread of English: Implications for Linguistic Diversity
• Influence of Globalization on Local Music Genres
• Exploring Cultural Homogenization in Global Cities
• Food Culture in the Age of Globalization: A Case Study
• Globalization and the Commodification of Indigenous Cultures
• Globalization and the Transformation of Traditional Art Forms
• Diaspora Communities: Navigating Globalization and Cultural Identity
• Transnational Cinema: Cross-Cultural Influences and Globalization
• Implications of Globalization for Indigenous Knowledge Systems
• Globalization and Changing Gender Norms: A Cross-Cultural Study
• Cultural Hybridity in Globalized Fashion Trends
• Internet Culture and Globalization: A Complex Relationship
• Globalization and Its Effect on Cultural Heritage Preservation
• Influence of Globalized Education on Cultural Diversity
• Cultural Adaptation in Global Marketing Strategies
• Globalization and Transformation of Religious Practices
• Impact of Global Migration on Cultural Diversity
• Understanding Globalization’s Effect on Cultural Autonomy

Intercultural Communication Topics

• Intercultural Communication in Multinational Corporations
• Exploring Communication Barriers in Intercultural Marriages
• Interpretation of Non-Verbal Cues Across Cultures
• Intercultural Communication in Virtual Teams
• Analysis of Humor in Intercultural Communication
• Influence of Cultural Stereotypes on Intercultural Communication
• Examining Intercultural Communication in Healthcare Settings
• Challenges of Intercultural Communication in Diplomacy
• Influence of Social Media on Intercultural Communication
• Impact of Language Proficiency on Intercultural Communication
• Intercultural Communication in International Development Projects
• Implications of Cultural Taboos in Intercultural Communication
• Intercultural Miscommunication: Case Studies and Analysis
• Influence of Cultural Dimensions on Communication Styles
• Intercultural Communication in Refugee and Immigrant Integration
• Strategies for Effective Intercultural Communication in Education
• Investigating the Role of Empathy in Intercultural Communication
• Impact of Intercultural Communication on Global Marketing Strategies
• Ethics in Intercultural Communication: A Critical Review

List of Culture Research Topics

• Cultural Perspectives on Death and Afterlife
• Influence of Pop Culture on Youth Identity Formation
• Understanding Culturally Specific Healing Practices
• Martial Arts as Cultural Phenomena: A Comparative Study
• Street Art and Its Cultural Significance
• Dynamics of Food Culture: Traditional vs. Modern
• Exploring the Cultural History of Tattoos
• Cultural Aspects of Aging: East vs. West
• Cultural Factors Influencing Childbirth Practices
• Language Revitalization in Endangered Cultures
• Cultural Significance of Traditional Dress Codes
• Examining Body Modification Practices Across Cultures
• Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Agriculture
• Analysis of Cultural Aspects in Cybersecurity
• Influence of Culture on Parenting Styles
• Representation of Culture in Animated Films
• Cultural Practices in Disaster Management and Preparedness
• Cultural Transformation in Post-Colonial Societies
• Cultural Understanding of Mental Health Disorders
• Decoding Cultural Symbolism in Mythology and Folklore

Multiculturalism and Diversity Research Topics

• Multiculturalism in Children’s Literature: A Content Analysis
• Exploring the Dynamics of Multicultural Teams in Organizations
• Multicultural Education and Student Achievement: An Empirical Study
• Influence of Multiculturalism on Urban Design and Architecture
• Multiculturalism and Its Effect on National Identity
• Implications of Multiculturalism for Social Justice Education
• Perceptions of Diversity in the Media Industry
• Understanding the Challenges of Multicultural Counselling
• Cultural Diversity and Innovation in Start-Up Ecosystems
• Effect of Multiculturalism on Interpersonal Relationships in Diverse Societies
• Diversity and Inclusion in the Tech Industry: Case Studies
• Cultural Diversity in the Judiciary: An International Comparison
• Multilingual Education in Multicultural Societies: Best Practices
• Multiculturalism and Its Influence on Public Health Policies
• Social Cohesion in Multicultural Neighborhoods: A Field Study
• Cultural Diversity in Political Representation: A Global Perspective
• Inclusion of Minority Cultures in National History Curriculum
• Multiculturalism and Its Influence on Contemporary Art Movements
• Challenges of Managing Diversity in Higher Education Institutions
• Multiculturalism and the Transformation of Urban Food Culture

Sociology of Culture Research Topics

• Sociological Perspectives on Cultural Taboos
• Culture and Social Class: Interplay and Implications
• Cultural Factors in the Sociology of Deviance
• Exploring Cultural Capital in Educational Achievement
• Sociological Analysis of Food Culture and Social Status
• Subcultures and Their Influence on Mainstream Society
• Sociology of Cultural Assimilation in Immigrant Communities
• Cultural Factors Affecting Social Mobility: An Empirical Study
• Sociological Dimensions of Popular Culture
• Understanding Cultural Factors in Health Disparities
• Sociology of Aging in Different Cultural Contexts
• Exploring the Sociology of Cultural Trauma
• Cultural Context of Social Movements
• Sociological Analysis of Celebrity Culture
• Cultural Dimensions of Urban Sociology
• Influence of Culture on Social Networks
• Sociological Perspectives on Cultural Appropriation
• Cultural Factors in Gender Inequality: A Sociological View
• Understanding the Cultural Aspects of Gentrification
• Sociology of Culture and Social Change: Case Studies
• Cultural Transformation and Its Sociological Implications
• Understanding Cultural Stigma in Mental Health
• Body Image Perceptions Across Different Cultures
• Cultural Influences on Societal Trust and Cohesion
• Sociology of Music: Exploring Cultural Genres
• Cultural Factors in Youth Gangs and Deviance
• Cultural Nuances in the Sociology of Emotions
• Exploring the Cultural Context of Aging Societies
• Cultural Perspectives on Social Stratification
• Sociological Implications of Intercultural Marriages
• Cultural Narratives in Gender Identity Construction
• Sociology of Art: Understanding Cultural Expressions
• Understanding Cultural Perspectives on Human Rights
• Cultural Factors in Environmental Sociology
• Cultural Interpretations of Religious Symbols
• Sociology of Language and Cultural Identity
• Cultural Influences on Children’s Socialization Processes
• Exploring the Cultural Dynamics of Social Protests
• Sociological Perspectives on Cultural Heritage and Identity
• Cultural Context of Intergenerational Relationships

Subculture Research Ideas

• Gothic Subculture: A Sociological Perspective
• Exploring the Culture of eSports Enthusiasts
• Punk Rock: An Ethnographic Study of Rebellion and Resistance
• Exploring the Vegan Subculture: Beliefs and Lifestyle
• Cosplay Subculture: Identity and Community
• Street Art: A Study of Subcultural Expression
• Influence of Hip-Hop Subculture on Urban Fashion
• In-Depth Study of the Online Gaming Subculture
• Psychedelic Subculture: Perception, Art, and Social Norms
• Understanding the Straight Edge Subculture: Music and Morality
• Subculture and Identity Formation in Adolescents
• Tattoo Subculture: Expressions of Individuality or Conformity?
• Exploring the Subculture of Comic Book Fandom
• Bodybuilding Subculture: Discipline, Lifestyle, and Body Image
• Subcultural Study of Skateboarders: Rebellion or Recreation?
• Hacker Subculture: Values, Beliefs, and Ethos
• Exploring the Subculture of Minimalist Lifestyle
• The Culture of Craft Beer Enthusiasts: A Subcultural Analysis
• Unveiling the Mysterious World of Secret Societies

Western Civilization Essay Topics in Culture Research

• Democracy and Its Origins in Ancient Greece
• Influence of Renaissance Art on Western Culture
• Exploring the Cultural Significance of the Magna Carta
• Western Civilization and the Emergence of Scientific Thinking
• Christianity’s Influence on Western Morality and Ethics
• Enlightenment Thought and Its Influence on Modern Western Society
• Fall of the Roman Empire: A Pivot Point in Western Civilization
• Imperialism and Western Civilization: A Historical Analysis
• Historiography of the French Revolution in Western Discourse
• Industrial Revolution: The Engine of Western Progress
• Influence of Western Civilization on Global Legal Systems
• The Age of Exploration: Western Civilization Expands
• Western Civilization: From Gutenberg’s Press to the Internet
• Interpretations of the American Revolution in Western Thought
• Historical and Cultural Analysis of Western Romanticism
• Contribution of Western Civilization to Modern Medicine
• Development and Influence of Western Classical Music
• The Influence of Western Philosophy on Modern Thought
• The Role of Western Civilization in Shaping Modern Economics
• Western Civilization and Its Influence on Modern Democracy

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Exploring Global Cultures: Topics for Your Next Cultural Research Paper

Table of contents

• 1 How to Choose a Cultural Research Topic to Write About 
• 2.1 Cultural Diversity Research Topics
• 2.2 Anthropology Research Topics
• 2.3 Subculture Study Ideas
• 2.4 Heritage and Preservation Studies
• 2.5 Identity Research Topics
• 2.6 Socio-Cultural Essay Ideas
• 2.7 Psychology Research Topics
• 2.8 Western Civilization Essay Ideas
• 2.9 Cross-Cultural Study Topics
• 2.10 Stereotypes and Misconceptions Studies

Cultural research papers are a gateway to exploring the intricate web of human societies and their diverse practices. Such papers cover a broad range of cultural analysis topics, each offering a unique perspective on how communities shape and are shaped by their civilizational norms and values. 

Whether it’s delving into the realms of cultural diversity topics, examining cross-cultural psychological patterns, or investigating specific phenomena, these subjects provide a rich ground for academic inquiry. 

Research topics on culture not only deepen our understanding of human interactions and beliefs but also highlight the importance of nuances in shaping societal dynamics. Engaging and informative, they encourage a deeper exploration of the ethical fabric that weaves together the global human experience, making them both fascinating and essential for a comprehensive understanding of the world.

How to Choose a Cultural Research Topic to Write About 

Choosing a topic for a cultural research paper is a strategic and thoughtful process. Start by identifying your interests in this vast field. Are you fascinated by cross cultural psychology research topics, intrigued by diverse communication practices, or curious about specific cultural phenomenon topics? Pinpointing an area that genuinely interests you is crucial for sustained engagement with your research.

• Consider the scope of your chosen topic. Aim for a balance, selecting a specific subject to be manageable yet broad enough to provide ample material for exploration. For instance, within the realm of cultural psychology research topics, you might focus on how different civilizations perceive mental health.
• Ensure there is sufficient information available. Conduct preliminary research to confirm the availability of resources and data. This step is vital, especially for topics like social analysis or cultural diversity, where empirical evidence is key to a robust paper.
• Think about the relevance and originality of your topic. Strive to contribute new insights or perspectives, particularly in fields like anthropology, where there is always room for fresh interpretations of ethical phenomena.
• Lastly, consider the academic and societal implications of your topic. Select a subject that not only adds value to academic discourse but also has the potential to enlighten and inform broader societal understanding, like studies in diversity or society communication practices. This approach ensures that your work is intellectually fulfilling and socially impactful.

Need help with research paper writing? Get your paper written by a professional writer Get Help Reviews.io 4.9/5

List of Cultural Research Paper Topics

Embarking on an ethnic research journey opens doors to a world of interesting anthropology research topics. From the complicated field of cross-cultural psychology to the beautiful tapestry of diversity, these cultural topics for research paper cover various areas related to anthropology, communication, and social phenomena, giving you a wide range of interesting culture to research.

Cultural Diversity Research Topics

• Language’s Role in Shaping Identity Across Cultures
• Norms Comparison: Eastern and Western Societies
• Indigenous Civilizations’ Response to Globalization
• Diversity in the Workplace: Opportunities and Challenges
• Media Representation of Varied Societies and its Effects
• Multiculturalism’s Evolution in Urban Environments
• Educational Systems’ Approach to Global Diversity
• Music’s Influence on Ethnical Integration
• Culinary Traditions as a Reflection of Societal Diversity
• Festivals as a Platform for Promoting Diversity

Anthropology Research Topics

• Varied Traditions of Healing in Global Civilizations
• Marriage Customs Across Different Societies
• Kinship and Family Structures: An Anthropological View
• Societal Responses to Natural Disasters: A Comparative Study
• Local Cultures’ Adaptation to Tourism
• Birth and Death Rituals in Diverse Societies
• Religion: Beliefs and Practices Worldwide
• Technology’s Impact on Traditional Societal Roles
• Non-Western Perspectives on Time
• Clothing and Adornment from an Anthropological Lens

Subculture Study Ideas

• Hip-Hop’s Social Influence and Evolution
• Cyberpunk: Blending Technology and Aesthetic
• Skateboarding’s Cultural Journey
• LGBTQ+ Community’s Internal Subcultures
• Gaming’s Social and Cultural Impact
• Punk Fashion and Identity
• Coffee Culture’s Shift from Niche to Mainstream
• Teen Subcultures in the Age of Social Media
• Green Movements: Environmental Awareness as a Subculture
• Fitness Trends and Digital Age Subcultures

Heritage and Preservation Studies

• Ancient Manuscripts’ Digitization for Heritage Preservation
• Museums’ Role in Protecting Ethnical Legacies
• Intangible Heritage Threats in the Modern Era
• Historic Sites’ Architectural Conservation
• War’s Effects on World Heritage
• Indigenous Languages and Oral Traditions’ Preservation
• Heritage Tourism: Balancing Benefits and Risks
• Legal Strategies for Heritage Protection
• Traditional Arts and Crafts Revival
• Post-Colonial Societies’ Heritage Perspectives

Identity Research Topics

• Diaspora’s Impact on Identity Formation
• Bicultural Existence in a Globalized Era
• Art’s Reflection of Societal Identity
• Language Loss and its Effect on Identity
• Social Media Influences on Youth Identity
• Fashion as a Cultural Expression Tool
• Gastronomy’s Role in Defining Societal Identity
• Race and Identity Intersections
• Second-Generation Immigrants’ Identity Challenges
• Popular Culture’s Influence on National Identity

Socio-Cultural Essay Ideas

• Bilingualism and Multilingualism’s Societal Effects
• Gender Roles: A Global Cultural Comparison
• Mass Migration’s Social Impact
• Social Hierarchies: A Global Cultural Analysis
• Global Economic Inequality’s Cultural Dimensions
• Social Media as a Cultural Change Agent
• Urbanization’s Societal Consequences
• Religion’s Influence on Socio-Cultural Norms
• Aging Populations and Societal Shifts
• Education’s Influence on Societal Values

Psychology Research Topics

• Superstitions’ Psychological Underpinnings in Various Societies
• Emotional Expression: A Cross-Cultural Study
• Decision-Making Influences Across Cultures
• Childhood Development in Diverse Environments
• Personality Shaping through Societal Norms
• Mental Health Approaches in Different Societies
• Immigrant Families and Acculturation Challenges
• Resolving Ethnical Conflicts: A Psychological Perspective
• Behavioral Norms’ Cultural Foundations
• Cultural Communication Practices Paper Proposal: Human Motivation from a Global Perspective

Western Civilization Essay Ideas

• The Renaissance’s Influence on Western Civilization
• Democracy’s Roots in Ancient Greece and Rome
• Industrial Revolution’s Societal Transformations
• Christianity’s Impact on Western Societies
• Philosophical Foundations of Modern Western Thought
• Enlightenment’s Role in Modernity Shaping
• Western Art Evolution from Baroque to Modernism
• Western Societies’ Ecological Footprint
• Colonial Legacy in Western History
• Science’s Progression in Western Context

Cross-Cultural Study Topics

• Work Ethic Comparisons Across Societies
• Effective Communication in Diverse Settings
• Leading in Multicultural Environments
• Love and Marriage: Global Insights
• Parenting Styles’ Ethnical Variations
• International Business Adaptations
• Health Practices: A Global View
• Educational Systems: International Comparisons
• Negotiation Styles in Diverse Contexts
• Eldercare Approaches in Different Civilizations

Stereotypes and Misconceptions Studies

• Hollywood’s Role in Perpetuating Stereotypes
• Racial Stereotypes’ Origins and Impacts
• Gender Assumptions in Societal Contexts
• Media’s Influence in Stereotype Formation
• Stereotypes in International Diplomacy
• Misconceptions’ Psychological Aspects
• Socioeconomic Assumptions in Urban Life
• Stereotyping in Educational Environments
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Using the Cultures Framework for Research

• Open Access
• First Online: 23 March 2023

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• Janet Stephenson 2  

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This chapter is designed to guide academics and students who wish to undertake research using the cultures framework. It offers a structured approach to cultural research that can be used by researchers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. The variables and dynamics depicted by the framework are able to be discovered, described and analysed using a wide variety of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The framework can also be used as a meta-theoretical framing. It invites interdisciplinary endeavours and multi-method research approaches, and operates well as an integrating framework. Further research on culture and sustainability is needed to build up a better understanding of, amongst other things, universal cultural processes, transforming unsustainable meta-cultures, and the multiple roles that culture can play in sustainability transitions. The chapter concludes with suggesting further potential contributions to sustainability research  from each of the nine perspectives of culture described in Chapter 2 .

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• Sustainability
• Qualitative methodology
• Quantitative methodology
• Multi-method
• Meta-theoretical
• Interdisciplinary
• Integrative
• Cultural theory

Introduction

I cannot think of a single research topic relating to the human/sustainability nexus that does not have a cultural component. From globally influential paradigms and the practices of fossil fuel majors to the operations of small businesses and the daily lives of households, culture is involved. Yet as a research topic, culture is often remaindered—applied as a loose label for a collection of features of social existence that sit unexamined alongside other deeply analysed phenomena. Apart from the fraction of researchers trained in forms of cultural analysis, the slippery, qualitative features of culture can seem too hard to investigate by researchers interested in sustainability issues. The cultures framework addresses this difficulty by offering a structured way to approach cultural research that can be used by researchers from almost any disciplinary background. As described in earlier chapters, the framework has been sufficiently tested to have confidence that it can fruitfully guide research endeavours.

Over the 12 years since the framework was first introduced in the literature, it has been used with a broad range of research approaches. It has been used with qualitative methods, quantitative methods and mixed methods. It has been used to formulate research design, as an analytical frame for the interpretation of existing data sets, and as a conceptual framing for meta-reviews of data. It has been used by individual researchers from a single discipline as well as by interdisciplinary research teams. It has underpinned undergraduate studies, postgraduate dissertations and extensive research programmes. It has been used to design research-based interventions and as an evaluation framework. And as shown in earlier chapters, it has been applied to a wide variety of problems and fields of enquiry.

This chapter is designed to guide academics and students who wish to undertake research using the cultures framework. For most of the chapter, I discuss the use of the framework to explore the interplay between culture and sustainability. By providing a structure for research investigations, the framework can help reveal what cultural ensembles, consisting of what cultural features, have causal relationships with what outcomes, affected by what external influences. It can help determine who are the actors within the culture group under study, and which cultural ensembles are already more sustainable than others. By examining the internal dynamics of culture, we can see how this leads to the sustainability outcomes. By studying cultural ensembles in relation to external influences, we can gain insights into why cultures remain static or evolve. By investigating the scope of agency of cultural actors, we can better understand why it is difficult for them to change, and who comprise more powerful organisations or institutions. And by examining whether a culture is dynamically stable or has the potential to change, we can gain insights into whether transformation is possible. Of course, not all these questions will be relevant to a given study, and the choice of questions will be determined by the particular context of the research and the sustainability issues at stake, but this gives an indication of the types of questions for which the framework can be used.

Towards the end of the chapter, I discuss how the framework can also be used as a meta-theoretical framing. In this sense, it can be used as an overarching structuring device for multidisciplinary, multi-theoretical and multi-method research, as with the examples of the Energy Cultures research programmes discussed in Chapter 7 . As covered in Chapter 4 , it builds on mature social science and cultural theories, and the framework acts as a structuring device for reaching into these fields of knowledge to examine dynamics and causal mechanisms in greater depth. I finish by discussing how the diverse and currently fragmented cultural theories discussed in Chapter 2 can make a stronger contribution to sustainability research.

Core Concepts

On the assumption that some readers may skip directly to this chapter, I will first recap on some key concepts. First, what culture is not. Culture is not about how people operate as individuals, each with their unique personal history and psychology. It is not about demographics. It is not about features that all humans share as social beings. All of these may interplay with culture, but they are not its defining characteristics. Second, the cultures framework is not just about culture. Cultures do not exist in a vacuum, and the framework draws attention to important variables that shape culture and mediate its implications for sustainability outcomes.

Recapping on what I mean by culture in this context, I describe it in Chapter 4 as comprising distinctive patterns of motivators (norms, values, beliefs, knowledge and symbolism), activities (routines and actions) and materiality (products and acquisitions) that form dynamic ensembles which are shared by a group of people and learned through both cognitive and bodily processes . These cultural ensembles can be most simply described as similar ways of thinking, doing and having that are evident across a group of people. Depending on the focus of research, this could apply to the cultures of people in their everyday lives, or the cultures of organisations or businesses, or cultures at even broader scales of institutions and ideologies.

Rather than focusing on describing groups that we typically think of in cultural terms (e.g. ethnic cultures, youth cultures, American culture), the framework invites inquiries into actors and their cultural ensembles that have implications for sustainability. Relevant actors may be identified at any scale: individuals, households, communities, organisations and beyond. Culture can be investigated in relation to a sustainability problem in both a causal sense and in the way in which cultural dynamics can resist change. Culture can also be investigated as part of sustainability solutions in the sense that many existing cultures are exemplars of sustainability. Cultural change can be a creative and fast-moving force for sustainability transitions.

The range of concerns of sustainability is exemplified by the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015 ) but as discussed in Chapter 1 , the SDGs are only one perspective on sustainability. More critical perspectives suggest that sustainability will not be achieved without more radical change to established systems of production and expectations of consumption. The framework does not predetermine what is meant by sustainability outcomes—this is left to the researcher to determine for their particular context.

The cultures framework has evolved over time. All the research examples I included in previous chapters used earlier terminologies (‘energy cultures framework’ or ‘sustainability cultures framework’) but the core concepts have changed little over time apart from becoming more generic. Earlier versions have produced sound and fruitful findings, and there is no reason why researchers cannot continue to use it in its earlier and slightly simpler form, especially those wishing to take their first forays into this field, in which case the guidance in Stephenson ( 2018 , 2020 ) will be helpful. In this chapter, I continue to use examples from this prior research, but describe how researchers can undertake inquiries using the revised cultures framework which is presented in Chapter 4 . I encourage readers of this chapter to return to Chapter 4 for fuller descriptions of the language, elements and dynamics of the revised framework.

A Guide to Research with the Cultures Framework

The framework can be applied in many different ways to support research processes. One way is to simply use the diagram of the cultural ensemble (Fig.  8.2 ) as the basis for describing a culture—its distinctive elements and their dynamics. It can be surprisingly difficult to explain what culture is, and these concepts give a solid foundation for identifying cultural features in any given context. At my university, some lecturers ask students to undertake at-home research to describe their own cultural ensembles that relate to energy use or greenhouse gas emissions. The diagram showing the ensemble, agency barrier and external influences (Fig.  8.5 ) has been used as the basis for discussions about research culture in university departments, and by research organisations to analyse how their own culture may be holding them back from undertaking transformative research. In these instances, it can be a tool for self-reflection, enabling actors to understand and articulate elements of their culture and constraints on change.

But more commonly, the framework is used by researchers in its full form (Fig.  8.1 ) for sustainability-related investigations. Some studies primarily seek to describe the cultural characteristics of a particular population. Examples I have discussed in earlier chapters include cooking cultures in Zambia, energy cultures in rural households in Transylvania and mobility cultures in New Zealand. Studies have also used the framework to compare cultures within a population. These have generally sought to explore the contribution of cultural differences to sustainability outcomes. Examples discussed in previous chapters include identifying varied cultural ensembles across populations in relation to energy consumption, energy efficiency and water consumption. Others have explored aspects of culture as influences on people’s readiness to engage in new collective behaviours, their responses to efficiency retrofits and as a factor in nations’ willingness to decarbonise.

The cultures framework

The framework is also useful for exploring barriers to cultural change. Studies discussed in earlier chapters have identified cultural characteristics that help explain resistance to change in the US Navy, failures to achieve desired levels of change in social housing interventions and cultural barriers to change in academic air travel. Chapter 7 discusses at length how the framework can be used as a basis for policy development and to underpin the evaluation of interventions.

The following section describes how to use the revised cultures framework to underpin research. For easier reference, I repeat here (as Fig. 8.1) the complete cultures framework diagram (first appearing as Fig.  4.8 in Chapter 4 ). The section is ordered as a step-by-step process, although it should be noted that not all research will involve all stages, and some research may proceed in a different order or head in different directions. Following this, I describe the range of research methods that have so far been used with the framework, and its methodological inclusivity in general.

Research on culture is research with people. In exploring what is needed to achieve societal transitions towards sustainability, researchers might wish to learn from groups and organisations that have already grappled with what it takes to live sustainably. They may wish to explore unsustainable cultures that seem unlikely to change. They might seek to work with culture groups or organisations that wish to change but can’t, or with those that are already on change journeys. In any situation, the research process and its outcomes have the potential to destabilise established beliefs, ways of life and social processes. Social research is a serious business and must be undertaken ethically and with the consent of, and ideally in collaboration with, those with whose lives you may disrupt.

Determining the Sustainability Outcomes

The cultures framework theorises that cultural ensembles have a causal relationship with sustainability outcomes, a concept that is conveyed by the two-headed arrow in Fig.  8.1 . The starting point for research design could be at either end of the arrow. If the sustainability outcomes to be examined are predetermined (e.g. energy consumption, equity, waste reduction), the research might seek to characterise different cultural ensembles within the population that have a causal relationship with these outcomes. Alternatively, the outcomes may be uncertain at the outset, but will emerge from the study. For example, research on the cultural ensembles of elderly households may reveal multiple sustainability implications such as health outcomes, energy expenditure and carbon emissions.

As discussed earlier, the concept of sustainability outcomes can be as broad or as specific, and as conservative or as radical, as the researcher wishes to make it. To be useful for the purposes of the framework, outcomes ideally are measurable (i.e. empirical evidence is available as to whether that outcome is improving or degrading) or at least able to be qualitatively described and compared. Outcomes can be uni-dimensional (e.g. a measure of water quality) or might consist of multiple interconnected qualities (e.g. health, biodiversity, equity). Outcomes may be of widespread benefit (e.g. reducing greenhouse gas emissions) or directly beneficial to the households themselves (e.g. improved health).

The double-headed arrow between cultural ensembles and outcomes also reminds researchers that if outcomes change, this changed context can become a further external influence. For example, if a farmer introduces practices that result in cleaner rivers and streams, this may create positive reinforcement for further cultural change. The farmer may enjoy being able to catch fish again, or seeing their children swimming, or hear positive feedback from community members, and may be encouraged to do more. Research on this kind of feedback could help identify whether and how positive affirmation from more sustainable outcomes can lead to ongoing cultural transformation.

Determining the Cultural Elements and Their Interactions

At an early point in the research process, it will be necessary to determine both the scope of the cultural ensemble and the scope of the member actors. The cultural elements to be studied will ultimately be determined by the sustainability outcomes you are interested in and the actors you are focusing on. For example, if you are interested in carbon emissions from a business sector, the obvious cultural actors to focus on would be those businesses, and the elements to study would be the motivators, materiality and activities that have a direct relationship to carbon emissions. However, from identifying this first-order group of actors, it may become clear that other actors also play a role. It may prove more useful to focus on a sub-group within the business such as senior leadership, or shareholders, or alternatively it may prove important to examine cultural factors at broader scales, such as at the sector level, or within suppliers for these businesses. As a researcher, be open to which group/s of actors it might be most useful to focus on. Depending on the research aim, it might be more useful to gain a rich understanding of the cultural ensembles of a small number of actors, or alternatively to investigate a narrow range of cultural features across a much larger population.

You may find it is useful to examine cultures at multiple scales. Cultures are identifiable and discussable from a minute scale, such as the cultural ensemble of a particular actor or organisation, to massive scales, such as the distinctive and enduring features of Western civilisation. You may find it useful to study the ways in which culture can act as structure—a high-level ensemble of beliefs, symbolism, practices and institutions, which shape other cultures that have less power and reach. The framework is relevant to supporting research at any scale and scope.

The next step is to determine which cultural features are most relevant to your study. The core variables of the framework reflect concepts about culture that repeatedly appear in cultural theories (see Chapter 3 ). Materiality comprises items that are made, acquired, owned, accumulated, held or nurtured by cultural actors. Activities are frequent and infrequent actions undertaken by cultural actors. Motivators are shared aspects of cognition that include norms, values, beliefs, knowledge and meanings (Fig.  8.2 ). Which specific features comprise the ensemble for the purposes of your research will depend on the sustainability outcomes, the nature of the actors and of course your interests as a researcher.

I have described a cultural ensemble as a generally consistent pattern of materiality, motivators and activities displayed by an actor or group of actors, but all three may not have equal pertinence depending on the issue—for example, beliefs, meanings or understandings may be more relevant in a particular case than activities or materiality, and vice versa. Cultures will rarely be distinguishable by unique sets of cultural elements; there may be a great deal of overlap between the ensembles of culture groups. The ways in which they are differentiated will be determined by the research context.

When doing research with the cultures framework, how deeply to drill into each element will depend on the nature of the study. For example, in relation to ‘motivators’, many studies to date have focused on depicting norms, because this was the terminology of the original cultures framework. Other studies using the framework have explored morals, meanings, values, knowledge and beliefs, which is one of the reasons for replacing ‘norms’ with ‘motivators’ in the revised cultures framework. In terms of activities, some studies have focused on routines while others have been more interested in one-off or occasional actions. Some have centred on one type of material item, while others have been interested in material assemblages. The nature of the topic should shape the focus of the research, and the researcher should hold open the possibility that relevant but unsuspected cultural features may emerge in the course of the research.

The cultural ensemble—the core elements and their dynamics

Although the research process will likely identify specific cultural features that can be directly causally related to the outcomes (e.g. the presence of particular technologies or practices), it is the cultural ensemble and dynamics between cultural features that make it ‘cultural’. Research should therefore seek to go beyond simply listing cultural features that bear a relationship to the outcomes of interest, to considering how they interact. Motivators, activities and materiality form the interconnected ‘system’ of culture, as indicated by the curved arrows in Fig.  8.2 . How people think influences what they acquire and how they act; people’s activities partly determine what they have and how they think; and the things that people have influence what they do and how they think. Exploring these interactions is critical to understanding how culture operates.

When considering the scope of cultural features to study, some may emerge as more significant than others depending on the sustainability outcomes you are interested in. For example, although sustainability research often focuses on routines or habits, it could be that in some instances, irregular or rare actions have the biggest impacts (noting that these can be equally culturally driven, such as the choice of a new house or whether to buy a car). In fields that you are familiar with, you may have a better chance of an ‘educated guess’ about which cultural features to start investigating, but you may be surprised. In research on household energy efficiency, we started by assuming that people’s values would strongly shape how efficient they were, but we found no consistent relationship between values and actions (Mirosa et al., 2011 ). So keep an open mind and, of course, explore literature in the field beforehand.

There will always be variability in the extent to which actors adopt cultural ensembles. Cultural uniformity is a myth—in reality, actors will have greater or lesser adherences to the ‘signature’ ensemble that is identified in research. This is not a problem, and indeed can provide useful insights into variability and opportunities for change. For example, if you are interested in sustainable transport, you might find that almost all actors own fossil fuelled cars, but some will use more fuel than others. Car owners will all have driving skills, but some may be more efficient drivers than others. All might drive their cars regularly, but some may drive more frequently than others. From a high-level perspective, they all share a similar mobility culture—one that is dependent on cars and fossil fuels—but if you drilled down you could identify variations in that culture. Where you choose to place your inclusion–exclusion delineation around this group, and whether you choose to segment it into sub-groups, will depend on the purpose of your research.

Ultimately, it doesn’t pay to agonise too much about exactly where to draw a line around the actors and cultural ensembles to study. What we’re interested in as researchers is finding patterns that reflect general similarities in cultural features which relate to sustainability outcomes. It is about sense-making through identifying fuzzy patterns of similarity and difference, which is more fruitful than assuming that everyone is identical.

Determining Cultural Vectors

If you are interested in how culture is transmitted, learned and adopted, you may also wish to examine the role of cultural vectors (Fig.  8.3 ). As discussed in Chapters 4 and 6 , vectors include such things as sensory encounters, forms of communication, bodily learning and semantic knowledge that are absorbed from sources such as social interactions, media, bodily experiences and formal learning. Through cultural vectors, people come to adopt similar activities to others, and/or acquire or make similar material items, and/or develop similar norms, aspirations, understandings and other motivators. Vectors are how people learn culture, how it is socially reinforced, and how new cultural concepts are passed from actor to actor.

Cultural vectors—the means by which culture is learned and shared

Cultural vectors will not necessarily be important for all research, but they can help reveal processes of cultural continuity and cultural change. In New Zealand research, for example, we asked householders about alterations they had recently made to improve the heating in their homes, and found that family and friends were by far the biggest influence on their decision. Hearing others' stories of change and experiencing the warmth of others' homes were far more influential than information campaigns, online information or advisory services.

Determining the Agency Boundary

Culture is most often used to describe shared characteristics across a population, but the cultures framework asks researchers to identify a subset of cultural features: those that are both particular to their chosen actors and that could potentially be changed by those actors. This demarcation is indicated in the cultures framework by the agency boundary, shown as a dashed circle around the core elements of culture (Fig.  8.4 ). The boundary reflects the capacity of the actor to make choices regarding their cultural ensemble. It distinguishes between elements of culture that are particular to and/or controlled by the actor group under study and those that are particular to and/or controlled by others. The actors’ capacity may be constrained by many things, such as their financial circumstances, their age or gender, their education or their familiarity with bureaucratic systems.

Depicting the agency boundary

In Chapters 4 – 6 , I describe several examples of how this agency distinction is made and used in research. One example is of people on low incomes living within rental housing; the outcomes of interest are energy consumption and wellbeing. Here, the house and chattels owned by the landlord are not considered part of the tenants’ energy culture because tenants have no control over them. The tenants’ cultural ensemble comprises the dynamic package of motivators, activities and materiality that they enact within those constraints. As well as being shaped by the landlord, their energy culture will be shaped by additional influences beyond the agency barrier, such as the cost of power, government policies and other external influences. Another example is personal mobility, where household actors’ cultural ensembles are strongly shaped and constrained by matters beyond their control, such as urban form, the availability of public transport, the safety of walking and cycling and government policies.

The agency boundary in the cultures framework thus invites researchers to differentiate between cultural features that are specific to the group they are studying (within the dashed circle), and other influences that shape (but are rarely influenced by) that culture. It also invites consideration of the factors that are limiting their agency, which may become highly relevant in studies where actors are unable to become more sustainable because of agency constraints. This invites the researcher to consider the implications of differentials in power, the relative responsibility for sustainability outcomes between actors within the agency boundary and those outside it, and their relative ability to act to alter these outcomes. Cultural features beyond actors’ agency belong in ‘external influences’ which may include more powerful cultures.

Determining the External Influences

External influences are exogenous factors that significantly shape the culture that is under study, and are conceptually located outside the agency boundary (Fig.  8.5 ). As discussed in prior chapters, external influences come in many forms, including qualities of the environment and infrastructure, purposeful policies and laws, pricing regimes, availability of technologies, and broadly accepted beliefs and conventions. For research purposes, it will be important to identify external influences that in some way affect the cultural ensembles under study, and thus ultimately affect the sustainability outcomes. They may, for example, reinforce existing cultural ensembles, erode the integrity of cultures that are already sustainable, force actors to become more unsustainable or support cultural change in a more sustainable direction. Depending on the research focus, some external influences may be apparent from the outset of the study, while others may be obscure and will need to be elicited through deep engagement with cultural actors. External factors that clearly have no influence on the culture under study can be ignored for the purposes of cultural analysis.

External influences on cultural ensembles

External influences can also be interpreted as broader cultures that influence the culture you are focusing on. For example, the mobility cultures of citizens are strongly shaped by cultural features of the municipality. A council that decides to invest its transport funding primarily in new motorways is not doing so arbitrarily. The decision will have emerged from a well-established system of beliefs, understandings, aspirations and organisational practices within the council—in other words, their culture. In researching external influences, it may therefore be important to look beyond their presenting qualities to understand the cultures within which they are embedded and replicated.

Another external influence to consider is your own impact on culture as a result of the research process. By asking questions of research participants, you are likely to be raising their own awareness of aspects of their culture that they may not have considered previously. In your interactions, even if it is not intended, you may make them more aware of the sustainability outcomes of their cultural ensembles, and/or aware of disjunctions between, say, their beliefs and practices, or between their aspirations and material possessions. Your interactions may also cause them to develop new understandings about the sustainability issue of interest, or open their eyes to external influences that they had not previously been aware were shaping their culture. The research process is never neutral, so be aware of how your work may influence your participants’ cultures, ensure that your work is carried out ethically and does no harm, and possibly build an evaluation of your impact as a researcher into your research.

Investigating Cultural Stability

Some cultures change very little over time, or at least in the features that give rise to sustainability outcomes. Some enduring cultural ensembles may be positive examples that research can learn much from, such as communities and organisations that have consciously set out to become more sustainable and have maintained that over time. Other cultural ensembles are deeply problematic from a sustainability perspective, and yet continue to endure. We can see this with highly consumptive lifestyles amongst many in the Western world, with beliefs in the value of consumption for its own sake, aspirations for material items goaded by the media (and today, by social influencers), practices of shopping valued in their own right and made more unsustainable through the proliferation of short-lived products, and wellbeing equated with more (or more wealth-signifying) possessions. The cultures framework offers a structure for exploring how and why many unsustainable cultural ensembles change little over time. It would be helpful to review the examples of research into cultural stability discussed in Chapter 5 .

Research into cultural stability might start by examining actors’ cultural ensembles, exploring relevant motivators, material assemblages and activities, and the extent to which these are aligned and mutually supportive. It may investigate cultural vectors in order to understand how cultural attributes are learned, reinforced and conveyed to new members. It would usefully identify what external influences (including structures, institutions and broader-scale cultures) are supporting the culture in its current form and enabling its continuance. It may be useful to look back in time and identify what has shaped the culture you see today. Unpacking these dynamic interactions can help explain how and why this culture is resistant to change.

Understanding these dynamics is particularly important if your research is seeking to understand why change interventions have failed to achieve their targets. Exploring culture as a dynamic system can reveal why change in one external influence or in a single cultural feature (e.g. new knowledge or a new technology) may make little or no difference to sustainability outcomes; for example because its impact is moderated by other cultural dynamics that tend to stabilise the cultural ensemble. Even if some aspects of culture (e.g. values, aspirations) are aligned with sustainable outcomes, other aspects (e.g. routines, agency limitations, external influences) may prevent or limit overall change. It is critical to gain a better understanding of the dynamics of cultural stability if we are to achieve widespread sustainability transitions.

Investigating Cultural Change

The cultures framework can also underpin research on how cultures change. From a sustainability perspective, your investigation might be into positive change, such as new cultural features being adopted with cascading impacts on the entire cultural ensemble. Of particular interest here might be how positive change processes are initiated, and the consequential effects on culture. An example that I described in Chapter 6 was how the replacement of kerosene lamps with solar lights in Vanuatu had a domino effect on many other aspects of culture including everyday practices, gender roles, beliefs, and aspirations for other solar and digital technologies. Your study could equally focus on negative cultural change, seeking to understand how sustainability-oriented cultural characteristics have been lost. For example, in Chapter 6 I described a Māori community where degradation of the inshore fisheries meant that community members could no longer gather traditional foods. The inability to undertake practices resulted in a loss of knowledge and skills that had previously sustained the fishery.

With the cultures framework as a structuring device, a researcher can explore what external influences might be tending to encourage change, as well as what changes are already occurring within that culture and whether these are leading to shifts in other cultural features. In the previous section, I discussed how cultural ensembles could become resistant to change due to strong alignments between motivators, activities and materiality. In contrast, systems where there are misalignments (e.g. aspirations are different to practices; material items don’t fit with beliefs) there is a greater potential for instability, innovation and change. Researchers interested in the potential for change might wish to examine the degree to which the relevant cultural elements are aligned.

Studying the processes of cultural change is critically important to sustainability transformations at all scales. The cultures framework can help to systematise analysis of where cultural change starts, whether it leads to consequential change to the cultural ensemble, the sustainability consequences of this change, and whether incipient changes are prevented by other factors. Cultural change is unlikely to occur all at once—it may involve incremental adjustments to the ensemble over time (e.g. a normative shift may precede a behavioural shift, or a new technology may precipitate new practices). Change also will not be uniform across a culture group, so the analysis may need to include identification of which actors have first made these changes, and through what vectors this has become more widely adopted. More research is needed to better understand the uneven, incremental processes of cultural change as well as the circumstances in which rapid transformation can occur.

People within a culture group rarely get to alter the more powerful external influences shaping their culture. But sometimes it happens, and this is possibly the most powerful driver of transformational change, as discussed towards the end of Chapter 6 . This is where cultural changes spread widely across less powerful actors, and membership of the new culture group grows to the extent that it starts to have influence beyond the agency barrier, reshaping the motivators, activities and/or materiality of more powerful actors. If researchers are interested in the potential for radical sustainability transformations, they should focus on the potential for outward as well as inwards flows through the agency barrier. The urgency of the sustainability crisis means that we need to know as much as possible about how to achieve rapid and widespread transformations of dominant unsustainable cultures.

Having an Impact

By now, your research will have produced an understanding of the various elements of the cultures framework and how they interact dynamically, and any external influences that are tending to prevent or enable change. You will understand the limits of actors’ agency, sub-cultures may have been identified and you may have also discovered cultural influences at other scales. You will have gathered evidence as to whether the cultural ensemble has positive or negative outcomes for the relevant measures of sustainability. You will know whether the culture is in the process of change or is resilient to change, and why this may be the case. If the ensemble has poor sustainability outcomes, your findings should indicate whether it has some latent potential for more sustainable change and possible ways in which change could be initiated or supported to achieve more sustainable consequences.

As a researcher, you might want to apply your findings further to actively help in the sustainability transition. Does it show a culture that already has great sustainability outcomes? If so, what can we learn from this and how can this success be supported and amplified? Does the research show a culture that is stuck in unsustainable patterns and unable to change? If so, where are the opportunities to support change? Does it show a culture that is gradually becoming more sustainable but has a way to go? If so, how can that journey be supported? Does is show a culture where attempts have been made towards greater sustainability but those attempts have been unsuccessful? If so, how can your findings help show why this might be the case?

As with many of the research projects using the cultures framework, you could develop recommendations for policy or practical actions. You might build on your work and develop a programme of action research that enables your insights to be trialled. You might assist an organisation or group of actors to interrogate their own culture and begin a process of change. You could collaborate with an already sustainable community over how to challenge the forces that are depleting it, or how to use cultural vectors to extend its reach. There are endless possibilities for making cultural research into a force for positive change.

Research Methodologies

Research with the cultures framework can be undertaken using a broad sweep of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. In this section, I outline the range of research methods that have been successfully used to date that I am aware of, and what functions these methods have played. This section is heavily referenced so that readers can go to the original papers for more detail on the specific methods of data elicitation and analysis.

Most studies to date using the cultures framework have used qualitative methods to examine cultural ensembles, either on their own or in combination with quantitative methods. Solely qualitative research often involves interviews followed by analysis to draw out evidence illustrating cultural elements (e.g. Bach et al., 2020 ; Lazowski et al., 2018 ; McKague et al., 2016 ; Scott & Lawson, 2018 ; Tesfamichael et al., 2020 ; Walton et al., 2014 ). Some projects have used a combination of qualitative methods such as workshops or focus groups together with interviews (e.g. Ambrosio-Albalá et al., 2019 ; Godbolt, 2015 ; Krietemeyer et al., 2021 ). A study of cultural change over an extensive period of time incorporated reviews of archaeological and historical evidence together with present-day interviews (Stovall, 2021 ). Researchers often apply thematic analyses to their qualitative material, but other analytical methods can be used. For example, a study on energy cultures of poverty analysed the interview texts using a computational social science methodology (Debnath et al., 2021 ).

Other researchers have used quantitative methods to characterise cultural ensembles. The elements of the framework have underpinned the design of surveys to elicit data from a larger population than is possible with face-to-face qualitative methods (e.g. Lawson & Williams, 2012 ) and as the basis of an ‘energy culture’ survey for businesses to determine the maturity of their energy efficiency efforts (Oksman et al., 2021 ). As well as using data produced from surveys specifically designed for this purpose, the cultures framework has been used retrospectively to underpin analysis of existing data sets to identify clusters of similar cultural characteristics aligned with different sustainability outcomes (e.g. Bardazzi & Pazienza, 2017 , 2018 , 2020 ; Walton et al., 2020 ). It has also been used as an integrating framework across multiple quantitative data sets (e.g. Manouseli et al., 2018 ). There will always be variations in the cultural ensembles of any group of actors, and sometimes it will be useful to explore this variability. Larger quantitative data sets have been used as a basis for segmenting populations into statistically distinctive groups  using cluster analysis (e.g. Barton et al., 2013 ; Lawson & Williams, 2012 ).

In studies using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, the cultures framework has underpinned both design and/or analysis, and has been used to facilitate the integration of findings (e.g. Bell et al., 2014 ; Muza & Thomas, 2022 ; Scott et al., 2016 ). Some studies have gathered both qualitative and quantitative data relating to cultural elements during face-to-face interviews and integrate these in the analysis (e.g. Khan et al., 2021 ). Research on indicators of national energy cultures used a combination of policy analysis and quantitative analysis of comparative data sets (Stephenson et al., 2021 ).

To explore external influences (including multi-level cultures), studies often ask interviewees within the culture group about their perceptions of what shapes their decision-making or constrains their ability to make more sustainable choices (e.g. Ambrosio-Albalá et al., 2019 ; Debnath et al., 2021 ; McKague et al., 2016 ). Some also seek the views of experts or key informants in particular fields (e.g. Stephenson et al., 2015 ) or review the impact of laws and policies (e.g. Barton et al., 2013 ). Some projects have also interviewed actors who represent aspects of external influences (e.g. Jürisoo et al., 2019 ; Nicholas, 2021 ).

Many different research approaches can be used to identify causal relationships between cultural ensembles and sustainability outcomes. Some studies have done this quantitatively, such as identifying relationships between householder age cohorts and energy consumption (Bardazzi & Pazienza, 2017 ) and between timber drying cultures and energy use (Bell et al., 2014 ). One study used regression analysis to relate householders' cultural features to their interest in being involved in a local energy management scheme (Krietemeyer et al., 2021 ). However, in most studies to date using the cultures framework causal relationships are not quantified but are assumed based on well-established understandings of sustainable practices or the impacts of different technologies (e.g. Dew et al., 2017 ; Hopkins, 2017 ). Often the focus of research has been on whether the cultural ensemble has features that are known to align with more sustainable outcomes (e.g. types of technology and practices that represent business energy efficiency [Oksman et al., 2021 ; Walton et al., 2020 ]) rather than setting out to prove the well-understood relationship between these and measurable outcomes.

The framework has also assisted with modelling. A design for agent-based modelling for smart grid development drew from the cultures framework to incorporate energy use behaviours into the models (Snape et al., 2011 ). A project using system dynamics modelling of the uptake of electric vehicles also used the elements of the cultures framework as foundational data for the model (Rees, 2015 ). Methods such as these align well with the original conceptual framing of culture as a system, and offer a dynamic structure to explore system-type interactions between components of the framework.

The framework lends itself to multi-scalar analysis, as with research on PV uptake in Switzerland, where the work described generalised cultural ensembles of adopters and non-adopters and also drew insights on cultural processes from individuals (Bach et al., 2020 ). By focusing on collectives, researchers can observe patterns of similar cultural features across a population and identify broadly similar influences on and outcomes of that culture. By focusing on individual actors, they can also explore in detail the dynamics within cultural ensembles.

The framework has also been used to structure reviews of literature. Examples include reviews of the adoption of energy-efficient technology innovations in buildings (Soorige et al., 2022 ), academic air travel cultures (Tseng et al., 2022 ) and adoption of natural gas (Binney & Grigg, 2020 ). In a study on barriers and drivers for industrial energy efficiency, the framework was refined to fit an industrial context and used as an organising framework for metadata from a literature review on the barriers and drivers of energy behaviour in firms. This approach enabled the researchers to consider many interdependent components of efficiency decision-making by industry, including attitudinal factors, behaviours and technologies (Rotzek et al., 2018 ).

Some studies have investigated the effectiveness of interventions intended to improve sustainability outcomes. In these instances, they have used the framework to guide collection of pre-intervention and post-intervention data on cultural ensembles and/or outcomes (e.g. Rau et al., 2020 ; Scott et al., 2016 ). Other work has used the framework to design evaluation tools (e.g. Ford et al., 2016 ; Karlin et al., 2015 ).

Within larger research programmes, the framework can be used as a structuring device for allocating research roles and methods across an interdisciplinary team. In the Energy Cultures 1 and 2 research programmes, for example, we identified the core elements of culture in relation to energy efficiency (material aspects, practices, norms, beliefs, etc.) through householder questionnaires, focus groups and interviews. To relate cultural ensembles to energy outcomes, we included questions about energy consumption in the surveys and in later work we used data from smart electricity meters. Interrelationships between elements of the framework were explored in various ways. We used a values ‘laddering’ approach (from consumer psychology) to look at the relationships between values and household energy efficiency actions (Mirosa et al., 2013 ) and used choice modelling (an economics tool) to examine the interactivity between people’s motivators and preferences for adoption of efficient technologies (Thorsnes et al., 2017 ). These were staged so that the values work helped in the design of the choice modelling. We explored interactions between norms, material culture and practices with community focus groups, and these groups also assisted in identifying external influence that were barriers to changing behaviour. Desktop studies were used to examine regulatory, market and policy influences on energy culture. We used social network analysis to identify the most common sources of external influence on householder choices to adopt more efficient technologies. All of these different sources of insight were linked though the framework, which supported an integrative approach across the team, learning from each other’s findings and contributing to a holistic understanding of household energy cultures in the New Zealand context (Barton et al., 2013 ; Stephenson et al., 2010 ).

The framework is thus helpful in underpinning the design of research as a single- or multi-method project by an individual researcher, or a multi-method multidisciplinary research programme by a team. It can be used proactively to design research and analyse the findings, or used retrospectively to help analyse existing data from single or multiple sources. It is fruitful when used as a theory in its own right, and also when used in combination with other theories.

Using the Cultures Framework as a Meta-Theoretical Framing

As these examples have shown, research using the cultures framework is not confined to particular methods, and neither is it confined to any particular theoretical or disciplinary perspective. In this sense, the framework offers a meta-theoretical set of universal elements, and leaves it to the researcher to determine which theories and methodologies are best used to examine them. Rau et al. ( 2020 ) describe the advantages of the framework thus:

The benefits of using the [cultures framework] to organise the empirical material and findings of this interdisciplinary energy research were considerable, especially given its focus on the multi-method investigation of a small number of households. Its relative simplicity, easy-to-understand terminology and focus on both social and material aspects of energy use made it an ideal tool for fusing insights from the social sciences, engineering and architecture. At the same time, [the framework] was capable of connecting a higher-order theoretical approach (energy cultures) to concrete empirical energy-related outcomes. (p. 10)

While many studies use the cultures framework as a framing theory in its own right, it is at the same time an organising framework that enables multiple methods, theories and disciplines to contribute to an understanding of culture in relation to sustainability. Studies using the cultures framework to date have drawn from complementary explanatory theories as diverse as sociological theories of agency, structure, institutions and practice, theories of power and gender, behavioural theories, socio-technical systems theories, consumer psychology, economic theories, the multi-level perspective and, of course, theories of culture. Generally, these are used to inform analysis of an aspect of the cultures framework.

This flexibility is well explained by Ambrosio-Albalá et al. ( 2019 ) in their conclusion to a paper on public perceptions on distributed energy storage in the United Kingdom:

… we find that the framework functions as a useful heuristic, allowing us to organise and reflect on a wide range of factors in a way that is more inclusive than a psychology-only perspective. The idea of there being multiple possible cultures in relation to energy use – and the observation of these at different scales – also helps to stimulate thinking on further research directions in terms of how different households, demographic segments, nationalities and entities may differ in terms of the nexus of norms, attitudes, behaviours or practices and material experiences. These cultures will likely need different types of communication, informational, institutional and contractual offers, given likely differing responses. A further value of the ECF [energy cultures framework] – regarding which we would concur with its originators – lies in its comprehensibility for non-social scientists. For more specialised and narrowly specified forms of analysis, we would defer to the psychological and sociological perspectives that the ECF draws upon. (p. 149)

There are many under-explored possibilities for the use of other theories and bodies of knowledge to help explore aspects of culture in relation to sustainability. For example, in relation to the theory of structuration, culture works both to replicate social life and as a creative force for change. The framework positions culture as constrained and shaped by structure, while simultaneously situating more powerful cultures as part of structure. Despite these constraints on their agency, cultural actors can and do make independent choices and can collectively reshape more powerful structures and cultures. This interplay (and the conceptual overlap of culture and structure) invites further exploration in both a theoretical and applied sense, particularly in the context of the implications for sustainability transitions.  

Conceptual fields that underpinned the development of the cultures framework could be drawn from more extensively, including lifestyles literatures, socio-technical studies, actor network theory, systems approaches, and sociological and anthropological theories of culture. For example, social practice theory can help illuminate aspects of the inner elements of the framework, with a focus on habitual actions. Theories of power and justice can help elaborate on the reasons for limitations in agency and choice that are imposed by those outside the agency boundary. Socio-technical systems theories can assist in exploring the relationships between actors’ material items and their activities. Theories of gender can help explores difference in cultural meaning, gender equity and gender leadership in sustainability outcomes. In all of these ways and more, the framework can offer a meta-theoretical structure for deeper analysis depending on the inclinations and interests of the researcher.

Further Contributions From Cultural Theory

A further untapped potential lies in the application of cultural theories more generally to questions of sustainability. Cultural theory is a vast field that I could only sketch out lightly in Chapters 2 and 3 . There I discussed divergences and similarities across cultural theories and identified nine main clusters of perspectives on culture. I believe that each of these perspectives on culture can make an important contribution to research for a more sustainable future.

Culture-as-nature is the oldest of the nine perspectives. It is mostly overlooked by dominant ideologies, and yet its endurance offers the most hope. Culture-as-nature reflects many Indigenous perspectives that defy the intellectual separation of human society and natural systems. Culture-as-nature recognises our utter dependence on the natural world. The most powerful expressions of culture-as-nature continue to come from Indigenous peoples, although recent years have seen an increasingly strong voice from Western scholars (e.g. Haraway, 2016 ; Plumwood, 2005 ; Tsing et al., 2017 ). Culture-as-nature reinforces the indivisibility of human existence from nature and the responsibilities of human societies to maintain the integrity of natural systems. It also breaks down the barriers of cultural membership. Natural features are actors in culture: mountains and creatures are family members, trees communicate, rivers are people; they are all cultural members with agency. Many of the Indigenous societies of the world offer principles, values, practices, knowledges and worldviews that are crucial for a sustainable future (Artelle et al., 2018 ; Mazzocchi, 2020 ; Watene & Yap, 2015 ; Waldmüller et al., 2022 ; Yunkaporta, 2020 ).

Culture-as-nurture reflects the original meaning of culture in old English, referring to processes of husbandry—the careful tending of crops and animals. For the sustainability crisis, we are relearning the urgency of nurturing all life forms and regenerating natural systems. As well as reinforcing the importance of healthy natural systems and food production, culture-as-nurture can be further interpreted as the re-grounding of communities in caring for place, and reviving the spiritual roots of agriculture (Bisht & Rana, 2020 ; van den Berg et al., 2018 ). Urban agriculture or community gardens similarly reconnect people to the practices and rhythms of caring for nature, along with the sharing of food and strengthening a sense of community (Sumner et al., 2011 ). Culture-as-nurture reflects the ways in which we must re-learn practices of caring for nature, and how caring for nature aligns with caring for each other.

The original sense of culture-as-progress was the process of human development towards a so-called civilised state that reflected certain Western ideals of art and behaviours. Although it is now repellent and largely obsolete in this original sense, the idea of ‘progress’ can be reconfigured to refer to cultural journeys towards sustainability. Culture-as-progress in this sense can recognise the many cultural configurations that already have sustainable outcomes. It invites investigations of factors that underpin the relative sustainability of one culture compared to another (Buenstorf & Cordes, 2008 ; Minton et al., 2018 ) and the application of cultural evolution concepts to sustainability challenges (Brooks et al., 2018 ). A practical application of this in the world of business is the concept of energy culture ‘maturity’ and evaluation methods to assess such progress (Soorige et al., 2022 ). If the concept of progress is applied to outcomes rather than to cultural characteristics in themselves, this removes the suggestion that certain forms of cultural ensemble are better than others. Instead, a sustainable future requires a multitude of sustainable cultural ensembles specific to people and place, at a multitude of scales.

Culture is still commonly used to refer to works and practices of artistic and intellectual activity. In this sense, culture-as-product plays an important role as a cultural vector in transmitting ideas, values and possibilities. For the sustainability transition, creative works will play a critical role in challenging systems, institutions and practices that are destroying natural systems and demeaning humanity, as well as offering inspiration for alternate futures. Cultural products have the potential to convey different understandings, such as about the world’s ecological limits, actions for sustainability and new perspectives of the future (Curtis et al., 2014 ). This is already a strong theme in art and performance (Galafassi et al., 2018 ; Kagan, 2019 ) but could play an even stronger role in helping shape awareness and collective visioning for a sustainable future.

Culture-as-lifeways draws originally from anthropological studies of the distinctive way of life of a group of people. From a sustainability perspective, this concept can be redirected from studying the ways of life as a focus in their own right, to looking at the relationship between ways of life and the sustainability outcomes. From a research perspective, it encourages work that explores the variety of ways that people already live sustainably—for example, differences between ways of life in the global north and global south (Hayward & Roy, 2019 ), as well as how group or community ways of life can be re-oriented towards more sustainable consequences (Brightman & Lewis, 2017 ).

Culture-as-meaning focuses on the shared meanings and symbolisms of cultural objects such as text, discourse and possessions. For the sustainability challenge, culture-as-meaning can help reveal the ways in which symbolism can work for or against sustainable outcomes. Theories of cultural meaning could be applied to the analysis of how unsustainability is inherent in dominant rhetoric, text and discourse (e.g. Sturgeon, 2009 ), and the ways in which new meanings are being forged as part of cultural transformations (e.g. Hammond, 2019 ). Other examples of work using culture-as-meaning include a study of how the term ‘sustainable development’ is constructed in the disclosures of Finnish-listed companies (Laine, 2005 ), how the media interprets sustainability (Fischer et al., 2017 ) and the importance of symbolism in marketing for the sustainability transition (Kumar et al., 2012 ; Sheth & Parvatiyar, 2021 ).

Culture-as-structure is interested in the underlying rules by which social systems are reproduced—the cultural codes of social life. Culture-as-structure, as embedded in institutions and discourses, is intimately tied with questions of power and influence regardless of intent (Blythe et al., 2018 ). Drawing on this literature can help identify and challenge ideologies, assumptions and rules that replicate unsustainability. Relevant studies using culture-as-structure include how neoliberal ideology operates through sustainability discourses (Jacobsson, 2019 ) and the mental structures in which finance actors are embedded (Lagoarde-Segot & Paranque, 2018 ).

Culture-as-practice studies the bodily practices that produce and replicate social life, and the intimate linkages between routines, objects, meanings and competencies. This field of work can contribute to questions of how to alter practices, or develop new practices that support sustainability. Practice theory has already been widely applied to how to achieve less resource-intensive habits and routines, including how the reproduction of social practice can sustain inequality and injustice (Shove & Spurling, 2013 ) and to provide insights on collective action for social change (Welch & Yates, 2018 ).

Culture-as-purpose reflects bodies of work that focus on how to change the culture of organisations or groups of actors intentionally. Work in the field of organisational culture includes how to deliberately create more sustainable organisations (Galpin et al., 2015 ; Obal et al., 2020 ). Education for sustainability is another major field working on purposeful culture change, building on and extending educational theories (Huckle & Sterling, 1996 ) and education’s transformative potential (Filho et al., 2018 ). This includes using practices of dance and music to develop pro-social behaviours that align with sustainability goals (Bojner et al., 2022 ).

All nine conceptualisations of culture thus make important contributions to understanding the role of culture in sustainability. It is evident that at least some academics in each of these fields are applying relevant theories and methodologies to sustainability questions, but it appears to be occurring in a fragmented way with different bodies of knowledge scarcely acknowledging each other. Even if there is a ramping up of scholarly contributions on culture and sustainability, there is the risk that the slipperiness of culture as a concept will continue to handicap the use of research findings by practitioners and policymakers. If culture continues to be presented as if each part of the elephant is the full elephant, and the only true elephant, its ongoing indeterminacy will continue to confuse potential research users and dilute the effectiveness of scholarly contributions.

The cultures framework could help here by ‘locating’ these different approaches to culture and their contribution to sustainability challenges. Each of the nine clusters of meaning can offer insights for certain features or qualities of the framework. Using its meta framing, culture-as-purpose focuses on how to purposefully initiate cultural change and achieve better sustainability outcomes. Culture-as-practice focuses on routines as a subset of activities, emphasising how they cannot be understood in isolation from the objects, competencies and meanings associated with them. Culture-as-structure helps explore entrenched external influences or higher-order cultures that use their power to shape the cultural ensembles of less powerful actors. Culture-as-meaning focuses on the meanings and symbolism of activities and objects and can help illuminate the mechanisms of cultural vectors.

Culture-as-lifeways scholarship can help in studying how culture is learned, the dynamics of the core elements of culture, processes of replication or change, and the heterogeneity of cultural ensembles. In the arts, culture-as-product scholarship can help enhance the role of creative activities and products in building a more sustainable future. Academic fields that align with culture-as-progress focus more on the two-ended arrow that links cultural ensembles and outcomes and can help with studies on the many journeys involved in achieving cultures that touch lightly on the earth.

Culture-as-nurture scholarship contributes to the adoption of more nurturing food-production activities that also enhance social and environmental outcomes. Culture-as-nature opens the door to entirely different worldviews and knowledge systems regarding humans’ relationships with the natural world. Importantly, it extends cultural actors to include non-human life forms, spiritual beings and landscape features. In this way, it offers ways of understanding the sustainability transition as a process of restoring health and vitality to all living things and the natural systems that support them.

The cultures framework can thus work as an integrative heuristic, indicating how different interpretations of culture all contribute in important ways to a fuller understanding of the role of culture in sustainability. Used in this way, the framework can help reveal the complementary roles of these diverse approaches to practitioners and non-cultural academics. It can also indicate to researchers where it might be useful to reach back to the original bodies of cultural theory and bodies of knowledge to help illuminate particular aspects of the overall ‘elephant of culture’. In this way, cultural scholarship can be used more comprehensively and systematically to support sustainability transitions, and the slipperiness of culture is somewhat reduced.

As this chapter has demonstrated, there is no ‘right way’ to do research with the cultures framework. It is a set of highly generalised variables and their relationships, which can be explored using a wide range of research methods and theories. Researchers can choose which features within the general variables to focus on and can apply the framework at any scale and to any set of actors. The framework can be used as a framing theory in its own right, or alternatively (or simultaneously) can operate as an integrating frame for interdisciplinary, multi-method research, or as a meta-theoretical framing of the complex field of culture and sustainability. Either on its own or in combination with other frameworks and theories, the cultures framework thus offers ontological and epistemological inclusiveness for transdisciplinary research agendas.

There is an urgent need for a better understanding of the role of culture in the sustainability crisis and how to transform the unsustainable cultures that are inherent in most systems of production and consumption. Technologies alone will not achieve a net-zero world by 2050, or turn around our devastating losses of biodiversity, or enable equitable access to energy for families in developing countries. It will take more than simply changes in behaviour. It will require fundamental changes in the motivators, activities and materialities of people and organisations at every scale. We can learn much from cultures that are already sustainable or are on journeys of transition, but the biggest challenge is how to achieve transformational cultural change, at scale, and with unprecedented speed. To that end, research is desperately needed to improve our understanding of processes of cultural change, and particularly to understand how powerful meta-cultures can be destabilised and their unsustainable ideologies and institutions transformed.

Although the framework has already been used in a wide variety of fields, it has the potential to do much more to assist with journeys of transition. We need to know more about how sustainable cultures develop and endure, a better understanding of the dynamics of cultural change and the role of vectors in cultural learning, as well as processes of cultural expansion and collectivisation. More research is needed on the implications of actors having multiple cultural ensembles in different aspects of their life (e.g. the interplay between their food culture, mobility culture and household energy culture). Researchers could fruitfully explore how these overlapping cultures influence and shape each other, or divergences between cultural settings at home and at work. We need to better understand how cultural transformations can be enabled, and the roles that culture will need to play to achieve sustainability transitions. And while some research using the framework has explored issues of power and justice, there is much more to be done.

Cultural research can work at two levels in this quest for transformation. On the one hand, cultures are unique as to membership and cultural features. Researchers can draw conclusions regarding specific cultural ensembles and their sustainability outcomes, and can make recommendations for change initiatives. However, these will usually only be relevant to the case in question. On the other hand, as more studies are undertaken, we can start to build up generalisable understandings of cultural dynamics as they relate to sustainability. Across multiple studies, the research community can develop a better picture of universal cultural processes and effective  change interventions.

Finally, although this chapter is about culture and sustainability, the research approach I describe in this chapter could be used in other fields of inquiry. It was developed for sustainability-related research and has mainly been used for that purpose, but it could equally be applied to investigations of culture for any other reason, and in relation to any other outcome. But my hope is that it will continue to be primarily used for research that helps achieve a just transition to a sustainable future.

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Stephenson, J. (2023). Using the Cultures Framework for Research. In: Culture and Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25515-1_8

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Explore Our Top Cultural Research Paper Topics

Updated 20 Jun 2024

Culture is a broad term that covers an endless number of possibilities for crafting research topics. You can view it as a global aspect and write a research paper about culture inherent in all of humanity.

On the other hand, you may focus on answering some particular research questions about culture for a specific state or region, e.g., the local community you live in. Another possibility is to compare two cultures and learn about beautiful ethnic differences.

Whichever the case, writing a cultural research paper will open a unique world for us where we can view humanity on a more in-depth level and decipher what is inherent in each culture. Since the options for cultural research paper topics are numerous, it’s essential to choose the one that will catch the reader’s attention.

If the topic is too broad or too narrow, the reader will either get lost in the process of reading or end up lacking crucial information regarding your topic. If you're overwhelmed with assignments, you might consider the option to pay someone to write my paper , ensuring your research is thorough and well-presented. Therefore, to be sure that we satisfy our readers, we must pay close attention to choosing the right topic. Let’s see how.

How to Choose Interesting Cultural Research Paper Topics

Here are a couple of tips from our  research paper writing services on how to choose an interesting topic. Before the writing process, you should consider the following:

• Consult people from your surrounding.  Is there someone native from the culture you want to write about you can reach out to? Bear in mind that the most accurate information comes from culture bearers.
• Make a profound research about the topic you’re intended to write about.  Nothing is random in culture - each tradition, habit, style, and background have a specific goal and a purpose.
• Try to place yourself in the shoes of a culture’s representative.
• Always be accepting and tolerant.  Try not to involve emotions in the choice of topics and write accurately about them.

List of Culture Research Topics

Here’s a list of 20 interesting and somewhat general topics about culture everyone can find something suitable from:

• The Impact of Globalization on Indigenous Cultures
• Cultural Identity in the Digital Age: A New Form of Nationalism?
• The Role of Language in Preserving Cultural Heritage
• Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Marriage and Family Structures
• Cultural Implications of Climate Change on Traditional Societies
• The Evolution of Gender Roles within Different Cultures
• Food as a Cultural Ambassador: Exploring Culinary Diplomacy
• Cultural Responses to Pandemics: A Historical Perspective
• The Influence of Religion on Art and Architecture across Cultures
• Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Exchange: Drawing the Line
• The Role of Festivals in Promoting and Preserving Cultural Identity
• Impact of Colonialism on the Cultural Practices of Indigenous Peoples
• Cultural Assimilation and Resistance: Case Studies from Around the World
• The Psychology of Superstitions and Their Cultural Significance
• Cultural Perspectives on Aging and Elder Care
• The Intersection of Technology and Culture: A Double-Edged Sword
• Cultural Traditions in Conservation and Environmental Stewardship
• Music as a Reflection of Social and Cultural Change
• Cultural and Ethical Considerations in Genetic Research
• The Dynamics of Cultural Conflict and Cooperation in Multicultural Societies

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Cultural Diversity Research Paper Topics

The more people, countries and religions are on the planet, the greater the diversity. When choosing a title from this list, make sure to look wider.

• The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Global Business Practices
• Multiculturalism in Education: Challenges and Opportunities
• Cultural Diversity and Its Influence on Global Marketing Strategies
• The Role of Language in Promoting Cultural Diversity
• Immigration and Cultural Integration: Success Stories and Challenges
• Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits and Challenges
• The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Team Dynamics and Performance
• Cultural Representation in Media and Entertainment
• The Effects of Globalization on Preserving Local Cultures
• Cultural Diversity and Public Policy: Case Studies from Around the World
• The Role of Cultural Festivals in Promoting Diversity and Unity
• Cultural Diversity in Healthcare: Understanding and Overcoming Barriers
• The Influence of Cultural Diversity on Artistic Expression
• Cultural Diversity and Conflict Resolution: Lessons Learned
• The Role of Technology in Bridging Cultural Gaps
• Cultural Diversity in Sports: Breaking Down Barriers
• The Impact of Migration on Cultural Identity
• Cultural Diversity and Innovation: How Diversity Fuels Creativity
• The Challenges of Cultural Relativism in a Globalized World
• Promoting Cultural Diversity and Tolerance through Education

Cultural Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Here, you’ll find a list of 10 ideas for research paper about culture that are concentrated on anthropological aspect:

• The Role of Rituals in Maintaining Social Order in Traditional Societies
• Kinship and Social Structure: A Comparative Analysis of Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies
• Cultural Adaptations to Environmental Changes in Indigenous Communities
• The Impact of Westernization on Indigenous Cultural Practices
• Language Preservation and Revitalization in Minority Cultures
• Gender Roles and Their Evolution in Different Cultures
• The Anthropology of Food: Cultural Significance of Cuisine Across Societies
• Traditional Healing Practices and Their Place in Modern Medicine
• The Effects of Globalization on Language and Cultural Identity
• Cultural Perspectives on Death and Mourning Practices
• The Influence of Colonialism on the Cultural Landscape of Africa
• Urbanization and Its Impact on Traditional Social Structures
• Cultural Constructs of Beauty and Body Image Worldwide
• The Role of Folklore and Mythology in Shaping Cultural Values
• Cultural Anthropology of Digital Communities and Online Behavior
• Migration Patterns and Their Impact on Cultural Identity
• The Intersection of Culture and Mental Health Practices
• Economic Systems in Traditional Societies: From Barter to Digital Currency
• The Anthropology of Religion: Rituals, Beliefs, and the Supernatural
• Cross-Cultural Studies on Aging and Elderly Care

Subculture Research Ideas

• The Evolution of Punk Culture and Its Influence on Music and Fashion
• Cyber Subcultures: The Rise of Virtual Communities and Their Social Implications
• The Skateboarding Subculture: Lifestyle, Identity, and Urban Spaces
• Gothic Culture: Aesthetic, Literature, and Social Identity
• Hip-Hop and Rap: Cultural Expression, Social Issues, and Global Impact
• The Role of Zines in Subcultural Expression and Communication
• Cosplay Subculture: Identity, Performance, and Fandom
• The Vegan Movement: Ethical Consumption and Subcultural Identity
• Gamer Culture: Social Dynamics and Stereotypes in Gaming Communities
• Street Art and Graffiti: Artistic Expression or Vandalism?
• The Influence of Social Media on the Formation and Evolution of Subcultures
• Rave Culture and Electronic Dance Music: Community, Identity, and Experience
• The Mod Subculture: Fashion, Music, and Social Change in Post-War Britain
• Straight Edge Movement: Music, Lifestyle, and Ideology
• The Role of Subcultures in Shaping Youth Identity and Social Beliefs
• Kawaii Culture in Japan: Aesthetic, Consumerism, and Global Influence
• The Steampunk Aesthetic: Retrofuturism, Literature, and Community
• The Intersection of Subcultures and Political Movements
• Sneaker Culture: Collecting, Customization, and Community
• The Tiny House Movement: Minimalism, Sustainability, and Lifestyle Choice

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Pop Culture Research Topics

• The Evolution of Pop Music and Its Influence on Global Youth Culture
• Reality Television: Impact on Society's Perception of Reality
• Social Media Influencers: Shaping Trends and Consumer Behavior
• The Representation of Gender and Sexuality in Popular Films
• Memes and Internet Culture: Communication and Social Commentary
• The Globalization of Anime: Cultural Exchange and Adaptation
• Celebrity Culture and Its Impact on Self-Image and Aspirations
• The Rise of eSports: From Niche Hobby to Mainstream Entertainment
• Fashion Trends Originating from Pop Culture Icons
• The Role of Popular Literature in Shaping Contemporary Myths
• Superhero Movies: Cultural Significance and Box Office Dominance
• The Impact of Streaming Services on Television and Movie Consumption
• Fan Fiction and Fan Cultures: Participation and Creativity
• The Influence of Video Games on Popular Culture and Society
• Social Movements and Pop Culture: A Symbiotic Relationship
• The Commodification of Nostalgia in Film and Television
• The Role of Music Videos in Shaping Pop Music Perception
• The Impact of Pop Culture on Language and Slang
• Viral Marketing: How Pop Culture Facilitates Brand Engagement
• The Representation of Science and Technology in Pop Culture

Socio-Cultural Essay Topics

Here are ten exciting socio-cultural ideas. If you’re interested in comparing a community’s social and moral aspects, choose one title from this list as a basis.

• The Impact of Cultural Norms on Gender Roles and Expectations
• Social Media's Role in Shaping Modern Cultural Identities
• Cultural Dimensions of Globalization: Homogenization vs. Cultural Diversity
• Language as a Cultural Tool: Its Role in Shaping Social Reality
• The Influence of Religious Beliefs on Social Behavior and Norms
• Migration and Cultural Integration: Challenges and Opportunities
• Cultural Perspectives on Mental Health and Well-being
• The Role of Education in Transmitting Cultural Values
• Social Stratification and Cultural Capital: The Dynamics of Inequality
• Cultural Responses to Environmental Challenges and Sustainability
• The Evolution of Family Structures and Its Socio-Cultural Implications
• Youth Subcultures and Their Rebellion Against Societal Norms
• The Influence of Popular Culture on Political Engagement and Discourse
• Cultural Traditions and Their Impact on Modern Legal Systems
• The Role of Art and Culture in Social Activism and Change
• Cultural and Social Implications of Biotechnological Advances
• The Sociology of Food: Cultural Significance and Social Practices
• Cultural Identity in Multicultural Societies: Belonging and Conflict
• The Impact of Tourism on Local Cultures and Social Structures
• Cultural Stereotypes and Their Effects on Interpersonal and Intergroup Relations

Cultural Phenomena Topics

• The Global Spread of Fast Food Culture and Its Impact on Dietary Habits
• The Rise of Social Networking Sites and Their Influence on Social Relationships
• Eco-Conscious Living: From Niche Lifestyle to Mainstream Culture
• The Cultural Significance of Memes in Digital Communication
• The Impact of Reality TV on Perceptions of Reality and Fame
• The Phenomenon of Binge-Watching and Its Effects on Content Consumption
• The Influence of Hipster Culture on Fashion, Music, and Lifestyle
• The Role of Viral Challenges in Shaping Online Communities
• Minimalism: A Cultural Reaction to Consumerism
• The Resurgence of Vinyl Records in the Digital Age
• The Cultural and Social Implications of Body Modification
• The Rise of Digital Nomadism and Changing Work Cultures
• Fan Culture and Celebrity Worship: Psychological and Social Dimensions
• The Impact of Cancel Culture on Public Discourse and Accountability
• The Evolution of Language and Slang in the Internet Era
• The Growing Popularity of Esports and Its Recognition as a Legitimate Sport
• The Cultural Phenomenon of Selfie Culture and Its Impact on Self-Perception
• The Influence of Streaming Services on Music and Television Consumption
• The Role of Podcasts in Shaping Modern Media Consumption
• The Emergence of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) as a Cultural Trend

Cultural Psychology Research Topics

• Cross-Cultural Variations in Emotional Expression and Recognition
• The Impact of Collectivism vs. Individualism on Self-Identity and Social Behavior
• Cultural Influences on Cognitive Development and Learning Styles
• The Role of Culture in Shaping Attitudes towards Mental Health and Therapy
• Acculturation Stress and Coping Mechanisms among Immigrants
• Cultural Dimensions of Parenting Styles and Child Outcomes
• Language and Thought: How Linguistic Diversity Shapes Cognitive Processes
• Cultural Adaptations of Psychological Interventions and Therapies
• The Psychology of Superstitions and Magical Thinking across Cultures
• Socialization Practices and Their Impact on Gender Roles and Identities
• Cultural Perspectives on Aging and the Elderly
• The Influence of Religious Beliefs on Psychological Well-being and Coping Strategies
• Cross-Cultural Differences in Perception and Visual Cognition
• Cultural Norms and Their Impact on Conflict Resolution Styles
• The Role of Cultural Heritage in Shaping Individual Values and Morals
• Intercultural Communication: Psychological Barriers and Bridges
• Cultural Factors Influencing Decision Making and Risk Taking
• The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Team Dynamics and Creativity
• Cultural Identity Development during Adolescence
• The Psychological Effects of Cultural Displacement and Identity Negotiation

Western Civilization Essay Topics

• The Influence of Ancient Greek Democracy on Modern Political Systems
• The Role of the Roman Empire in Shaping European Culture and Law
• Christianity and Its Impact on Western Ethical and Moral Values
• The Renaissance: Humanism and Its Contributions to Art and Science
• The Reformation and Its Effect on Religious and Political Landscapes in Europe
• The Enlightenment: Reason, Individualism, and the Birth of Modern Thought
• The Industrial Revolution and Its Social and Economic Consequences
• Colonialism and Its Legacy in Modern Western Societies
• The French Revolution: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and Its Global Impact
• The Development of Constitutional Monarchies in Europe
• The Impact of World War I on the Political Map of Europe
• The Rise and Fall of Fascism and Communism in 20th Century Europe
• The Cold War: Ideological Conflict and Its Influence on Global Politics
• The European Union: Integration, Expansion, and Challenges
• The Influence of American Culture on Western Society in the 20th Century
• The Digital Revolution and Its Impact on Western Societies
• The Role of Women in Western Civilization: From Antiquity to Feminism
• The Impact of Immigration on Cultural Diversity in Western Countries
• Environmentalism and Its Growing Influence in Western Policy and Culture
• The Future of Western Civilization: Challenges and Prospects in a Globalized World

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Cultural Research Paper Topics: Exploring Heritage and Society

Culture is interconnected and ever-changing. It influences how we think, behave, and interact with everything around us. It is also a significant source of variation, as various cultures have varying values, beliefs, and practices.

Understanding different cultures is more important than ever in today’s globalized world. Cultural research can aid in creating a more inclusive and tolerant society by bridging cultural divisions.

Through a range of cultural research paper themes, such as  pop culture essay topics , this article investigates the characteristics of human civilizations and diversity. These issues cover everything from the significance of culture in developing human identity to the influence of cultural variety on disagreements and partnerships.

How to Choose Research Paper Topics about Culture?

Culture is a vast and complex topic, so it can be difficult to choose a research paper topic that is both interesting and manageable.

Listed are a few tips for choosing research paper topics about culture:

• Consider your own interests

What aspects of culture are you most interested in? What do you know a lot about? Choosing a topic you are interested in will make the research process more enjoyable and rewarding.

• Consider your target audience.

Who is going to read your paper? What background in culture do they ask for? Choosing a topic that is intriguing and helpful to your readers will improve the quality of your paper.

• Conduct preliminary research .

Once you’ve developed a few concepts, perform some early research. This will assist you in selecting your topic and figuring out the sources you will use.

• Make it specific .

To what extent do you want the subject to go? A broader topic will allow you to examine more facets of culture, though it will also be more difficult to investigate.  

• Consult with your lecturer.

Talk to your professor if you need help deciding on a cultural research topic. They can assist you in filtering your alternatives and selecting the best topic for you.

List of Interesting Culture Topics to Write About

Culture is a diverse and intriguing subject that may be approached from various perspectives. There are several interesting cultural research topics to write about, ranging from multiple civilizations’ history to culture’s influence on the arts and media.

This list is an excellent place to begin if you’re looking for fascinating cultural research topics to write about.

Cultural Anthropology Research Topics

The study of human societies and their traditions is known as cultural anthropology. Cultural anthropology research subjects might range from the study of distinct civilizations to the study of cross-cultural comparisons. These subjects in anthropological perspectives go into the cultural practices, rites, and norms of multiple cultures across all nations worldwide. They may include studies on kinship systems, gender roles, religious ceremonies, language development, and cultural adaptation.

Some examples of cultural research topics include;

• Cultural Adaptation and Assimilation of Immigrants in Modern Society
• The Impact of Globalization on Indigenous Cultures and Traditional Knowledge Systems
• Cultural Expressions and Identity Formation Among Marginalized Communities
• The Role of Rituals and Ceremonies in Shaping Cultural Beliefs and Practices
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Gender Roles and Sexuality
• Cultural Responses to Environmental Change and Sustainability
• The Influence of Technology on Cultural Performance and Communication Process
• Cultural Perspectives on Healthcare Practices and Healing Rituals
• Cultural Preservation and the Role of Museums in Safeguarding Intangible Heritage
• Comparative Study of Cultural Practices Related to Death and Mourning

Cultural Psychology Research Paper Topics

Cultural psychology research paper topics focus on the intersection between culture and human psychology. These subjects explore how cultural factors shape our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and mental processes.

By examining these topics, researchers aim to unravel the complex interplay between cultural psychology, shedding light on the cultural influences that shape our individual and collective experiences.

At times, students get overwhelmed with the workload at hand and often ask – who can  write my papers  just how I want them? The answer is yes. There are professional writing services that provide this help.

Cultural research topics in this section are:

• Cultural Variations in Cognitive Processes and Perception
• The Influence of Culture on Personality Development and Individual Differences
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Emotion Expression and Regulation
• Cultural Factors in the Development and Treatment of Mental Disorders
• Cultural Influences on Parenting Styles and Child Development
• Cultural Variations in Moral Reasoning and Ethical Decision-Making
• The Role of Cultural Narcissism in Shaping Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Authority
• Cultural Differences in Motivation and Achievement
• The Impact of Acculturation and Bicultural Identity on Psychological Well-Being
• Cultural Factors in Intergroup Relations and Prejudice

Socio-Cultural Essay Topics

Socio-cultural topics explore a wide range of issues related to society and culture. The essays in the socio-cultural context examine the relationship between humanity and culture. Research topics in this field can range from the study of social institutions to the norms and values of cultural studies.

Among the possible cultural research topics are:

• The Societal Fabrication of Race and Its Consequences for Identity and Inequality
• Mass Media’s Involvement in Creating Cultural Norms and Values
• Perspectives on Economic Disparity and Hardship From a Socio-Cultural Perspective
• Social Media’s Influence on Interpersonal Relationships and Self-Esteem
• The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Academic Success in Schooling
• Socio-Cultural Variables Influence Health Inequalities and Access to Healthcare
• Religious Beliefs Influence Societal Attitudes and Behaviors
• Migration and Refugee Integration Have Socio-Cultural Elements
• Cultural Phenomena Influence Environmental Views and Sustainable Practices
• Race, Class, and Gender Intersectionality in Human Beings’ Socioeconomic Inequity

Cultural Diversity Research Topics

This area of study may investigate the impact of cultural diversity on healthcare inequalities, the role of cultural characteristics on psychological outcomes, or the efficacy of ethnically customized therapies in enhancing patient care and health results.

To get your cultural research papers crafted to your requirements, Edusson gets the hassle out of writing essays from start to end.

Being aware of various cultural aspects is essential for establishing inclusive and equitable healthcare systems that meet the specific requirements of varied groups.

The following are some cultural research topics to write on:

• The Effect of Cultural Diversity on Workplace Efficiency and Fulfillment
• The Impact of Ethnic Diversity on the Medical Industry and How Patients Respond
• Investigating the Importance of Cultural Phenomenon in Developing the Education System and Practices
• Cultural Diversity’s Impact on Team Dynamics and Collaboration in a Social Organization
• Cultural Diversity and Its Consequences for International Advertising Tactics
• The Link Between Cultural Diversity and Technological Innovation
• Understanding the Upsides and Challenges of Cultural Diversity in a Multicultural Society
• The Influence of Cultural Competence on Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Initiatives
• Multicultural Diversity’s Impact on National Identity and Social and Emotional Development
• Investigating and Preserving Native Culture Uniqueness

Cross-Cultural Research Paper Topics

Intercultural studies compare and analyze different cultures and their effects on many parts of society. Exploring disparities in healthcare beliefs and practices, investigating the efficacy of cross-cultural perspectives in hospital settings, or researching the influence of globalization on cultural practices and medical behaviors are all possible research subjects.

Cultural studies facilitate competence in healthcare and ensure culturally sensitive and effective care to individuals from a particular culture.

Writing a very good research paper is tedious, so you may need to find the  best research paper topics  to get ideas flowing.

Cultural research paper topics in this category include:

• A Comparative Analysis of Cross-Cultural Business Communication Across World Culture
• Cross-Cultural Communication Challenges and Strategies in International Business Negotiations
• The Impact of Cross-Cultural Interactions on Intercultural Competence Development
• Economic Classes in Parenting Styles and Their Effects on Child Development
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Sexually Transmitted Diseases Stigma and Its Implications for Non-verbal Communication
• Exploring Cross-Cultural Fashion Trends Variations and Experiences of Beauty and Body Image
• The Influence of Culture on Attitudes and Behaviors Related to Environmental Sustainability
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Aging and Elder Care Practices
• Understanding Cross-Cultural Psychology in Ethical Decision-Making Processes
• The Role of Western Culture History in Shaping Attitudes Towards Gender and Sexuality

Art Culture Research Topics for Assignments

The intersection of art and culture provides a rich landscape for research. Research in this field contributes to our understanding of art’s therapeutic and cultural significance and highlights its potential as a tool for healing, self-expression, and cultural values.

Potential cultural research paper topics are:

• The Influence of Ancient Art on Contemporary Artistic Expressions
• Exploring the Cultural Significance of Street Art and Graffiti in Urban Environments
• Female Culture in Art Throughout Ancient Britain
• Art as a Form of Cultural Resistance and Social Activism
• Analyzing How Traditional Food Reflects the Cultural Heritage
• Cultural Appropriation Versus Cultural Appreciation in Art and Its Ethical Implications
• The Intersection of Art and Technology: Exploring Digital Art and Its Cultural Implications
• The Importance of Museums in Maintaining and Displaying Various Works of Art and Cultural Artifacts
• The Study of How Art Reflects and Affects the Stories of Culture
• Therapeutic Art as a Technique for Boosting Mental Health and Well-Being Across Different Cultures

Good Essay Topics about Culture

Culture is an enthralling and varied part of human society. Cultural essay topics include customs, cultural interchange, cultural identity, cultural appropriation, and cultural preservation. Exploring these themes provides a more in-depth understanding of the values, religious practices, cultural clashes, and conventions that define different cultures.

The following are the best cultural studies selections in this category:

• Globalization’s Influence on Indigenous Cultural Practices
• A Critical Appraisal of Cultural Theft
• The Impact of Cultural Background on Individual Growth
• Language’s Impact on Cultural Norms and Values
• Issues and Benefits of Preserving Cultural Diversity in the Workplace
• A Systematic Examination of Gender Roles and Cultural Expectations
• Protection of Historic Resources in the Face of the Modern World
• Finding an Equilibrium Between Cultural Integration and Maintaining Culture
• Gender Stereotypes and Their Effects on Intercultural Relationships
• The Influence of Pop Culture on Societal Norms and Values

Topics on Globalization

The process of globalization has changed the global culture into an interlinked village. Globalization essay themes can cover a wide range of issues, including its influence on economics, politics, technology, interpersonal relationships, and cultural interaction in modern society.

Evaluating globalization’s good and bad consequences, investigating its place in influencing global politics, and debating the difficulties and possibilities it brings may provide significant insights into the complex dynamics of our increasingly linked world and mitigate cultural ignorance.

Among the more intriguing cultural research topics include:

• The Impact of Economic Globalisation on Developing Countries
• Viral Diseases Spread and Globalization
• Multinational Corporations’ Role in Globalization
• The Impact of Globalisation on Isolated Communities
• Cultural Diversity Versus Globalization in a Modern Society
• Environmental Sustainability and Globalization
• Globalization and Trends of Labor Migration
• Globalization’s Political Implications
• The Age of Technology and Its Impact on Globalization
• The Growth of Global Governing Institutions Is a Result of Globalization

American Culture Research Paper Topics

The richness and diversity of American culture make it an appealing subject for study. American culture research paper topics may include the global impact of American pop culture, the development, and history of American cuisine, the representation of American identity in movies and novels, the impact of immigration on modern United States society, or the part of Christian traditions in defining American and African culture.

Popular cultural research topics include:

• American Political Culture’s Development
• The Influence of Hollywood on American Culture
• The Role of Mass Media in Shaping American Societal Norms
• The Impact of Immigration on American Cultural Diversity
• American Exceptionalism: Myth or Reality?
• American Pop Culture and Its Consequences
• The History and Significance of Jazz Music in African Culture
• The Portrayal of Race and Ethnicity in American Pop Culture
• The Influence of American Literature on National Identity
• The American Dream: Its Changing Meaning and Societal Implications

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List of Interesting Cultural Research Paper Topics

Cultural research paper topics allow students to explore people’s historical aspects, actions, ideas, and narratives that they have copied or altered over time. People express their cultures via various symbols and language. Additionally, different aspects of culture affect people’s mindsets.

When pursuing cultural students, students write research papers, essays, and articles on varied topics. However, most learners struggle to select the best titles for their papers. That’s because the topic that a student selects influences the path they take when completing this assignment. For this reason, we’ve come up with this guide with a list of interesting cultural research topics for learners to consider.

Discover a vast array of captivating cultural research paper topics with the expertise of our professional dissertation writers . Our dedicated team is ready to assist you in selecting compelling topics and crafting high-quality research papers that meet the highest academic standards.

How to Choose Cultural Research Topics

The internet is awash with cultural research ideas from which students can choose what to explore. However, not every topic you come across will be suitable for you. For that reason, consider the following aspects when choosing your cultural topic for research.

• Select a topic that meets your writing assignment requirements
• Settle on a topic you find interesting
• Pick a topic that meets the scope of your assignment

In addition to these criteria, check the available research to select a topic you will find sufficient information for before you start writing your paper. Also, brainstorm concepts and create a research question around the topic. Here are different categories of cultural research paper topics from which you can choose your favorite title.

Cultural Anthropology Research Topics

If you find cultural anthropology interesting, pick your topic from the following ideas.

• How traditional food can reflect a nation’s history
• Analysis of the refugees’ impact on the cultures of the European countries
• How Christian traditions differ from one culture to another
• How countries in the Soviet Union moved from communism
• Effects of liberalism on the education system
• Analysis of a communistic nation’s cultural values
• Causes of political division in the United States
• Why most people in the Netherlands love cycling
• How people view the death concept in Africa
• How the English language influences the American culture as the common language

Cultural Diversity Research Paper Topics

Perhaps, you’re interested in cultural diversity. In that case, consider these ideas for your research paper.

• Analysis of cultural diversity’s role in schools
• How cultural diversity influences modern society
• How significant is cultural diversity in this century?
• How multiculturalism and pluralism affect the American citizens’ lives
• Psychological counseling associations to cultural diversity
• How cultural diversity affects the medical industry
• How migration affects cultural diversity of the Asian land
• How cultural diversity affects people’s interactions
• Demonstrating critical thinking with special attention to diversity and multicultural issues
• Cultural diversity as a reason for not tolerating racism

Cross-Cultural Communication Research Topics

Cross-cultural communication is among fields with excellent topics for cultural research. Here are some of the best ideas in this field.

• Approaches to cross-cultural information exchange
• Practical cross-cultural dialogue strategies
• Intercultural dialogue and translation
• Teaching cross-cultural communication and culture
• Cross-cultural information exchange artifacts
• Factors enhancing cross-cultural dialogue competence
• Cultural and health-related issues between ethnic minorities and healthcare providers
• The adaptation of international students to American campuses
• Low-context cultures versus high-context cultures- Cross-cultural perspective
• Assessing cross-cultural effectiveness

Cultural Psychology Research Topics

If interested in cultural psychology research, consider these ideas for your papers and essays.

• How cultural psychology has evolved over the years
• How cultural psychology affects diversity
• Filial piety and personality among the British citizens
• Impacts of famous artists on the global culture
• Impacts of COVID-19 on the US political atmosphere
• Comparing women’s emotions and gender stereotypes as exhibited by men’s superior thinking
• Influences of cross-cultural psychology
• Social and self behavior among the United States’ Red Indians
• Analyzing the unemployed graduates’ experiences in the United Kingdom
• How parenting stress relates to the stigma of a mother with an autistic child

Cross-Cultural Research Topics

Cross-cultural research paper topics cover psychological behavior and processes across different cultures. Here are topic samples in this category.

• Communication styles among different cultures
• How attitudes towards conflicts differ among cultures
• How people from different cultures approach the same task differently
• How different cultures approach knowing
• Why humans should respect and work with people from different cultures
• The attitudes of different cultures towards disclosure
• How decision-making styles differ among cultures
• How non-verbal communication promotes a culture
• What determines business communication across cultures?
• How history and social organization affect modern society

Cultural Studies Research Paper Topics

When pursuing cultural studies, writing research papers is unavoidable. Here are cultural research paper topics to consider for your papers and essays.

• How stigma affects the efforts to prevent sexually transmitted diseases from spreading
• Challenges encountered by people with social disorders and anxiety
• How films influence the audiences’ cultures
• How songs promote feminism
• Coping mechanism for culturally different people
• How cultural studies facilitate the promotion of brands in global markets
• How people perceive the old and the youths in their cultures
• How cultural studies can help in promoting businesses internationally
• Cultural traits exhibition in exotic and indigenous animals
• Influence of associating with a particular language on a person’s culture

Cultural Geography Research Topics

Cultural geography focuses on cultural changes in various geographical settings. Here are topics to explore in this category.

• Explaining the cultural concept
• Analyzing a culture area and the culture itself
• Analysis of cultural landscapes
• Cultural ecology and culture history
• Focusing on the institutions
• Understanding cultural geography
• The history of cultural geography
• Understanding feminist geography
• Explain the evolution of urban geography
• Analysis of the geography of space and sexuality

Chinese Cultural Research Topics

Are you interested in studying Chinese culture? If yes, this list has the best cultural topics for research paper that you can explore.

• Evaluating Cultural Revolution in China
• The Chinese government and Tibet
• Culture-bound psychiatric syndromes in China
• The Chinese culture and silk road
• Cross-cultural competency in China
• How culture influences the Chinese politics
• Effects of Buddhism on the Chinese culture
• Chinese medicine and culture
• Childhood illness treatment in traditional China and religion
• The cultural perspective of the human stomach in China

Research Topics on Community-Centered Cultural Adaptation

Are you interested in community-centered cultural adaptation research? If yes, here are topics to consider for your papers.

• Stage-setting and professional consultations for cultural adaptation purposes
• Preliminary cultural content adaptation
• Iterative cultural content adaption with members of the community
• Cultural adaptation with meetings and community feedback
• Role of language during cultural adaptation
• The concept of cultural adaptation
• Factors that limit community-centered cultural adaptation
• How conflict of interest can hinder community-centered cultural adaptation
• How gender influences community-centered cultural adaptation
• How to enhance community-centered cultural adaptation

Cultural Analysis Topics for Research

Perhaps, you’re interested in analyzing a cultural aspect or phenomenon. In that case, consider these ideas for your research paper.

• Analysis of cultural phenomenon in your community
• Analyzing the influence of TikTok on local culture
• Analysis of “the dab” popularity
• Analyzing the effects of bandwagon on the culture
• Analysis of the normalization of the holocaust in some cultures
• Analyzing religious beliefs as a cultural phenomenon
• Analyzing the popularity of sitcoms
• Analyze the fan base of your favorite celebrity
• Analysis of social media as a cultural phenomena
• Analyzing cross-cultural fashion trends

Cultural Analysis Essay Topics

If interested in analyzing the culture, pick the idea to write about in this list.

• Analyzing drug use by sportspeople
• Analyzing homelessness in America
• Communication differences between males and females
• Analyzing obesity trends across age brackets
• How sports influence culture
• Analyzing multicultural identity
• Analysis of modeling and body size aspects of a culture
• Effects of multicultural families on the involved parties
• Analysis of gender role changes over time
• How being raised by a single parent affects a child- A cultural perspective

Unique Cultural Analysis Paper Topics

Are you looking for a unique topic for cultural research? If yes, this section has a good idea for you.

• Why are cultural studies essential?
• How society treats people based on their cultures
• How the minorities cope in a different culture
• How feminism affects the culture
• How isolated communities can conserve their cultures
• How religion influences culture- Use the Muslim community as a case study
• Describe the cultural commonalities among human beings
• Explain the correlation of sex and attitude as cultural tools
• The influence of associating with a particular language on a person’s culture
• How exotic and indigenous groups exhibit cultural differences

Pick your topics from this list and then take your time to develop them through research to come up with solid papers or essays that will earn you the top grades.

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The New Analytics of Culture

• Matthew Corritore,
• Amir Goldberg,
• Sameer B. Srivastava

Culture is easy to sense but hard to measure. The workhorses of culture research—employee surveys and questionnaires—are often unreliable.

Studying the language that employees use in electronic communication has opened a new window into organizational culture. New research analyzing email, Slack messages, and Glassdoor postings are challenging prevailing wisdom about culture.

Some of the findings are (1) cultural fit is important, but what predicts success most is the rate at which employees adapt as organizational culture changes over time, (2) cognitive diversity helps teams during ideation but hinders execution, and (3) the best cultures encourage diversity to drive innovation but are anchored by shared core beliefs.

What email, Slack, and Glassdoor reveal about your organization

Idea in Brief

The problem.

Culture is easy to sense but difficult to measure. The workhorses of culture research—employee surveys and questionnaires—are often unreliable.

A New Approach

Studying the language that employees use in electronic communication has opened a new window into organizational culture. Research analyzing email, Slack messages, and Glassdoor postings is challenging prevailing wisdom about culture.

The Findings

• Cultural fit is important, but what predicts success most is the rate at which employees adapt as organizational culture changes over time.
• Cognitive diversity helps teams during ideation but hinders execution.
• The best cultures encourage diversity to drive innovation but are anchored by shared core beliefs.

A business’s culture can catalyze or undermine success. Yet the tools available for measuring it—namely, employee surveys and questionnaires—have significant shortcomings. Employee self-reports are often unreliable. The values and beliefs that people say are important to them, for example, are often not reflected in how they actually behave. Moreover, surveys provide static, or at best episodic, snapshots of organizations that are constantly evolving. And they’re limited by researchers’ tendency to assume that distinctive and idiosyncratic cultures can be neatly categorized into a few common types.

• MC Matthew Corritore is an assistant professor of strategy and organization at McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management.
• AG Amir Goldberg is an associate professor of organizational behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. He and Sameer B. Srivastava codirect the Berkeley-Stanford Computational Culture Lab.
• SS Sameer B. Srivastava is an associate professor and the Harold Furst Chair in Management Philosophy and Values at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He and Amir Goldberg codirect the Berkeley-Stanford Computational Culture Lab.

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151 interesting cultural analysis topics for students.

October 6, 2021

As a broad concept, cultural analysis is an area of study that looks at the social and cultural aspects of everyday living and life in general. It focuses on the analysis of all the ways we develop interactions and relations with human society.

When writing a cultural analysis paper, students should remember that it affords them an excellent opportunity to explore various experiences through their chosen cultural themes.

Students are often assigned cultural analysis paper writing in school because it serves to conduct extensive research. Through selected topics and research, students are enabled with the ability to analyze global topics, investigate topics on various issues, as well as to understand the significance of different cultural backgrounds.

When assigned to write a cultural analysis essay, the first approach is to research topics filled with rich experiences and ideas, as this gives you room for so many things to write on. While writing your cultural essay, your abstract, introduction, main body, and conclusions are relevant. For more context, your article has to be detailed, flowing seamlessly for easy reading and understanding.

Interesting Analytical Essay Topics for Students

When writing an analytical essay paper, emphasis is paid majorly on the topic you are selecting because your topic affords you the level of depth necessary to carry out the needed analysis. Analytical topics writing demands interesting analytical topics to come out well. Here are some analytical essay topics to consider for your essay writing assignment:

• Analyze the impact of religion on our thinking and perception of life
• Analyze the core distinction between Islam and Christianity
• Write extensively on the health importance of Marijuana
• How is technology influencing human inertia
• What is the cultural symbolism of Halloween
• Analyze the effect of the Spooky season over time
• Explore the origin story of Halloween
• Explore the social impacts of religious doctrines and how it impedes growth
• Analyze the limitations of spiritual principles and how they negatively impact social life
• Analyze the importance of self-care practice to developing one’s mental health
• Analyze the effect on cultural differences and how it affects people’s perception of various subjects
• Analyze fast fashion as an unsustainable social lifestyle
• Effects of fast fashion on an economy
• Explore ways through which the social impact of fast fashion can be curbed
• Analyze the importance of therapy and why it’s essential for better mental health
• What factors promote peace and unity in multicultural states
• Why does Christianity frown on intermarriage between Christians and Muslims
• Exploring the limiting social and cultural beliefs of Christianity
• Exploring the cultural limitation of religion
• Analyze in well-constructed details the modern-day effects of slavery
• Analyze how technology is taking over the educational sector
• Explore the benefits of marketing beyond digital marketing

Critical Analysis Essay Topics for College Essays

There is a significant distinction between analysis paper topics and critical analysis topics. It is in its complexity. Your analysis topic changes shape the moment it requires you to carry out criticism. In this situation, your work on the topic moves beyond analyzing the work but also mirroring your work from a critical lens. In your critical analysis essay, you are not just exploring but picking up salient points and facts to help you form a solid judgment.

• Exploring in detail the inherent racism of the Olympics
• Exploring misogyny, misogynoir and racism in the entertainment industry
• A critical outlook structural racism
• Ways through which the implementation of gender roles confines genders in boxes
• A look into how excessive video game impacts health
• Exploring how video games influence children’s mental health
• A look into addiction, how it affects a system, and possible ways through which it can be curbed
• An exploration on how technology impacts educational growth
• Critically evaluate the pros and cons of the gradual decline of traditional learning and the burgeoning development of online learning
• Assess the benefits of single-parent families
• Critically evaluating the effects of global warming
• A look into how social media promotes freedom of speech
• Exploring in detail the importance of virtual communities
• Atheism: a form of religion on its own?
• Veganism and its social effect on healthy living
• Anti-drug campaign and the study of drug abuse and addiction
• Critical research on the concept of body positivity
• Interracial marriages and the origin of its social perception
• Inter-religious marriage and the challenges associated with it
• Study into the inherent nature of homophobia in the human society
• A study into how homophobia and religion connect
• The distinction between the positive and negative impacts of social media in young adults.

Good Cultural Criticism Essay Topics to Explore

As an integral part of human living, culture is multifaceted. What this entails in any essay writing or criticism through a cultural lens is that there are many subjects to touch on. To conduct and write a good essay on this topic, attention should be drawn towards exploring the complexity of culture and the various dimensions of living. Here are some cultural criticism topics to look into:

• The history of racism and how it has continued to affect healthy coexistence in Western societies
• Understanding the limitations of religion
• A look into the distinction between spirituality and religion
• A study of the history of the Olympics and its impacts on sports over the years
• A survey of literature and how it impacts various aspects of human lives
• Critical analysis on the subject of black hair
• How safe abortion ban translates to dictatorship
• Dictatorial tendencies prevalent with Western philosophies and ideas
• The cultural impact of Brexit on Europe
• The cultural impact of Brexit on the United Kingdom
• Critically evaluating structural racism in the workplace
• A study of overt and implicit racism
• Analyzing the influence of colonial rule on Africa
• How imperialism morphs into new slavery
• Exploring the concept of ethnicity
• The cultural impact of literature
• Analyzing the role of literature in shaping human consciousness
• A study of misogyny and how it affects human relationships
• Analysis of the cultural aspects within the literature
• A study of the importance of situating a literary work within a cultural context
• Importance of cultural context in writing
• Exploring literature from a cultural lens

Controversial Cultural Analysis Essay Topics

Your cultural analysis essay topics will differ slightly from your critical analysis topic. Unlike your critical analysis paper, the cultural analysis only requires that you situate your topic within a cultural context and does not require the bringing up and exploration of facts. It just simply requires you to analyze your topic within a cultural context.

• Discuss the impacts of Interracial marriages
• Discuss the strength and weaknesses of inter-religious marriages
• A study on the popularity of Tiktok today
• A study on how Tiktok culture has influenced music promotion
• How Tiktok and Instagram Reels is rewriting the terms of social engagement
• Does social media have an impact on culture?
• The cultural effect of fast fashion culture
• A study of the social preference of Ape products
• A study on the weakness and strengths of Apple products
• What Apple products have to say about capitalism
• The effects of television on society
• How Television sitcoms have effects on culture
• A discussion on how TV builds and promotes the culture
• The importance of representation in popular culture
• The influence of classical literature on life to date
• The cultural impacts of social media trends
• Effects of classical movies today
• Social media blackout: How social media blackout has been ingrained into society
• A cultural analysis of social media in creating bandwagons
• Exploring the impact of psychology on culture
• The cultural implications of following trends
• Elaborate on social media herd culture

Exceptional Literary Analysis Essay Topics for your Quality Essays

Just like in culture analysis essay topics, in literary analysis essay topics, the goal is to situate your essay topic within an academic context. It means that what you’re writing and what you’re going to write on must be drawn from a literary work. Here are some topics that fit within the category:

• A study of the symbolic nature of the “green light” in the Great Gatsby
• Understanding ethnicity within literary work of Langston Hughes
• The cultural impact of James Baldwin’s literary works
• The Harlem Renaissance literature and how it shaped the future of literature in America
• The symbolic depiction of the title “The Invisible Man” from Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
• Discuss Queerness through the study of Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
• An intensive review of the negro movement through the works of W.E.B Dubois.
• A comprehensive literary analysis of Double Consciousness by W.E.B Du Bois
• From a cultural perspective, a literary analysis of Audre Lorde’s collection of essays I am your Sister
• The continued relevance of Jane Austen’s literary works to date
• A realistic study of D.H Lawerence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover
• Explore the concept of realism and romanticism in the novel Jane Eyre
• The social relevance of James Baldwin’s Just Above my Head
• Social implications of Toni Morrison’s Sula
• An overview of the racist connotation in Joyce Cary’s Mister Johnson and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
• Detail how The Great Gatsby pictures came to be in the 1920s America.
• A cultural analysis of Bell Hooks All About Love
• The cultural impact of black literature
• A literary study of Samuel Selvon’s Ways of Sunlight
• A cultural analysis of Edwidge Danticat’s Breathe, Eyes, Memory
• The Societal relevance of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women

Textual Analysis Essay Topics on Engrossing Subjects

A textual analysis essay looks into the analysis of the writing technique of an author. The student pays attention to the language of the literary work and, in turn, draws out ideas from it to elaborate on the inherent message of the work or how the author’s language influences ideas. All of this is done using the student’s thoughts. Here are some topics within this category.

• Analyze the plays written by William Shakespeare
• Analyze the recurring theme within the various works of James Baldwin
• Discuss the theme of “the American Dream” that is prevalent within The Great Gatsby
• The theme of race and hardship in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun
• The theme of a quest for belonging in Langston Hughes’s poem I Too
• A textual analysis of James Baldwin’s Another Country
• The exploration of the effects of racism in James Baldwin’s Go Tell it on the Mountain
• A study on the subject of marriage in the 19 century through Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
• Write a textual essay on any literary work of choice
• Write a textual analysis of any artwork of choice
• Analyze the characters in Baldwin’s Another Country
• A textual analysis of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple
• A textual analysis essay on the New Testament
• Analyze the characterization in any selected literary text of choice
• Write an analysis of any of Obama’s past speeches
• A textual reading of the work of Alice walker
• A study of the writing style and identity representation in Toni Morrison’s works.
• The use of language to draw attention in Toni Morrison’s novels
• The use of language to compel action in the literature of the Harlem Renaissance
• Write an essay on the importance of Zora Neale Hurston’s works
• A textual study of James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time

Critical Response Essay Topics for Study

A critical response essay is a more in-depth version of a textual analysis essay. Although you’re summarizing and analyzing the author’s works, at the same time, you’re making critical remarks and arguments through the various points you earn by highlighting outstanding things from the work. Here are some of them:

• Jane Austen literature is as relevant today as in the 19th century
• A study of salient points highlighted from Baldwin’s essay The Fire Next Time
• Write a critical personal response to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby
• Write a critical personal analysis on selected Obama’s speeches.
• Using contemporary measures in the study of The Merchant of Venice
• Critical analysis of Alice Walker’s inclusion of lesbianism in The Colour Purple
• The portrayal of society in Oliver Twist
• The exploration of human desires in Lady Chatterley’s Lover
• A response to the depiction of black lives in Mister Johnson
• How care is portrayed in Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals
• A critical analysis of Audre Lorde’s poem “A Litany for Survival.”
• A critical overview of the role of art in human lives
• A study of how literature influences the perception of reality
• An analysis of the cultural context of literary works
• A critical response to the need for representation in literature
• The impact of art on revolution
• A critical study of revolutionary art
• An analysis of identity politics in literature
• Study of race relation in The Fence
• A critical overview of Toni Morrison’s Beloved
• The study of the cultural impact of revolutionary literature.

Need Help With You Cultural Analysis Assignment?

If you are having challenges with preparing your cultural essay writing or in need of the best assignment service or editing support for your written essay paper, look no further, for there are writers who are university professors and expert teachers in this field who will help you craft error free custom essay papers before the due date, all at an affordable price.

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How cultural analysis helps you understand people better

Sociocultural and urban anthropologist Rosalyn Negrón shares her expertise on cultural domain analysis to provide insight into the shared understandings within a group. This type of cultural analysis focuses on how people in a group think about and understand things in the social and natural world, which has wide application in anthropology, marketing, public health, education and other fields.

What is cultural domain analysis?

Cultural domain analysis is a set of methods for collecting and analyzing data about how people in cultural groups think about things and concepts that are related to one another. Cultural anthropology researchers glean insights from these data to gain a better understanding of different cultural worldviews. “Cultural domain analysis provides insight into the shared cultural knowledge that underlies people's choices, behavior and beliefs,” said Rosalyn Negrón, an instructor of a cultural domain analysis course in ASU Continuing and Professional Education. “It’s often difficult for people to articulate the cultural knowledge that influences their routine actions and many are not explicitly aware of the particular perspectives on the world they may share with other members of their cultural groups.” When researchers conduct a cultural domain analysis, they can discover “the hidden obvious” that is so important for anthropological research and is applicable across a range of fields. Further, a cultural domain analysis can reveal nuances in how people perceive different concepts or whether they share the same concepts in the same ways. Cultural domain analysis has been around for at least six decades. This type of cultural analysis was developed within anthropology, integrating theory and methods from cognitive psychology. Advances in computing from later decades made cultural domain analysis more widely accessible and applicable.

How do you define a cultural domain for analysis?

Researchers typically start with lists to define a cultural domain. A key way to elicit items for a domain is through free listing. Free listing is an easy, yet powerful way to discover the concepts most salient in people’s mind about a given topic. “In cultural domain analysis, lists can be of physical, observable things like plants, colors, animals and symptoms of illness or conceptual things like occupations, roles and emotions,” said Negrón, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. “You can get lists in many different ways, such as through interviews or by gathering curated lists that people create online, such as on sites like Pinterest.” In her course, Negrón walks learners through what to do with those lists to map out shared knowledge within a group. This includes pile sorting, multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis and cultural consensus analysis. These assist in understanding what items people associate with each other, exploring the structure of collective cognitive and semantic associations and determining if and how members of a cultural group share knowledge about a cultural domain.

Why is understanding cultural domains useful in various fields?

Cultural domain analysis reveals a deeper understanding of people in different cultural groups and how they view the world. While anthropology students would benefit from adding these methods to their research toolkit, the insights from these methods have become increasingly important in environmental science, marketing public health, web design, user experience and other fields. “In these fields, ethnographically grounded insights about people's perspectives can make all the difference in whether a product or service can actually meet people's needs,” said Negrón. “For example, understanding cultural knowledge differences can help improve and target behavior change programs, such as in public health.” Environmental science Cultural domain analysis can illuminate how concepts about nature and the environment vary across cultures. These insights prove to be useful for environmental conservation and natural resource management. “Understanding, for example, the cognitive salience of certain plants or other natural resources within indigenous or traditional knowledge systems may help shape strategies for managing those resources,” said Negrón. “Such insights can also help to bridge gaps in consensus between relevant stakeholders about the nature of environmental issues.” Marketing research In the field of marketing, rather than the term “cultural domain analysis,” researchers use terms like “concept mapping” and “brand mapping” to describe similar methods that collect and analyze data about people’s perspectives. “These methods are excellent for gathering the knowledge and perspectives that people have about products, brands and what sorts of associations people have about them,” said Negrón. “Through cultural consensus analysis, you can get a sense of the extent to which there is a shared understanding about a particular product or marketing campaign.” Public health Cultural domain analysis has been used extensively in public health. Cultural awareness can help researchers understand people’s knowledge about health and well-being to create more effective health policies. “Public health researchers have used these methods to better understand how to develop cross-culturally relevant communication materials and health interventions that respond to local understandings about health and illness concepts,” said Negrón. “Further, these methods help researchers understand the divide that might exist between expert knowledge and non-expert knowledge about health, its causes and its consequences.” Web design In web design, cultural domain analysis can determine what groupings of content make sense to users. These insights can inform the layout of website navigation, the structure of information and the hierarchy of content on a website or webpage. “If, for example, you’re developing a website for a bookseller, you might do ‘free lists’ to discover the different genres or subgenres that users know of and present content that is consistent with the shared understanding of possible genres out there,” said Negrón. “Some of these might not square with the developer's understanding of what people are doing, using or reading.”

Is cultural domain analysis only important to researchers?

The topics and skills covered in Negrón’s cultural domain analysis course are primarily for research settings, such as in the aforementioned fields. However, the methods used in cultural domain analysis are transferable to other roles, such as teachers and managers. “Teachers may find free listing is an easy and fun way to teach to their students how to develop cultural awareness,” said Negrón. “Managers can use pile sorting exercises as an icebreaker and team-building activity or use multidimensional scaling mapping to do deep dives about their team's collective mental concepts about a given domain, such as a company mission.”

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2.5 Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Identify differences between quantitative and qualitative information.
• Provide an example of how an anthropologist might model research findings.
• Describe the steps of the scientific method.

Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative Information

Quantitative information is measurable or countable data that can provide insight into research questions. Quantitative information is one of the most direct ways to understand limited, specific questions, such as how often people in a culture perform a certain action or how many times an art form or motif appears in a cultural artifact. Statistics created from quantitative data help researchers understand trends and changes over time. Counts of cultural remains, such as the number and distribution of animal remains found at a campsite, can show how much the campsite was used and what type of animal was being hunted. Statistical comparisons may be made of several different sites that Indigenous peoples used to process food in order to determine the primary purpose of each site.

In cultural research, qualitative data allows anthropologists to understand culture based on more subjective analyses of language, behavior, ritual, symbolism, and interrelationships of people. Qualitative data has the potential for more in-depth responses via open-ended questions, which can be coded and categorized in order to better identify common themes. Qualitative analysis is less about frequency and the number of things and more about a researcher’s subjective insights and understandings. Anthropology and other fields in the social sciences frequently integrate both types of data by using mixed methods. Through the triangulation of data, anthropologists can use both objective and frequency data (for example, survey results) and subjective data (such as observations) to provide a more holistic understanding.

Many anthropologists create models to help others visualize and understand their research findings. Models help people understand the relationships between various points of data and can include qualitative elements as well. One very familiar model is a map. Maps are constructed from many thousands of data points projected onto a flat surface to help people understand distances and relationships. Maps are typically two-dimensional, but we are of course all familiar with the three-dimensional version of a world map known as a globe. Maps and globes are built on data points, but they also include qualitative information, such as the colors used to represent various features and the human-assigned names of various geographical features. Other familiar types of models include graphs, calendars, timelines, and charts. GPS is also a significant modeling tool today.

GPS , or the Global Position System , is increasingly used in archaeology. A model of a research site can be created using computer programs and a series of GPS coordinates. Any artifacts found or important features identified within the site can mapped to their exact locations within this model. This type of mapping is incredibly helpful if further work is warranted, making it possible for the researcher to return to the exact site where the original artifacts were found. These types of models also provide construction companies with an understanding of where the most sensitive cultural sites are located so that they may avoid destroying them. Government agencies and tribal governments are now constructing GPS maps of important cultural sites that include a variety of layers. Layering types of data within a landscape allows researchers to easily sort the available data and focus on what is most relevant to a particular question or task.

Wild food plants, water sources, roads and trails, and even individual trees can be documented and mapped with precision. Archaeologists can create complex layered maps of traditional Native landscapes, with original habitations, trails, and resource locations marked. GPS has significant applications in the re-creation of historic periods. By comparing the placements of buildings at various points in the past, GPS models can be created showing how neighborhoods or even whole cities have changed over time. In addition, layers can be created that contain cultural and historic information. These types of models are an important part of efforts to preserve remaining cultural and historic sites and features.

The Science of Anthropology

Anthropology is a science, and as such, anthropologists follow the scientific method . First, an anthropologist forms a research question based on some phenomenon they have encountered. They then construct a testable hypothesis based on their question. To test their hypothesis, they gather data and information. Information can come from one or many sources and can be either quantitative or qualitative in nature. Part of the evaluation might include statistical analyses of the data. The anthropologist then draws a conclusion. Conclusions are rarely 100 percent positive or 100 percent negative; generally, the results are somewhere on a continuum. Most conclusions to the positive will be stated as “likely” to be true. Scholars may also develop methods of testing and retesting their conclusions to make sure that what they think is true is proven true through various means. When a hypothesis is rigorously tested and the results conform with empirical observations of the world, then a theory is considered “likely to be accurate.” Hypotheses are always subject to being disproven or modified as more information is collected.

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• Marketplace

Conducting a Cultural Analysis: A Simple Guideline

• Conducting a Cultural Analysis: A…

Updated: 4 June, 2024

Ping-pong tables, zen rooms, fun and open offices…

Do any of these remind you of something?

These staples of modern day startups have rekindled interest in workplace culture, and made it urgent for companies to evaluate and revise their corporate cultures in order to remain competitive. According to Glassdoor’s 2019 mission and culture survey, close to 4 out of 5 job seekers consider a company’s culture before applying for a job. 

In this article we dive into how organisations can identify which cultures are dominant amongst their employees and how to take advantage of these – how organisations can perform a cultural analysis.

Table of Contents

What is Cultural Analysis?

Even though nuanced in definition, culture is generally understood to be the collective of beliefs, customs, ideas, institutions, laws and values that determine behaviours amongst a defined group of individuals. The same understanding applies for organisations where any set of formal or informal practices, systems and expectations that guide behaviour and decision making will qualify as culture.

In this line, cultural analysis is any attempts, usually by human resource professionals, to uncover the core values and practices common to stakeholders within an organisation and how these affect employee experience, overall organisational performance and how the outside world perceives the organisation.

Also, the most pro-active employees and job seekers often seek to understand organisational culture in order to avoid it or devise methods to adapt and/or take advantage of it.

Why is Cultural Analysis Important?

In today’s volatile and highly competitive world, companies are in need of resilience and a competitive advantage to sustain and grow overtime. Turns out that beyond great product market fit, positive cultures that define how companies interact with their customers are strong determinants for success. The key with a cultural analysis is not necessarily creating these positive values but understanding which ones are dominant and how they could contribute towards achieving organisational goals. Whether you work remotely or in the office, company culture is very important.

A good cultural analysis can:

• Help companies leverage a positive culture to outperform competition and attract the best talent.
• Ensure that company objectives are aligned with employee motivation.
• Communicate executives’ interest in building an environment of trust and openness to diverse perspectives.
• Throw light on cultural strengths and possible weaknesses that might impede any present or future change initiatives.
• Provide guidance for cultural fit in recruitment, job orientation and job promotion practices.

How to Conduct a Cultural Analysis

We know that cultural analysis is important, but conducting one can seem tricky and overwhelming. It helps to think of cultural analysis as consisting of 2 major steps: choosing the appropriate theoretical framework and a practical implementation using a HR consultant and a data gathering and analysis tool.

Theoretical frameworks in the field of organizational culture provide a lense/canvas for companies to measure and view workplace culture. Frameworks could be based in academic research or could be practical adaptations of academic frameworks by companies and HR professionals to make them easy to implement in the business world. In this article we see 3 frameworks based on academic work: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, Schwartz’s Values, and Fiske’s Relational Model.

How to use Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions for Cultural Analysis?

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions  is probably one of the most famous theories in HR and workplace culture literature. It identifies 6 key dimensions that help understand the difference in cultures across countries and their impact on individuals and the business setting. This theory is mostly relevant in multinational companies with employees from various backgrounds. See below the 6 dimensions of interest

• Power Distance Index : High power distance cultures encourage bureaucracy, and respect for rank and authority while low power index cultures encourage decentralised decision making, participative management styles and power distribution.
• Individualism vs Collectivism :  In companies where individualism is dominant, employees place a greater emphasis on attaining their personal goals above the goals and well-being of the group. Think “I” versus “We”.
• Uncertainty Avoidance Index :  High uncertainty avoidance is usually characterised by strict rules and procedures. With low uncertainty avoidance there is an appetite for risk taking and comfort in ambiguity and the unknown. Rules and regulations are more laxed.
• Masculinity vs Femininity :  Masculine cultures seem to focus on material achievements and wealth building. Gender roles tend to be distinct. In feminine cultures, there is a focus on quality of life, fluid gender roles, modesty and nurture.
• Long term Orientation vs Short term Orientation :  Long term orientation is all about delayed gratification. Company culture in this domain forgoes short term success in order to achieve long term vision. Short term oriented companies on the other hand are interested in immediate results and the present rather than the future.
• Indulgence vs Restraint : The freedom for employees to have fun versus restraint through social norms and company policy.

To measure the different cultural dimensions, Hofstede developed a survey tool known as the Value Survey Model that companies can use for their cultural analysis.

How to use Schwartzs’s Values for cultural analysis?

Schwartz’s theory of basic values  identifies ten basic personal values and classifies them into 4 categories depending on their underlying goals or motivation: self-transcendence or self-enhancement or on openness to change or conservation. Some values conflict with each other, while others are congruent.

• Self-transcendence vs Self-Enhancement :  Values can either emphasise a concern for the common good rather than the individual (universalism, benevolence) or emphasise self-interest and success and dominance over others (achievement, power).
• Openness to change vs Conservation :  Values can either emphasise readiness to change, innovation, independence of thought, feelings and actions (self-direction, stimulation) while others emphasise preservation of  traditions, rules and regulations and self-restriction (security, conformity, tradition).   See the table below for a breakdown of Schwartz’s ten basic values

Using the Schwartz Value Survey (survey questions developed from the model) companies can measure which values are the most prominent amongst their employees and identify situations where values conflict and impede productivity.

How to use Fiske’s relational models for cultural analysis?

Fiske’s model  is not as popular. Nevertheless it has potential to provide interesting insights that previous models don’t look at. Fiske’s is a relational model that informs how employees interact with each other. All human interactions can be described in terms of 4 relational models:

• Communal Sharing  :  People consider themselves to be equivalent, undifferentiated and interchangeable. The focus is on the group’s success rather than the individual’s. Companies can look out for rituals, synchronous movements, sharing and generosity.
• Authority Ranking  :  The working environment is characterised by hierarchical structures. Highly ranked people enjoy greater authority and prestige while lower ranked people are entitled to guidance and protection.
• Equality Matching  :  Employees seek reciprocity and balanced relationships. In instances of difference, the necessary is done to restore balance.
• Market Pricing  :  Interactions are oriented towards ratios and rates like pricing, tithes, wages, cost-benefit analysis.

Working with Fiske’s model, it is important for companies to seek to uncover instances of conflict and to align these to the company’s overall vision.

HR practitioners have made attempts at modifying academic theories to simple guidelines applicable in the business context. These have taken the form of  types of workplace cultures , with one of the most well known classification being Kim Cameron and Robert Quinn’s Competitive Value Framework.

How to use the  Competitive Value Framework  for Cultural Analysis?

Using the Organisational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI), companies can see which of 4 corporate values proposed affect how they operate, and how employees collaborate for now and the company’s desired future state.

• Adhocracy Culture :  innovative workplace environment with high risk tolerance
• Clan Culture:  Individuals are considered to be of equal importance and hierarchies are frowned upon
• Hierarchical Culture :  structure controlled and stiff processes
• Market culture :  competition and results orientation

How to use the Corporate Culture Classifications for Cultural Analysis?

Other Types of organisational culture are mentioned in  Havard’s Leader’s Guide to Corporate  culture

• Learning Culture:  knowledge and skills expansion, continuous learning and curiosity, innovation.
• Purpose Culture:  Working towards a vision greater than self, usually to change the world.
• Caring Culture:  Helping customers, employees and team members to thrive.
• Order Culture:   Structure, rules and regulations and standard processes.
• Safety Culture:   Risk planning and aversion and sticking to proven processes.
• Authority Culture:  Competitiveness, decisiveness and boldness. Employees and the company strive to be the best in their fields.
• Results Culture:  Meeting and exceeding goals and targets.
• Enjoyment Culture:  Fun loving, playfulness and spontaneity.

How to do a cultural analysis practically?

Using any of the theoretical frameworks mentioned above, it is important for companies to do the following:

• Use anonymous surveys and culture assessments to employees to understand where you presently stand. See how employees view the company, their thoughts on company values, and their understanding of overall company vision and goals. Does their understanding align with what is communicated by the executive team? This could take the form of a cultural gap analysis where you assess where you stand today versus where you want to be in the future.
• Supplement your anonymous surveys with other data sources. For example, observe team interactions and behaviours during meetings and social gatherings and/or review the stories and anecdotes that run across the organisation and what these say about the work environment. Companies can also analyse HR processes like recruitment, onboarding and incentives to see what they communicate.
• Once strengths and weaknesses are identified, companies should develop a strategy to achieve their desired culture. This might require intensive training with employees, communication, skill training for leadership, recognition for employees who show desirable values and incentives to encourage certain behaviours.
• Culture analysis should not be a 1 time event but a continuous process if you are going to sustain a positive culture.

How to guarantee data privacy in cultural analysis?

Nothing hinders the benefits of a cultural analysis like data privacy concerns. It is difficult to create an open space for the discussion about culture without the tools and processes in place to ensure any information shared is private and without risks to employees. To guarantee data privacy, companies are advised to hire the services of a 3rd party HR consultant and use tools with a privacy by design architecture to collect and interpret data.

Why 3rd party consultants over in-house HR staff? Privacy, limited bias and trust. For employees and other internal stakeholders to feel comfortable sharing honest feedback without any fears of negative repercussions, a third party with little to no conflicts of interest within the company is necessary. Any survey data shared back to management should be in aggregate form and guarantee anonymity.

While HR consultants will design survey questions based on any of the theoretical frameworks mentioned above or develop their own frameworks, there is a need for a survey analysis tool to collect and analyse data safely.

CODIFIC’S  Survey Analysis and Reporting Automation tool (SARA)  helps HR consultants:

• Collect survey data safely with privacy by design principles
• Automate analysis with either generic methodologies or proprietary methodologies of their choice
• Generate automated reports with their existing templates and branding

With the right frameworks, methodologies and steps to ensure data privacy via using a non-biased HR consultant and a data safe survey analysis and automation tool, companies are equipped with what it takes to carry out a cultural analysis and establish the right cultures to remain competitive.

Data protection:

Codific is a cybersecurity firm that develops SaaS applications. At the core of everything we do is a security and privacy by design principle, protecting user data and truly guaranteeing anonymity when relevant. The highest standard in data security is the only practical, legal and moral option.

Stop wasting time building reports manually. Stop sending your customers to third-party tools and stop being limited by the features of your software. Hire SARA today.

Employee motivation in cultural analysis

Employee engagement and motivation are a huge part of the culture of a business. It contributes to the productivity, success, and environment of the business, with motivated employees, the work is given more attention, precision and creativity. Satisfied employee helps obtain satisfied customers.

Read more on a simple guide to employee motivation analysis in this blog. 

What else does Codific build with privacy by design principles?

Videolab  is used by top universities, academies and hospitals to put the care in healthcare. Communication skills, empathy and other soft skills are trained by sharing patient interviews recordings for feedback.

SAMMY  Is a Software Assurance Maturity Model management tool. It enables companies to formulate and implement a security assurance program tuned to the risks they are facing. That way other companies can help us build a simple and safe digital future. Obviously our AppSec program and SAMMY itself is built on top of it.

We believe in collaboration and open innovation, we would love to hear about your projects and see how we can contribute in developing secure software and privacy by design architecture. Contact us.

Zeinabou Bunji

Zeinabou is a market analyst at Codific. She specializes in HR-Tech and psychometric methodologies. She has a bachelor degree in international management from the Geneva Business School. If you have questions, reach out to me here Contact

Author:  Zeinabou Bunji

Related posts.

Human Relations Area Files

Cultural information for education and research, basic guide to cross-cultural research.

Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember

This brief guide takes you through the basic steps of a cross-cultural study using the HRAF Collection of Ethnography– on paper, fiche, or online ( eHRAF World Cultures ).

After reviewing the history of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography, we start with a discussion of the kinds of questions cross-cultural researchers investigate, and why they want to investigate them. Then we discuss how to choose a sample, how to develop measures, and how to analyze results.

Introduction

The growing concern of students, scholars, and the general public to understand ethnic conflict, cultural diversity, and global problems has generated a demand for educational and research programs emphasizing the worldwide, comparative study of human behavior and society. The development of cross-cultural and area studies requires a large mass of readily available, organized cultural information; conventional sources of such information are widely scattered and often inaccessible, and often too expensive to assemble and utilize effectively. The HRAF Collections are designed to overcome this traditional barrier to research.

The HRAF Collection of Ethnography is a unique source of information on the cultures of the world, and as of April 2008 the complete collection contained over a million pages of indexed information on about 400 different cultural, ethnic, religious, and national groups around the world. The collection was developed by the Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF), a non-profit research organization based at Yale University. For almost fifty years, HRAF has served the educational community and contributed to an understanding of world cultures by assembling, indexing, and providing access to primary research materials relevant to the social sciences, and by stimulating and facilitating training and research in these fields.

Development of the HRAF Collections began with the belief that enduring generalizations about human behavior and culture will emerge from a wealth of knowledge about the ways in which the different peoples of the world live. In 1937 at the Institute of Human Relations, Yale University, under the direction of the Institute’s Director, Mark A. May, and Professor George Peter Murdock, a small group of researchers attempted to design a system by means of which the cultural, behavioral, and background information on a society might be organized. A fundamental part of that system was a universal topical classification scheme, the Outline of Cultural Materials–OCM (Murdock et al. 2008), which is still integral to the work HRAF does today.

In 1949, the Human Relations Area Files was incorporated in the State of Connecticut, with Harvard University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, and Yale University as its founding member institutions. These five were joined within the year by the University of Chicago, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Southern California. Today, hundreds of colleges, universities, libraries, museums, and research institutions in the United States and other countries have full or partial access to the HRAF Collection of Ethnography. (See the member list for institutions that are active members of the online version, eHRAF World Cultures.)

The HRAF Collection of Ethnography contains mostly primary source materials – mainly published books and articles, but including some unpublished manuscripts and dissertations – on selected cultures or societies representing all major regions of the world. The materials are organized and indexed by a unique method designed for rapid and accurate retrieval of specific data on given cultures and topics. HRAF’s system of organization and classification of source material presents information in a manner that significantly increases the usefulness of original source materials. Researchers can use the Collection of Ethnography in four different media: the original paper files, fiche, and on the World Wide Web. Until 1958, the HRAF Collection was produced and distributed as paper files: source materials were manually reproduced on 5″ x 8″ paper slips called File pages, and then filed by subject (OCM) category and by culture. Wider distribution of the collection was facilitated in 1958 with the development of the HRAF Microfiles Program. Materials from the paper files were processed into microfiche and issued in annual installments to participating institutions; Installment 42 was the last microfiche series issued to members.

In the 1980’s, HRAF began developing an electronic publishing program with the intention of distributing the HRAF Collection of Ethnography exclusively through electronic means. The Cross-Cultural CDs were the first result of this effort, providing researchers with ten collections on such topics as old age, marriage, religion, and human sexuality, excerpted from HRAF’s 60-Culture Probability Sample Files (PSF). In 1993, the first installment of the full-text HRAF Collection of Ethnography on CD-ROM (eHRAF) was issued to members with the plan of converting the entire 60-Culture PSF, plus new files covering North American immigrant groups, by the year 1999. Additional installments are added annually. As of April 2008, there were 165 cultures online .

Using eHRAF is a relatively straightforward process. Mechanics of use and research techniques are similar in many respects to standard library practices; searching follows the same principles and techniques, such as Boolean logic, that are used for other electronic educational collections.

Organization and Classification

In the paper and fiche versions of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography all documents that contain information about a particular culture are grouped together in a collection for that culture. Each culture collection is identified by a unique alphanumeric code according to the Outline of World Cultures–OWC (Murdock 1983) . In the OWC all the cultures are classified according to geographical regions:

A – Asia E – Europe F – Africa M – Middle East N – North America O – Oceania R – Eurasia (cultures located in the former Soviet Union and Russia) S – South America

There is one exception to this system: Muslim societies in Africa are classified as being in the Middle East. In its recent literature, HRAF has begun to organize those Muslim cultures under Africa, although they retain the same OWC code.

All the cultures in the paper and microfiche version of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography are grouped into these eight regions. Thus, all the documents pertaining to African cultures are grouped together and their OWC begins with “F.” Each of the major regions is then subdivided, usually on a political basis, into sub-regions designated by the addition of a second letter: “FF” designates the country of Nigeria and its component cultural units, while “SC” indicates that the culture described is in the South American country of Colombia. Finally, within each sub-region, more specific units are defined and assigned a number; these may be country entities, such as “RD01” for Ukraine, or “cultural” units such as “FL12” for the Maasai. Each culture is therefore listed in its regional, political, and cultural context within the Collection.

In eHRAF World Cultures, the OWC number is de-emphasized and cultures are ordered by major geographical regions arranged in alphabetical order: Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle America and the Caribbean, Middle East, North America, Oceania, and South America. The OWC number is listed in the Culture Profile (Browse/Cultures).

Selection of Cultures

Several thousand cultures are listed in the OWC, but not all the cultures on the list are included in the HRAF Collection of Ethnography. The cultures in the Collection are selected mainly on the basis of the following criteria:

(a) Maximum cultural diversity : the cultures should represent, as far as possible, the known range and variety of cultural types in terms of language, history, economy, and social organization.

(b) Maximum geographical dispersal : the cultures should be geographically representative of all major world areas and all major ecological settings.

(c) Adequacy of literature : within the scope of the two preceding criteria, the cultures should have a quantitatively and qualitatively adequate literature coverage.

(d) Special initiatives:  from time to time HRAF undertook to build special kinds of collections such as: immigrant and other subcultures within North America; cities; and country files.

Source Materials

Once the decision has been reached to build a collection on a particular culture, extensive bibliographic research is undertaken to identify as thoroughly as possible all of the significant literature on that culture. HRAF also solicits the advice and expertise of specialists. As always, researchers are encouraged to inform HRAF of any salient material which might have escaped notice.

The materials processed for the Collection of Ethnography are largely descriptive rather than theoretical, with the great majority being primary documents resulting from field observation. The ideal document is one which consists of a detailed description of a culture, or of a particular community or region within that culture, written on the basis of prolonged residence among the people documented by a professional social scientist. Many documents which do not meet all the criteria are included in the Collection of Ethnography because they are still important pieces of information; in fact, it is likely that they may be the only sources available for particular time periods, regions, or subjects. Thus the collection for each culture may contain documents written by travelers, missionaries, colonial officials, traders, etc. The Collection of Ethnography provides researchers with a comprehensive picture of life in one or more communities and in one or more time periods.

Classification

Every page in each document is indexed and assigned any number of appropriate subject category codes according to the classification scheme in the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM) (Murdock et al. 2008; online versions); the subject codes are sometimes referred to as OCMs. The OCM consists of 710 subject categories plus a category numbered “000” for unclassified materials. The 710 categories are grouped into seventy-nine major subject divisions, each assigned a three-digit code ranging from 100 (Orientation) to 880 (Adolescence, Adulthood, and Old Age). Within each major subject division, up to nine more specific categories are defined. For example, the (Family (590) division is subdivided into seven more specific subject categories as follows: Residence (591), Household (592), Family Relationships (593), Nuclear Family (594), Polygamy (595), Extended Families (596), and Adoption (597).

Each category in the OCM includes a brief descriptive statement, indicating the range of information which may be classified under that category. Beneath this statement is usually a list of cross-references to other categories under which related information may be classified.

The OCM contains a detailed index which directs the researcher to OCM numbers relevant for their search. The OCM subjects are clearly defined in the OCM, but a few are essential to effective use of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography and bear mentioning here.

Every document page has at least one OCM assigned to it. If there are no pertinent subject categories, “000” indicating non-classified data is applied. In the paper and microfiche, the OCMs are written in roughly where the subject starts. Sometimes an OCM will apply to a particular sentence, although most OCMs apply to at least a section of a paragraph. For eHRAF all OCMs are located at the paragraph level. If five consecutive paragraphs discuss categories 585, 578, and 602, all three OCMs will appear at the beginning of each of the five paragraphs until the subject changes.

What’s the Question?

Cross-cultural (worldwide comparative) researchers ask four kinds of questions. The first is descriptive and deals with the prevalence or frequency of a trait: What percentage of the world’s societies practice polygyny? Which is the most important subsistence activity among food collectors – gathering, hunting, or fishing? How common is female infanticide? A second kind of question considers the causes of a trait or custom. Questions: Why is polygyny permitted in most societies known to anthropology? Why do women (as opposed to men) do most of the agricultural work in some societies? Why is the extended family the customary form of household in many societies? The third kind of question explores the consequences or effects of a particular trait or custom. What are the effects on infant care of high involvement of women in subsistence activities? Does punitive childtraining affect the frequency of warfare? The fourth question, which is not significantly different from the second and third, is a relational question. Rather than postulating causes or consequences, a researcher may simply ask how a particular aspect of culture may be associated with some other aspect(s). For example: Is there an association between most important subsistence activity and level of political complexity?

Of these four questions, the causal question is the most challenging because it does not completely specify what the researcher needs to do. The descriptive question tells the researcher what to count. The “consequence” and “relational” questions both specify two sets of phenomena that may be related. But the causal question does not tell the researcher where to look for causes. It only specifies what scientists call the dependent variable (the thing to be explained).

Think of the causal question as analogous to the format of a detective story. After a murder is committed the detective may know a lot about the crime, but not “whodunit” or why. Finding the solution usually entails hypothesizing about suspects and their possible motives and opportunities, eliminating the implausible possibilities, and concluding who is probably the culprit.

Similarly, in science, the pursuit of causes involves the testing of alternative explanations or theories which purport to say why something is the way it is. The researcher who chooses a causal question needs to identify plausible explanations or theories to test and to decide on a strategy (for collecting and analyzing data) that could falsify or disconfirm explanations. If all theories fail, researchers must come up with new theories. Although these requirements may suggest that the researcher who searches for causes may need to act differently from other researchers, this is really not the case, as we shall see.

The basic strategy for examining relationships in cross-cultural research is the same, whether the relationship involves presumed causes, consequences, or just hypothesized association. To illustrate that strategy, let us turn to an example of a test of a causal explanation.

In the first study we did together (M. Ember and C.R. Ember 1971), our question was: Why do some societies practice matrilocal residence and others patrilocal residence? We started where most people start – with explanations found in the literature. One of the most common was the idea that the division of labor based on gender in primary subsistence activities would largely determine residence after marriage (Lippert 1931: 237; Linton 1936: 168-69; Murdock 1949: 203ff.) In other words, female dominance in subsistence should produce matrilocality; male dominance should produce patrilocality. What makes this a causal explanation are the words “determine” and “should produce,” which are equivalent to using the word “cause.” But, as philosophers of science tell us, causes cannot be directly verified. Even if we can be sure that presumed causes preceded the presumed effects, we cannot rule out the possibility that something else is the real cause.

So how do we test such a causal explanation? The simplest way is to examine a relationship that should be true if the theory is correct, and then make a statistical test to see if the predicted relationship actually occurs significantly more often than would be expected by chance. In our own study of matrilocal versus patrilocal residence, we derived the following prediction from the “division of labor” theory: if females did relatively more work than males, residence would tend to be matrilocal; if males did relatively more subsistence work, residence would tend to be patrilocal. Notice that although the prediction (or more formally the hypothesis) has almost the same form as the theory we stated above, it differs in a fundamental way: the hypothesis simply predicts an association between two variables and says nothing about causality. Still, if two things are causally related, they should be statistically associated.

In our case, when we examined the association between division of labor and residence in a worldwide sample of societies, the predicted association was not found . This led us (and later Divale [1974]) to reject the theory that division of labor largely determines residence. After rejecting the “division of labor” explanation (at least as a major cause) we went on to test other explanations. Eventually we ended up developing a new theory that internal warfare (warfare within the society) would produce partilocal residence, and purely external warfare (particularly if women do a great deal of subsistence work) would produce matrilocal residence. Note that division of labor remains a partial cause in our explanations. Note too that even if a predicted relationship is supported, it may still be open to different interpretations. Indeed, Divale (1974) offers a vary different explanation for the obtained relationship between type of warfare and residence.

The study we just discussed illustrates the fundamental assumption of worldwide cross-cultural (or holocultural) research; if a theory has merit, the presumed causes and effect should generally be associated synchronically (see J. W. M. Whiting 1954; K. F. Otterbein 1969; R. Naroll, Michik, and F. Naroll 1976). A synchronic association is one that involves data (for each sample case) from more or less the same point in time, as if we were examining a large number of “ethnographic snapshots,” each one capturing a society at a single point in time. The cross-cultural method therefore provides a way of eliminating theories that have no predictive value. Theories that postulate causes, consequences, or relationships are tested in the same way; that is, by looking to see if predicted associations obtain.

Cross-cultural researchers must decide what societies to examine. No one can examine all cultures; even if one could, the labor and time costs involved would not justify doing so. The most important operating principles in a scientific test of a hypothesis are: 1) to choose a sample that is representative of some universe of societies the researcher wants to generalize the results to; and 2) to use a large enough sample such that the results are likely to be true for the larger universe of cases. As yet, there is no complete list of the world’s cultures to sample from, so researchers cannot do what is ideal, which is to sample randomly from a complete list. Instead, cross-cultural researchers usually sample from one of a number of published cross-cultural samples. (These lists can be thought of as “sampling frames.”) The most commonly used are (from larger to smaller): the Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock 1962 ff.); the “summary” Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock 1967); the Atlas of World Cultures (Murdock 1981); the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) Collection of Ethnography (annually distributed by the Human Relations Area Files); the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (Murdock and White 1969); and the HRAF Probability Sample Files (Naroll 1967; Lagace 1979), which is a subset of the entire HRAF Collection of Ethnography. While none of these samples is perfect, the important point about all of these lists is that they were not designed to support any researcher’s pet idea or theory. In contrast, a set of cases chosen from a researcher’s own personal library would be scientifically suspect.

Why use the HRAF Collection of Ethnography?

Most of the samples mentioned above contain bibliography (or pointers to bibliography) and at least some coded information on traits of interest to a variety of researchers. The HRAF Collection of Ethnography is different in that it contains no precoded data, but full texts indexed by subject matter and grouped by culture for the rapid retrieval of particular kinds of information. If you want to read about a particular aspect of culture and make your own coding decisions on a sample of societies, the HRAF collection is ideal because you do not have to collect all the books and articles on each of the cultures and then search for a particular subject through all the texts. HRAF’s subject index, the Outline of Cultural Materials (Murdock et al., 2008; online version ), can be used to identify particular subject categories to look at to find the information of interest to you.

If you are working from the print version of the Outline of Cultural Materials (OCM for short), the easiest way to find a subject category is by using the extensive index in the back of the OCM. This index will point you toward a number of possible numbered subject categories. When you read about these subjects in more detail, you will find out if the subject categories are appropriate. The OCM system is mostly hierarchical in that the first two digits usually reflect the major subject category. So, for example, all the “59s” (591-597) refer to the major subject labelled “Family.” The last digit is a subcategory (e.g., 596 is “extended families”).

If you are working on eHRAF, the A-Z Index can be found under either under Browse/Subjects or in Advanced Search when you press “Add Subjects.” There is also a list of OCMs organized by Major Subject and a list in OCM or numerical order. The A-Z list has a filter so that if you start typing a word it will try to find it. If you are in Advanced Search you can execute your search once you have chosen a subject category. Often researchers will need to search for more than one subject category to ensure that they will find what they are looking for. Keep in mind that not all ethnographers discuss all topics, so some categories will be empty for some cultures. It takes trial-and-error to find what you need and tailor a search to your needs.

Sampling within the HRAF Collection

It is rarely necessary to use the entire HRAF collection for comparative studies. The only reason it might be necessary to examine all the cases is if some trait or custom occurs rarely or is only rarely described. In that case, researchers might have to scan all the societies to find enough cases of a particular type. Examples of relatively rare traits are age-set systems, cannibalism, and woman-woman marriages.

Researchers use a variety of strategies to sample the collection. If researchers want to use some already coded data (coded previously by themselves or other researchers) for their study, they usually choose to limit themselves to those sample cases for which the desired precoded data are available. Some researchers find that the HRAF Collection of Ethnography speeds up their data retrieval so much that they use it for as many cultures as they can and then look up books and articles for the remaining cultures. Others choose the overlap between the HRAF sample and another sample. The important thing to keep in mind in using information from two different samples is that the information in the different samples may pertain to different time periods and different communities. Since cultures change over time and vary from community to community, it is extremely important to make sure that the same-named cases in the overlapping samples actually are the same in time and place. Otherwise, the researcher is introducing error.

For example, suppose one is examining the possible relationship between male mortality rates in warfare and frequency of polygyny (see M. Ember 1974 for a test of the hypothesis that high male mortality in warfare should be associated with appreciable polygyny). For information on a given society with regard to male mortality in warfare, one would look in categories Mortality (165), Instigation of War (721), and Aftermath of Combat (727) and might find ethnographic material from 1890 indicating that many men died in warfare. For information on extent of polygyny (category 595) the researcher may find the best information to be from 1950. If you used these two pieces of information (one from 1890 and the other from 1950) you might very well have a case that looks like it does not support your hypothesis. This would be an error if the society had appreciable polygyny in 1890 but did not have much in 1950. Pacification by external authorities might have eliminated war, thus evening out the sex-ratio, and thereby lessening polygyny. In this instance, the data from either 1890 or 1950 might support the hypothesis (high male mortality/high polygyny or low male mortality/low polygyny), but mixing data from different time periods would have created an “error.”

The online HRAF Cross-Cultural Concordance (first published as the Computerized Cross-Cultural Concordance –see C. R. Ember 1992) was developed to help researchers see if times and places match across different samples. One of the most useful aspects of this concordance is that it gives the researcher the appropriate sources to look at in the HRAF Collection of Ethnography (in paper, microfiche or now online as eHRAF World Cultures ) to see if she or he wants to match cases in another sample. HRAF processes an extensive set of sources for each society included in the archive. Usually there are multiple time and place foci, so it is important that a researcher attend to the need to choose exactly the right focus. Researchers who want to use data already available from other samples commonly use the Ethnographic Atlas (EA–in its full form or the summary form (Murdock 1962-1971; Murdock 1967) or the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS–Murdock and White 1969) The codes for the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (published by many different authors) have appeared in two journals ( Ethnology and Cross-Cultural Research [formerly Behavior Science Research ] ). Many have been reprinted in Barry and Schegel’s (1980) Cross-Cultural Codes and Samples , and have been put into computer format for the World Cultures electronic journal. The codes for the Ethnographic Atlas can now be found online in D-PLACE (https://d-place.org/). A discussion of the matches between HRAF or eHRAF and the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample and the Ethnographic Atlas can be found in C. R. Ember (2007). In eHRAF you can now find the matches to the SCCS sample  and the matches to the EA sample ; we also display the lists of cases for the SCCS and the EA on our home page. However, if you want to match two or more samples and find the appropriate sources you can also use the filter function in the HRAF Cross-Cultural Concordance .  For example, if you want the documents that are in eHRAF World Cultures that are also in the SCCS and the full EA, you can click all three. A file can also be exported of the entire set of matches.

If the researcher does not need information from outside HRAF, sampling from the HRAF Collection of Ethnography can proceed differently. The HRAF Collection itself can be used as a sampling frame (a list to sample from) and researchers can randomly choose cases from that list by using a table of random numbers. (Your library might not have the complete collection. Check with your librarian for the cultures found in your library.)

We would however urge caution in using the HRAF collection as a whole because it has a mixture of unit types. As explained earlier, due to some special programs, not all collections would be considered “anthropological societies.” For example, the collection on Cuban Americans should best be compared with other North American subgroups rather than as a society. A better choice would be to use one of the subsets of eHRAF designed to be representative.

There are three samples within HRAF that can be considered representative. They are: The Probability Sample Files, the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample,  and a Simple Random Sample.

Probability Sample Files

The subset of HRAF known as the Probability Sample Files (PSF) is a special kind of random sample called a stratified random sample. The world was divided into 60 culture areas (strata) and one case from each area was randomly chosen from a list of societies that met certain criteria (such as whether one of the ethnographers stayed for more than a year; having more than 1,000 pages of ethnography). It is important to note that modern, industrialized societies were excluded, as were political empires, societies that were only described in prehistory or history, and societies that did not include specific information about the people and their culture. See Naroll (1967) for the rules used in selecting the sample cases. When you are using eHRAF World Cultures you can, after executing a search, narrow your search to the PSF.

Standard Cross-Cultural Sample

The SCCS sample, developed by Murdock and White (1969) is also a stratified sample, but it was based on dividing the world into 200 culture areas (strata). The authors tried to find one well-described society in each of 200 areas, but ended up with 186 societies. For those culture areas with multiple cases within a culture area, the authors used their judgment about what case to include. Unlike the PSF, which has multiple time periods and multilple subcultues represented, the creators chose a specific time and place focus for each society. They usually opted for the earliest time frame that had comprehensive coverage.

Simple Random Sample

The Simple Random Sample (SRS) is in the process of being built. It was drawn by choosing from C. Ember’s (1992) concordance of cross-cultural samples. The only criteria was that there had to be at least the equivalent of one ethnography. Because cultures are added randomly, the cultures in that sample can be considered  representative sample of a fairly large list of cultures around the world (from about 8 different cross-cultural samples. Since as of the present there are less than 30 cultures, most researchers would not consider this a large enough sample. However, these cultures could be added to the PSF sample.

Size of Sample

What is a large enough sample? Statisticians have worked out formulas for calculating the size of the representative (random) sample that is needed to obtain a significant result (one likely to be true). The samples needed are usually much smaller than you might imagine. If a relationship is strong, a random sample of 20-30 is sufficient. (Weak associations can be significant only in large samples.) By using the random sampling strategy, researchers can always add cases randomly to increase sample size. Random sampling also enables researchers to estimate whether a phenomenon of interest occurs frequently enough to be studied and whether the measures adopted are usable on the available data.

While most people assume that “bigger is better,” bigger samples require much more time and effort and expense. And they may not yield much more information or accuracy than a smaller random sample. Political opinion polls are a case in point. Samples of a few hundred to a few thousand people in the entire United States can often yield quite accurate predictions of elections.

The concepts in a predicted association (hypothesis) can be fairly specific, such as whether or not a culture has a ceremony for naming a newborn child, or they may be quite abstract, such as whether the community is harmonious. But whether the concept is fairly specific or not, no concept is ever measured directly. This is true in physical as well as in the social sciences. We are so used to a thermometer measuring heat that we may forget that heat is an abstract concept that refers to the energy generated when molecules are moving. A thermometer reflects the principle that as molecules move more, a substance in a confined space (alcohol, mercury) will expand. We do not see heat; we see the movement of the substance in the confined space.

The three most important principles in designing a measure are:

•  try to be as specific as possible in deciding how to measure the concept;
•  try to measure the concept as directly as possible;
•  if possible, try to measure the concept in a number of different ways.

The first principle recognizes that science depends upon replication; it is essential for other researchers to try to duplicate the findings of previous researchers, so researchers have to be quite explicit about what they mean and exactly how they measure the concept. The second recognizes that although all measurement is indirect, some measures are more direct than others. If you want to know how “rainy” an area is, you could count the number of days that it rains during December, but a better measure would be the number of rainy days on average over a number of years. The third principle is that since no measure exactly measures what it is supposed to measure, it is better, if possible, to have more than one way to tap the concept of interest.

Measures have to be specified for each variable in the hypothesis. Devising a measure involves at least four steps; 1) theoretically defining the variable of interest (in words or mathematically); 2) operationally defining the variable, which means spelling out the “scale” that the researcher has devised for measuring it; 3) telling the coder where to find the required information (in the case of research using the HRAF Collection of Ethnography, this means specifying which subject categories (OCMs) the coder should look at; in the electronic version one can also specify what words or combinations of words to look for and 4) pre-testing the measure to see if it can be applied generally to most cases. Designing a measure requires some trial-and-error. If the scale is too confusing or too hard to apply (because the required information is lacking), the measure needs to be rethought.

To illustrate the procedure, let us consider a variable that seems rather straightforward: the degree to which a society has extended family households. Although this concept may appear straightforward, it still needs to be defined. The researcher needs to state what an extended family means, what a household means, and how she or he will decide the “degree” to which a sample society has extended family households. The first thing would be to decide on what is meant by an “extended family.” The researcher may choose to define a family as a social and economic unit consisting minimally of at least one or more parents and their children; an extended family as consisting of two or more constituent families united by a blood tie; and an extended family household as an extended family living co-residentially; in one house, neighboring apartments, or in a separate compound. Having defined the concepts, the researcher must now specify how to measure the degree to which a society has extended family households.

Definitions are not so hard to arrive at. What requires work is evaluating whether an operational definition is useful or easily applied. For example, suppose by “degree” (of extended familyness) we operationally mean the percentage of households in a focal community that contain extended families. The range of possible scale scores is from 0 to 100 percent. Suppose further that we instruct our coders to rate a case only if the ethnographer specifies a percentage or we can calculate a percentage from a household census. If we are also using information from another study, we tell our coders to look at the Household (592) and Extended Family (596) for the same community specified in the other study and at the time specified in the other study (same time). (If we are not taking data from another study, we can ask our coders to pick a community and a time which is most thoroughly described with regard to household form.) If we did a pretest, we would find out that very few ethnographers tell us the percentage of extended family households. Rather they usually say things like, “Extended family households are the norm.” Or, “Extended families are typical, but younger people are beginning to live in independent households.” So our operational definition of percentage of extended family households, although perfectly worthy, may not be that useful if we cannot find enough societies with household censuses.

What can we do? There are three choices. We can stick to our insistence on the best measure and study only those societies for which a percentage is given. We may have to expand our search (enlarge our sample) to find enough cases that have such precise information. Or, we can redesign our measure to incorporate descriptions merely in words (no census material is available). Or, we can choose not to do the study because we can’t measure the concept exactly how we want to. Faced with these three choices, most cross-cultural researchers opt to redesign the measure so as to incorporate word descriptions. Word descriptions do convey information about degree, but not as precisely. If an ethnographer says “extended family households are typical,” we do not know if that means 50% or 100%, but we are very confident it does not mean 0-40%. And we can be fairly sure it does not mean 40-49%. If the relative frequency of extended families is related to something else, we should be able to see the relationship whether we measure in percentages or words.

A newly designed measure might read something like this : Code extended family households as

4) Very high in frequency if the ethnographer describes this type of household as the norm or typical in the absence of any indication of another common type of household. Phrases like “almost all households are extended” are clear indicators. Do not use discussions of the “ideal” household to measure relative frequency, unless there are indications that the ideal is also practiced. If there is a developmental cycle, such as the household splitting up when the third generation reaches a certain age, do not use this category. Use category #3 if the extended family household remains together for a substantial portion of the life-cycle and #2 if the household remains together briefly.

3) Moderately high in frequency if the ethnographer describes another fairly frequent household pattern but indicates that extended family households are still the most common.

2) Moderately low in frequency if the ethnographer describes extended family households as alternative or a second choice (another form of household is said to be typical).

1) Infrequent or Rare if another form of household is the only form of household mentioned and if the extended family form is mentioned as absent or an unusual choice. Do not infer absence of extended families from the absence of any discussion of family and household type.

don’t know if there is no information in the appropriate subject categories, or there is contradictory information for the same time and place from different sources.

The next step is to pre-test this measure. It may turn out that four distinctions are too difficult to apply, so a researcher might want to collapse the scale a little. If we decide to use the scale described above, what do we do when we do get numbers or percentages from the ethnographers for some cases? Most of the time, we can fit those numbers into the word scale. So, for instance, if 70% of the households have extended families, and 30% are independent, we would choose scale position 3. But we might decide to use two scales: a precise one based on numerical measurement (percentages), the second a vaguer one based on words (C. Ember et al. 1991 recommend that we use both types of scale when we can). The advantage of using two scales is that the more precise (quantitative scale) should be more strongly related to other variables than the less precise scale, which result would increase confidence in the relationships found.

Measuring a concept like the degree to which a society has extended families may not be easy. But it is not that difficult either, because ethnographers usually attend to basic economic, social, and political features of a society. We can think of these things as “standard cultural observables.” Of course, there are concepts which are much more difficult to operationalize using ethnographic data, because ethnographers do not conventionally attend to these subjects. For instance, few ethnographies contain information that would allow construction of an indicator of rainfall variability, pH of the soil, or number of minutes per day adults spend in housework. For these types of information, researchers may decide to alter their operational definitions to make use of the data that are available. A better research strategy may be to use other kinds of data outside of the HRAF Collection of Ethnography. Some libraries have worldwide climate records. This information can often be linked to ethnography by looking up the nearest weather station (in subject category Research and Development, 654) or longitude and latitude in subject category Location (131) of the society.

Concepts may be difficult to operationalize for other reasons. They may be quite abstract, like the concepts of community solidarity or the relative status of women. These two are not only abstract, but they deal with information which is not usually discussed in conventional ethnographic topics. Information relevant to status might be found under discussions of kin group decisions, political decision-making, relationships of people within the household, sexual rights and obligations, how marriages are arranged, etc.

Research by Martin Whyte (1978b) suggests that it is preferable to avoid rating very abstract variables such as “the status of women.” Rather researchers should probably confine ratings to more specific variables, as Whyte himself did. Whyte chose 52 very specific variables to assess the status of women. These variables included the degree to which women had political roles, the importance of female gods, how easily women could get divorced, etc. Whyte found that the various aspects of status did not relate to each other. He concluded that if a researcher wants to discuss status it would be preferable to discuss at least 10 different (and independent) dimensions of status. Furthermore, when he tested for the possible bias in reporting by male versus female ethnographers (Whyte 1978a), he found that whatever bias may exist is more likely to be found in the reporting of more abstract (versus more specific) matters. This suggests that codes should be designed to tap very specific aspects of a phenomenon.

Researchers can always use a variety of scaling procedures to make specific measures into combined or more general measures, as many have done to measure degree of cultural complexity (combining ratings of specific features such as type of subsistence, average size of communities, level of political integration, etc.)

Analysis of Results

When the researcher has measured the variables of interest for all sample cases, he or she is ready to see if the predicted relationship actually exists in the data. After all, there are likely to be exceptions to the predicted relationship. Do the exceptions invalidate the prediction? How many exceptions would compel a rejection of the hypothesis? It is precisely here that cross-cultural researchers usually resort to statistical tests of significance.

Statisticians have devised various tests that tell us how “perfect” a result has to be for us to believe that there is probably an association between the variables of interest, that one variable generally predicts the other. Essentially, every statistical result is evaluated in the same objective way. The question is asked: What is the chance that this result is purely accidental, that there is really no association at all between the two variables? Although some of the mathematical ways of answering this question are rather complicated, the answer always involves a probability value (or p-value), the likelihood that the observed result or a stronger one could have occurred by chance. So, if a result has a p-value of less than .01, this indicates that there is less than one chance in one hundred that the relationship observed is purely accidental. A p-value of less than .01 is a fairly low probability; most social scientists conventionally agree to call any result with a p-value of .05 or less (five or fewer chances in one hundred) a statistically significant or probably true result.

In a study we did with Burton Pasternak on extended family households (Pasternak, C.R. Ember and M. Ember 1976), we tested the hypothesis that incompatibility of activity requirements would generally explain why people may choose to live in extended family households. By incompatability of activity requirements we meant that an adult in the household was required to perform two activities in different places at the same time. A common example for women is childtending and agricultural work in the fields. An example for men is working away from home for wages and having to plow the fields. If the household includes two or more families, i.e., if there is an extended family household, there will likely be two adults of each gender to perform the required tasks. We decided to read and code ethnography to measure incompatibility requirements first, before we knew what the household form was, and then we subsequently looked up previously published coded data on the presence or absence of extended family households. We decided not to code both variables (incompatibility of activity requirements and extended family households) ourselves because we did not want our hypothesis to influence our judgments. The sample investigated was chosen by randomly sampling 60 cultures from the overlap between the HRAF Collection of Ethnography and the Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock 1967). Even though we were only able to code 23 of the sample societies, the statistical test of the relationship between incompatibility of activity requirements and extended family households was statistically significant. The p value was .003, which meant that the result was likely to occur by chance just 3 out of 1000 times. We were able to predict 11 out of 13 of the societies with extended family households and 8 of the 10 of the societies with independent family households.

Why should a probably true relationship have any exceptions? If a theory or hypothesis is really correct, one would presume that all the cases fit. There are many reasons that one cannot ever expect a perfect result. First, even if a theory is correct about a major cause of what one is attempting to explain, there may still be other causes that have not been investigated. Exceptions to the predicted relationship might also occur because of what has been called “cultural lag.” Cultural lag occurs when change in one aspect of culture takes time to produce change in another aspect. A sample society might be an exception to the predicted relationship, but it might fit the theory if the variables could be measured for a later time period. Measurement inaccuracy is another source of exceptions, because measurement error is usually random error and random error usually weakens statistical relationships. For example, if some cases in a straight-line relationship are inaccurately measured (either too high or too low) on even just one variable, those cases will not be located on the line of the relationship.

In addition to its statistical significance, a cross-cultural relationship should also be evaluated with regard to its strength, or the degree to which the dependent variable is predicted statistically. After all, the goal in research is to find strong predictors, not just statistically significant ones.

If confidence in an explanation is required, a single cross-cultural test is not enough. Replications by other researchers using other samples, tests against alternative explanations, and tests using other research strategies are also needed. This may seem tiresome, but good research always gives a cherished theory many chances to fail.

More Advanced Reading

For more advanced treatments of these topics, the reader is urged to peruse the articles in “Cross-Cultural and Comparative Research: Theory and Method. Special issue,” 1991. Behavior Science Research 25:1-270; and Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember, Cross-Cultural Research Methods , 2nd eidtion.  AltaMira Press, 2009.

Barry, Herbert III, and Alice Schlegel. 1980. Cross-Cultural Samples and Codes. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Divale, William T. 1974. “Migration, External Warfare, and Matrilocal Residence.” Behavior Science Research 9:75-133.

Ember, Carol R. 2007.  Using the HRAF Collection of Ethnography in Conjunction With the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample and the Ethnographic Atlas .  Cross-Cultural Research 41:  396-427.

Ember, Carol R. with the assistance of Hugh Page, Jr., Timothy O’Leary, and M. Marlene Martin. 1992. Computerized Concordance of Cross-cultural Samples. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.

Ember, Carol R. and Melvin Ember. 2009. Cross-Cultural Research Methods, 2nd edition. AltaMira Press.

Ember, Carol R., Marc Howard Ross, Michael Burton, and Candice Bradley. 1991. “Problems of Measurement in Cross-Cultural Research Using Secondary Data.” Behavior Science Research 25:187-216.

Ember, Melvin. 1974. “Warfare, Sex Ratio, and Polygyny.” Ethnology 13:197-206. Reprinted with afterthoughts in Marriage, Family, and Kinship: Comparative Studies of Social Organization. Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember. 1983. New Haven: HRAF Press, pp. 109-124.

Ember, Melvin, and Carol R. Ember. 1971. “The Conditions Favoring Matrilocal Versus Patrilocal Residence.” American Anthropologist 73:571-94. Reprinted with afterthoughts in Marriage, Family, and Kinship: Comparative Studies of Social Organization. Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember. 1983. New Haven: HRAF Press, pp. 151-198.

Lagace, Robert O. 1979. The HRAF Probability Sample: Retrospect and Prospect. Behavior Science Research, 14:211-229.

Linton, Ralph. 1936. The Study of Man. New York: Appleton-Century.

Lippert, Julius. 1931. The Evolution of Culture. George P. Murdock, trans. and ed. New York: Macmillan.

Murdock, George P. 1949. Social Structure. New York: Macmillan.

Murdock, George P. 1962-1971. Ethnographic Atlas, Installments I-XXVII, Ethnology 1-10.

Murdock, George P. 1967. Ethnographic Atlas: A Summary. University of Pittsburgh Press. Also Ethnology 6:109-236.

Murdock, George P. 1981. Atlas of World Cultures. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Murdock, George P. 1983. Outline of World Cultures, 6th ed. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.

Murdock, George P., Clellan S. Ford, Alfred E. Hudson, Raymond Kennedy, Leo W. Simmons, John W. M. Whiting. 6th revised edition with modifications 2008. Outline of Cultural Materials. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.

Murdock, George P., and Douglas R. White. 1969. “Standard Cross-Cultural Sample.” Ethnology 8:329-369.

Naroll, Raoul. 1967. “The Proposed HRAF Probability Sample.” Behavior Science Notes 2:70-80.

Naroll, Raoul, Gary Michik, and Frada Naroll. 1976. Worldwide Theory Testing. New Haven: Human Relations Area Files.

Otterbein, Keith F. 1969. “Basic Steps in Conducting a Cross-Cultural Study.” Behavior Science Notes 4:221-236.

Pasternak, Burton, Carol R. Ember, and Melvin Ember. 1976. On the Conditions Favoring Extended Family Households. Journal of Anthropological Research 32: 109-23. Reprinted with afterthoughts in Marriage, Family, and Kinship: Comparative Studies of Social Organization. Melvin Ember and Carol R. Ember, 1983. New Haven: HRAF Press, pp. 109-124.

Whiting, John W. M. (1954) “The Cross-Cultural Method.” In Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 1. Gardner Lindzey, ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, pp. 523-31. Reprinted in Readings in Cross-Cultural Methodology. Frank W. Moore, ed. New Haven: HRAF Press, pp. 287-300.

Whyte, Martin K. 1978a. “Cross-Cultural Studies of Women and the Male Bias Problem.” Behavior Science Research 13:65-80.

Whyte, Martin K. 1978b. The Status of Women in Pre-industrial Societies. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Printable Version

A printable PDF version of A Basic Guide to Cross-Cultural Research can be found here .

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Assessing efl (english as foreign language) education for sustainable development: exploring the cultural teaching literature.

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Wu, S.; Shafait, Z. Assessing EFL (English as Foreign Language) Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring the Cultural Teaching Literature. Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. Educ. 2024 , 14 , 2282-2299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe14080152

Wu S, Shafait Z. Assessing EFL (English as Foreign Language) Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring the Cultural Teaching Literature. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education . 2024; 14(8):2282-2299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe14080152

Wu, Shujie, and Zahid Shafait. 2024. "Assessing EFL (English as Foreign Language) Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring the Cultural Teaching Literature" European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education 14, no. 8: 2282-2299. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe14080152

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612 Culture Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

If you are writing a culture essay, topics are easy to find. However, their abundance can quickly become overwhelming – so we prepared this handy list of culture title ideas, along with writing tips and examples.

🤫 Culture Essays: Topics and Writing Tips

🏆 best culture topic ideas & essay examples, 👍 good essay topics about culture, 🎓 simple & easy culture title ideas, 📌 cultural topics and writing prompts, 🥇 most interesting culture topics to write about, ❓ research questions about culture.

Describing culture is a challenging task. You have probably stumbled across the concept if you study sociology, media, or a variety of other subjects. There are many cultural differences across the Earth. Each nation, community, and subgroup of people have its own values, vocabulary, and customs. In the 21st century, we can document and share them thanks to cross-cultural communication.

Since there is an almost infinite number of things to consider about this broad topic, our team has collected 582 topics about culture. Check them out on this page!

Culture essays present excellent opportunities for conducting extensive research. They allow students to analyze acute global problems and investigate the topic of diversity, customs, and traditions, as well as the significance of individuals’ cultural backgrounds. You can choose one of the many topics for your culture essay. You can find culture essay ideas online or ask your professor.

We suggest the following culture essay topics and titles:

• The significance of cultural identity in an individual
• Culture as a political instrument in the modern world
• The differences between the Eastern and the Western culture
• The role of culture in people from mixed origins
• The impact of religious views on culture
• Cultural diversity in the workplace
• Are there similarities among different cultures?
• The link between culture and gender roles

After selecting culture essay questions for discussion, you can start working on your paper. Here are some secrets of the powerful paper on the topic:

• Conduct preliminary research on the selected issue. Remember that you should find as much relevant information as possible while presenting a multifaceted perspective on the issue. Ask your professor about the sources you can use and stick to the instructions. Avoid using personal blogs or Wikipedia as the primary sources of information. Do not make a statement if you cannot support it with evidence.
• If you are writing a paper about a particular culture, think about whether you can talk to someone coming from this background. Such an approach can help you to include all the relevant information in your paper and avoid possible crucial mistakes.
• Remember that a well-organized culture essay outline is key for your paper. Think of the main points you want to discuss and decide how you structure your paper. Remember that each topic or subtopic should be stated in a separate paragraph, if possible.
• If it is necessary, check out essay examples online to see how you can organize the information. In addition, this step can help you to evaluate the relevance of the issue you want to discuss. Remember to include an introductory and concluding paragraph in which you will state the main points and findings of your paper.
• Avoid discriminating against some cultures in your essay. Remember that even if you do not understand the causes of some behaviors or norms, you should not criticize them in your paper. Instead, help the reader to understand them better and provide insight into important differences between cultures.
• Be accepting and try to be as accurate as possible. Support your claims with evidence from your preliminary research.
• If relevant, include graphs and charts to represent significant information. For example, you can visualize the presence of diversity in the workplace in different countries.
• Remember that the reader should understand the goal and idea of your paper clearly. Define all terms and avoid using overly complex sentences. Be concise but provide enough relevant information on the topic.
• Make sure that you use correct grammar and sentence structures in your essay. Even an excellent essay can look bad with grammatical mistakes. Grammar-free papers allow the reader to see that your opinion is credible. Check the essay several times before sending it to your instructor.

Do not forget to find a free sample in our collection that will help you get the best ideas for your writing!

• How Does Media Influence Culture and Society? The media has been instrumental in trying to explain to the people the meaning of culture and in the end enabling them to have a cultural identity.
• The Advantages of Living in a Multicultural City Living in a multicultural city provides one with multiple benefits such as having opportunities to learn about other cultures, developing a better understanding of different cultures, and having more chances to improve one’s personality.
• How Do Celebrities Influence Society? Celebrity Culture Positive Effects Introduction Negative Effects Positive Effects Conclusion Student Name Professor Name Course Date
• Is Culture Essential? The Role of Culture in Human Life Culture is an integral part of human life, and its significance may be observed from several perspectives: as a powerful means for people to adapt to the environment they have to live in, as a […]
• There Is No Place for Traditional Values in Modern Society Essay The value of culture in society is rapidly fading away as people continue to adjust to the patterns of modernisation. Modernisation, on the other hand, is the process of adopting new trends of life in […]
• Impact of Culture on Communication Reflective Essay And also the differential consideration by the society to men and women, the approach of people in the lower strata of the society towards the social difference and the attitude of people to avoid uncertainty […]
• What Is Popular Culture? Definition and Analysis Therefore, Storey observes that the incorporation of the true meaning of the word culture as a way of life and culture should be in the form of ‘signifying practices’ named above.
• Raymond Williams’ “Culture Is Ordinary” Williams discusses the Marxist’s ideas on the interpretation and discussion of the culture and disagrees with some of the raised views.
• The Origin of Organizational Culture The rapid changes in the organization reduce the confidence of managers in meeting the future needs of the business. Participation or the presence of the human personnel in an organization is a source of uncertainty […]
• Culture in Human Behavior Essay The act of changing a culture can only be minimal because of the complexities of the study complexity Culture, serving as a categorical idea of people, is a school of thought that has anthropologists all […]
• Relationship Between Language and Culture Essay The purpose of the essay is to clearly highlight the issue of intercultural communication with reference to language. Language is the first element that helps an individual to distinguish the cultural orientations of individuals.
• James Rachels’ The Challenge of Cultural Relativism Essay The article “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism” by Rachels explores the issue of ethics. According to Rachels, cultural relativism fails to support the existence of universal moral standards.
• Festivals and Their Importance for Modern Culture Thematic festivals are trendy and vital for today’s culture: different music festivals, art and design festivals, and even sex festivals. Modern-day festivals are widespread around the Earth, and they often combine the elements of local […]
• Food Habits and Culture: Factors Influence The food habits of a group of people/community can be described as the reasons for eating, the methods used while eating, the types of food eaten, and the mode of storage.
• Birthing Traditions and Practices Among Russian-Speaking Cultural Group Many things about Russia, its people, and its traditions remain a mystery for the average American, as a history of geopolitical and military confrontation, as well as the distance between the two countries, cause many […]
• 6 Barriers of Intercultural Communication Essay Cross cultural or intercultural communication is a part of the interaction of different people from different backgrounds and heritages. In this way, prejudice is inevitable blockage of cross-cultural communication as it is a source to […]
• Heritage Tourism and Cultural Tourism In the preservation of the sites for tourism purposes, it is clear that what is termed as the “culture of today” becomes the heritage of the future. There is a need to unveil the complexity […]
• Attend a Cultural Event: Different Ethnic Communities’ Identities The warm and incredible welcome of the Turkish citizens adds spice to this event and helps the visitors to be more enthusiastic throughout the festival.
• Zara: Corporate Structure and Culture In Luthans, due to the large size and diversity of the organization, Zara has departmentalized itself in terms of the services and products it offers in the market.
• Filipino Food Essay However, because of the Spanish and American influence, meat, especially pork and chicken, are also served. So, Philippines is a country of festivals and a diversity of traditional dishes and beverages.
• Importance of Cultural Diversity Campaigns such as the Black Lives Matter may be attributed to lack of inclusion and appreciation of different cultures. For instance, the discussion of inclusivity in the 1970s focused on primary and secondary dimensions of […]
• Japan vs. Germany: Cultural Differences The first aspect of the matter is people’s activity in Japan and Germany within businesses as determined by culture and their habits and preferences in terms of distinguishing their work time and families.
• Indian Custom and Culture Community For example, there were various activities used to illustrate this marking, and these would include invitation and welcoming of the bridegroom, exchange of flower garlands, presentation of the would-be wife, the ceremony of the sacred […]
• Cultural Competence: Indian Culture and Healthcare They also believed that, the disease was heredity and that if one member of the family suffered from one of the diseases, chances that somebody from the same family would contract the disease are high.
• Culture and Development in Nigeria The following are some of the organizations that are concerned with cultural developments in Nigeria:- The African development bank is involved in major activities in the water sector and in sanitation projects across Nigeria.
• Culture and Anarchy by Mathew Arnold This is due to the lack of awareness to the new culture. The entire book of Arnold takes culture as collection of everything what is the best and perfect in the world.
• Reasons for Not Appreciating Different Cultural Point of View One of the reasons why people may not appreciate the cultural point of view of others is because of the differences in cultural values.
• The Influence of Ramayana on the Indian Culture If one considers the image provided in the work with the work itself, one notices the detailed depiction of the life and activities of the protagonist.
• Nok Culture’s Main Characteristic Features One of the most significant pieces of art is the Nok art, a testament of the Nok culture. Discovery of the sculptures in 1943 indicate the use of iron, the practice of smelting for tools […]
• The Luo Culture of Kenya The Luo people are the indigenous people of Kenya living around lake Victoria, which lies in the western part of the country.
• Social Cultural Impacts of Tourism The tourist-host relationship and thus the social cultural impact of tourism is affected by the differences between tourists and hosts, the type of contact between tourists and hosts, the importance of tourism in a community, […]
• Pakistan: Culture and History Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a large culturally diverse country located at the crossroads of the strategically significant expanses of South Asia, Central Asia and Western Asia, and borders Afghanistan and Iran […]
• Campinha-Bacote’s Model of Cultural Competence It is valid to specify that the original title of the model is the Process of Cultural Competence in the Delivery of Healthcare Services.
• The Nature of People and Culture The first key point is the understanding that culture is the framework of life and influences the aspects of life for every individual.
• Pashtun Culture: Cultural Presentation This presentation will overview one of such groups – the Pashtun culture and the challenges a nurse may face working with its representatives.
• Egypt’s History, Culture, Religion, and Economy Over the next three millennia, Egypt would see the rise and fall of several civilizations, including the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, and the New Kingdom.
• The Jarawa People and Their Culture One of the most interesting areas of study not only to the anthropologists but also to the modern and contemporary human race is culture.
• UAE and Culture UAE’s society is multicultural. UAE culture has been defined by the Islamic religion as it is the most dominant in the region.
• Cancel Culture: The Adverse Impacts Only recently, Gen Z created the term cancel culture to refer to the modern form of public shaming. Topic Sentence: The increased awareness of cancel culture has promoted sudden judgments and simplified complex problems.
• The Kikuyu Community: Religion and Culture The community speaks the Kikuyu language. Kenya’s Kikuyu people are the most popular and largest ethnic group.
• Culture in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams” Ibo culture is shown through the world look of the Western society that is why the aspect of behavioral brutality was […]
• Diverse Contexts and Intercultural Communication at Work As the world moves to the global environment, the modern workplace becomes more and more diverse. When individuals are educated about intercultural differences are more likely to alter their communication styles to suit the needs […]
• The Literature of the Renaissance Period The main features of the Renaissance culture which also determine the elements of the Renaissance literature are the philosophy of humanism, the secular character of the art pieces, and the orientation on the antique patterns.
• Concept of Globalisation and Cultural Diversity The Concept of Globalisation Globalisation can be defined as the minimisation of the differences between people of the world and the maximisation of their similarities through interactions, cooperation and communication.
• Power and Culture: Relationship and Effects The relational determination in a particular society is a product of the role and function of power in a designated society.
• Food Culture and Obesity The marketers pass a message to the consumers that they need to eat the fast foods to experience the goodness and the refreshing memory that cannot be found in any other food.
• The United States of America’s Culture These are however just general views on what the American culture really is, the next section of this paper will go to the specifics, and zero in into the following factors that determine the true […]
• McDonald’s Cultural Issues in India Some of the issues which are discussed include Mcdonald’s historical background, the cultural and ethical issues at the organization’s operations, and the social responsibility issues in different regions where the organization has operations.
• Subjectivism and Cultural Relativism: Objections and Differences The key difference is that relativism relates the human experience to the influence of culture, while subjectivism states that right and wrong is a matter of personal opinion.
• Four Types of Corporate Management Culture After studying such aspects of the work of large organizations as the relationship between employees, the subordination system in the company, and employees’ attitudes and views on the development of the MNCs, Trompenaars states that […]
• Muriel’s Wedding as a Representation of Australian Culture The cultural identity of an individual is formed through the perceptions and traditions of the whole country. Muriel admires the typical glamorous girls and wants to be part of the community and bear a group […]
• Celebrity Culture Is Harmful to Society In this paper, it is argued that celebrity culture is harmful to society because of its effects on childhood development and the glorification of wrong behaviors based on its tendency to nurture bad role models.
• Globalization and Food Culture Essay The interviewee gave the examples of France, America, and China in her description of how food can affect the culture of a place and vice versa.
• Cultural Influences on Students Academic Performance Indeed as the definition is rightly put, practicing our culture is akin to cultivating our lives, with the help of tools and symbols that the society has bestowed on us. Others are of the opinion […]
• Cultural Norms: Fair and Lovely and Advertising Is the advertising of Fair & Lovely demeaning to women or is it portraying a product not too similar to cosmetics in general?
• Wal-Mart Company’s Cross Cultural Communication This system of operation has resulted in one of the labor activists called Wang Shishu led demonstrations in order to convince the management not to cut the pay of the employees.
• The Mughal Empire: Culture and Heritage The combination of the regions’ economic independence, the tensions between Hindus and Muslims, and the penetration of the subcontinent by the European economic powers led to the decline of the Mughal Empire.
• Convergence vs. Divergence of Culture and Literature – Examples The notion of culture emerged for the first time in the course of the 18th century. It was used to identify the culture of the people.
• Chinese Traditional Festivals and Culture Of all the Chinese festivals, the Spring Festival has the greatest value to the Chinese people with its value equated to the value of the Westerners attachment to Christmas.
• The Bhagavad Gita: The Role of Religion in Relation to the Hindu Culture From this point, it is important to focus on the Bhagavad Gita and its role for the Hindu culture in the context of the role of religion in the Hindu society because the scripture contains […]
• Celebrity Culture and Its Influence on Society Before discussing the way Angelina Jolie and other celebrities affect modern society, it is necessary to identify the origins of the celebrity culture.
• Tolerance and Respect for Cultural Differences The author concludes the essay in the third section by revisiting the thesis statement and highlighting the various approaches used to develop attitudes that promote respect and tolerance.
• Cross-Cultural Environment Negotiations: Japan and America Based on this understanding, this paper shows that understanding the need for neutrality, cultural sensitivity, and flexibility is the key to having a positive outcome in a cross-cultural business negotiation. To have a proper understanding […]
• Coca-Cola Company’s Cross-Cultural Management The company also possesses a vision, which is a guiding factor to the units of the business, which is achieved by laying out whatever they need to achieve in order to sustain their progress and […]
• USA And Nigeria: Hofstede’s Six Cultural Dimensions Comparison Considering the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, the U.S.and Nigeria are similar in terms of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long- term orientation, the half of all the suggested factors by Baack.
• Cross-Cultural Management Major Theories The study of different languages helps one in comprehending what people have in common and also assist in comprehending the diversity that underlies languages, methods of creating and organizing knowledge and the several different realities […]
• The Importance of Organizational Culture Essay Organizational culture and change is most valuable to an aspiring manager because it they form the basis of organizational success. It is imperative for managers to introduce change in the organization to encourage innovation and […]
• Religion and Cultural Belonging: “The Flea Palace” by Elif Shafak The old and the new, the Christianity and Islam, the East and the West are shown closely interconnected for example in the description of the two ancient cemeteries in Istanbul and in the development of […]
• Existential Therapy and Multicultural Perspective Paying attention to the entire idea of existential therapy, the exploring meaning and values of the issue will be considered referencing to the authenticity of the ideas, priorities, and values.
• Intercultural Communication Essay: Differences in Cultural, Religious, and Ethnic Backgrounds Identity management theories are also a form of intercultural communication theory developed to explain the cross-cultural aspect of communication where intercultural communication under this theory is seen to originate from the intercultural and intracultural types […]
• Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication Styles Across Ethnic and Cultural Backgrounds In the essay, I discuss verbal and non-verbal communication styles across ethnic and cultural background, communication styles that a counselor may come across when dealing with culturally diverse clients and how a therapist can succeed […]
• Comparison of US and Germany Cultural Differences Power distance is the degree to which power is shared evenly in a community as well as the extent in which the community recognize and accepts this variation in power distribution among itself; this is […]
• Cultural Diversity in the UAE: Social and Economic Development This view is in line with Rabah’s emphasis on the importance of respecting cultural diversity in the process of nation-building because the concept is useful in solving conflicts and developing solutions that are beneficial to […]
• African Cultural Traditions and Communication Unfortunately, there are a lot of countries with the shortest life expectancy rates and the low quality of life in Africa.
• Cancel Culture: A Persuasive Speech Cancel culture is a phenomenon of modern society that has arisen thanks to the development of social media. However, in this situation, it is difficult to determine who sets the boundaries of the morally correct […]
• Servant Leadership in Indian Culture and Hindu Religion The basis of this approach is the reorientation of the values of the leader, who considers the empowerment of followers as a means and goal of his activity.
• Culture and Health Correlation People’s culture influences the type of food they purchase and the way they prepare it, which is a vital determinant of health.
• Exploring the Human Culture In order to achieve this, one should engross himself/herself in a given culture, reside with the inhabitants, participate and learn their way of living in the best way possible. This creates a desire in every […]
• Ramen Culture as a Vital Part of the Traditions in Japan Studying the history of the transformation of ramen culture and the role it plays in modern Japanese popular culture helps to explore the uniqueness of the phenomenon and understand the origins of its immense popularity.
• Japanese Animations’ Effects on the Japanese Economy and Their Cultural Influence on Foreign Countries These artists incorporate the characteristic anime stylizations, gags and methodology in their piece of work to produce animations that are a bit similar to Japanese anime. The growing interest among foreign artists in anime is […]
• Cultural Comparison: The United States of America and Japan First of all, it is important to note that both the United States of America and Japan have notable similarities as far as their cultures are concerned.
• Three Stages of Cultural Development The main goal of this paper is to describe my personal experience along the lines of the stages of cultural development.
• The Culture Industry According to Adorno and Horkheimer, the culture industry refers to the collection of all the aspects of technology in the modern society that brings change in the lifestyles of many.
• Apple’s Cross-Cultural Problems in China In the case of Apple, the main issues have to do with employee management issues mostly associated with working conditions and compliance to Chinese labor laws.
• IKEA Company’s Organizational Culture Thus, every worker is a carrier of the propagated IKEA culture, which in turn forms the basis for the success of the organization as a whole.
• The Effect of Globalization on a World Culture The net result is a global culture; the effect and extent that global culture has gone in the world varied among nations and continents; developed countries have their culture more diffused and uniformity can be […]
• Cultural Differences Between Turkey and USA Spanish, Polish and Greek languages are also part of the oral communication of the people in America. The use of suffixes in Turkish language is very important and we can feel the grammatical functions of […]
• Philippines Dressing Culture and Customs The country borders South China Sea to the North and West, the Sulu Sea and Celebs Sea to the southwest, and the Philippines Sea to the east.
• Comparison of the Australian and Indonesian Culture On the other hand, Indonesia is one of the countries with the largest population in the world and it has over two hundred ethnic groups who use different languages. Marriage is also important in the […]
• The Impact of the Internet in Culture and Daily Habits The growth of the internet has greatly improved our culture and society today with services it offers in the enrichment of our lives at work and at home.
• Theory of Culture Care Diversity and Universality Madeleine Leininger was a famous American nursing theorists, whose main contribution was the creation of the theory of culture care diversity and universality in 1991.
• Culture of Simping and Why One Should Stay Away From It Society seems to be heavily affected by the culture of simping due to the popularity of the term ‘simp’ and the inability of teenage individuals to draw the line between a joke and offensive behavior.
• Ethnicity Essay: Cultural Background in the Daily Lives of Children and Young People The idea of a child according to Montgomery and Kellett refers to a representation of a whole category of young people that are identified by their age and intellectual development and also their social maturity […]
• Hofstede’s Cultural Model in Negotiations It is important to include terms and conditions of the relationship as a measure of reducing conflicts where third parties are involved.
• Culture and Public Administration Relationship in Canada Organizations in Canada can be characterized as ones who base their development on the principles not of the strong hierarchy and centralization, but on the possibilities for the communication and interaction on all the levels […]
• Managing Cultural Diversity in the Hospitality Industry This is common due to confusion and the inability to interact with others in the society. This refers to the level of integration in the society.
• Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective by Brettell & Sargent Islam accorded equal opportunities to both men and women in the society when it realized the important roles that women play in the society.
• Culture and Communication: Egypt Egypt is the origin of the earliest civilizations and has taken an important position in the Middle East as the connection between the Arab and Europe regions.
• Hofstede and Trompenaars Theories of Culture Diversity When a hospitality company is operating in such a community, the management should ensure they deploy expatriates and people of high moral standings to facilitate good business.
• Cultural Pride and Cultural Baggage One of the articles that was written by Kincaid gives her experiences in England which portrays her cultural baggage as she finds it quite hard to fit in this society and to adopt a similar […]
• Political and Cultural Impact of Alexander the Great’s Conquests Due to many territories that he conquered, the dominion that Alexander the Great had was regarded as one of the greatest in the history of the world.
• Celebrations in School Culture A school culture that is student-focused can be formed by encouraging teachers to pay much attention to efficient testing and curriculum that can facilitate the making of decisions in a school.
• Cultural Analysis – China and the Us In a bid to survive in such a market, it is crucial for the American investors to conduct a broad analysis of the cultural differences between China and the United States.
• Cultural Identity in “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith Exploring the thematic significance of the novels title “White Teeth” it would be instrumental to argue that the title touches on the aspects of cultural identity.
• The Influence of the Cultural Current “Modernism” on the Conception of Music in the 20th Century Modernism movement provoked composers changed their music from any possible perspective, and one of the most frequent was the change of music language and the necessity “to turn a composition into a ‘text’ constructed of […]
• Youth Culture and Globalization The focus is also on the relations that exist between the youth and the society, as well as the factors that shape youths identity in terms of culture.
• Arab Culture and Teenagers With this approach, the parents have managed to mould their teenagers into the right path that is to stick to their culture.
• How to Avoid Ethnocentrism – Essay on Promoting Cultural Relativism In an effort to understand ethnocentrism which is defined as, the tendency to believe that one’s cultural beliefs and their culture’s ethnic values to be superior to others.
• The Fashion of the Hippie Culture Studying the fashion of the hippie culture is important because it illustrates the changes that society had undergone in the 1960s not only with regards to the style of clothing that people wore but also […]
• Communication Culture: Hall’s High and Low-Context Model of Culture The differences in the modes and styles of communication are due to diverse cultures of the people from different countries. The aim of this report is to evaluate the concept of different communication cultures through […]
• Cultural, Political, Economic and Legal Aspects of Doing Business in France The economy of this country is very strong, considered as the second largest in Europe, and fifth largest in the world.
• Cultural Differences in International Business This paper is going to discuss how it is important for international companies to relate and adapt to the cultures of the countries that they seek to set up a business.
• Cultural Identity and Heritage in the “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker In the broad context, Walker designs the story to underscore the conflict that African Americans faced concerning their cultural identity and heritage after the abolition of slavery.
• Anglo-American Culture and Healthcare Standards English had easy acceptance in the US. English is the top or leading ethnic group in both contributing to and gains from the US.
• Culture and Agriculture: Nature and Significance Understanding Seeing that agriculture shapes the society and defines the course of its further development, promoting the ideas of environmentalism and sustainability, it will be reasonable to assume that agriculture belongs to the domain of cultures.
• Importance of Cross-Cultural Management in International Business As earlier pointed out, a vital requirement for success in an international business setup is the ability of managers to comprehend and appreciate other cultures across the world.
• Social Cultural Causes of Crime There is need to highlight the social cultural factors of crime and describe the necessary positive measures to prevent the occurrences of crime.
• The Zulu Nation’s History and Culture The Zulu people live on the continent of Africa, in the southern part of it, which is known as KwaZulu-Natal. In this family, the husband stands for the chief, and institution of marriage is hallowed.
• Jamaican Family Cultural Practices The history of the Jamaicans in the United States began in 1619 when some blacks from Jamaica, as well as from the Caribbean islands migrated to the United States.
• Dubai’s Food, Dress Code and Culture Religion is an important in aspect in Dubai because it influences the lifestyle of the people and forms the foundation of their culture.
• Five Cultural Dimensions for Understanding the Values For instance, looking at Japan from the Hofstede five dimensional models will give the most significant drivers in the culture of the country in comparison to other countries across the world.
• Local Museums and Their Cultural Heritage Perhaps, lack of this information is to hide the miseries of the past and assist the Asian-Americans to concentrate in the positive part of history.
• The Role of Chinese Hats in Chinese Culture The culture could involve the way of life, the type of food, or even the type of clothes that the residents of the particular nation wear.
• Amazon Corporate Culture Issues Term Paper Problem Scenario: Amazon’s employees report about multiple cases of workplace disregard, the lack of benefits and praise as well as unfair ranking system that creates the need to analyze the corporate culture of the organization […]
• History: Cultural Exchanges in the Medieval Period Based on an appreciation of the contribution of international trade to the growth and development of the medieval world, this paper explores the role of spice, salt, sugar, and silk as important trade commodities of […]
• Saudi Arabian Culture In this view, observation of Islamic beliefs, norms, values, and traditions enables people to understand the Saudi Arabian culture and adopt it.
• The Beautiful Country of Kazakhstan: Kazakh Culture The report on the culture must broaden the audience’s ideas about the country and explain some of the most respected traditions every Kazakh follows.
• Cultural Prostitution: Okinawa, Japan, and Hawaii In the 19th century, Okinawa ceases to be the subject of the Satsuma clan and acquires the status of a Japanese prefecture as a part of the program of imperial expansion.
• Culture, Subculture, and Their Differences The different activities that people across the world engage in lead to the existence of different. When people develop negative impressions of the activities that their society undertakes they are said to be in a […]
• Porsche’s Strategy, Structure, and Culture The change of the legal form of the company allowed other people who were not members of the Porsche family to become members of the Executive Board of the company.
• The Overall Effects of Cultural Diversity in the Hospitality Industry The report focuses on analyzing the overall effects of cultural diversity in the hospitality industry. The nature of the industry’s workplaces and the way they deal with the issues concerning management of cultural diversity.
• Racial and Cultural Identity Development Model At the stage of dissonance, a person is in a conflict between group-appreciating and depreciating within the attitude toward self as well as in a conflict between the emotions of shared experiences and group-depreciating views […]
• ABC Manufacturing Company’s Organisational Structure and Culture So, the owner has vast knowledge in this sector, which helps him to contribute the company for future development; Resources: Now, the company has two brand new large and modern CNC centres with all essential […]
• Tesco and Global Supermarket Chain in Hungary: Cultural Issues According to Radosevic and Yoruk, the authors of an article titled ‘International expansion and buyer-driven commodity chain: the case of Tesco,’ Tesco bought a 57% of supermarket chain in 1994, which included 41 stores in […]
• Cultural Aspects in Different Societies For example, in some cultures, funerals represent a time of feasting and making merry whereas in majority of cultures funerals represent a time of grief and mourning. Their different cultures enable them to tolerate the […]
• Italian Culture There is no post of the vice president in Italy and in the event that the president dies, elections will have to be held.
• What Role Does Food Play in Cultural Identity? From the point of view of cultural studies, such a model of nutrition speaks more about the absence of global roots, the absence of deep moral guidelines, and not about the convenience of the process.
• Cultural Competence: Jamaican Heritage Self-reflection as a way to improve one’s cultural competence Jamaican cultural ancestry Addressing social norms, cultural beliefs, behaviors, and the impact on health care Self-reflection has been regarded as an effective way to self-develop […]
• Consumerism Culture: Challenges and Solutions In order to avoid further spread of consumerism and its influence on popular culture, the government should introduce change to the education of children and their parents.
• History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki The author also ties the multicultural history of people comprising American diversity with a thorough analysis of the place they are at the time of writing his book.
• A Discussion of Key Challenges Faced by MNCs in Developing a Cohesive & Inclusive Culture The second challenge faced by MNCs as they attempt to create a cohesive and inclusive culture is that they are forced to localize their operations and become embedded in the market of the host country, […]
• Toyota’s Culture and Leadership Strategy Toyota’s Leadership and Culture Irrespective of numerous difficulties, the company is still one of the leaders of the industry. To understand the essence of the lean leadership, it is crucial to consider some peculiarities of […]
• A Comparison Between Swedish and Australian Culture Impact of Culture on Life Experience and Belief System The interviewee explained that having been born in Sweden, where Lutheran is the main church, he followed the teachings of the Lutheran church.
• Hip-Hop and the Japanese Culture The prevalence of soul dancing in Japan in the earlier years also formed the basis for the wide acceptance of the hip-hop culture into the Japanese culture because soul dancing was common in the streets […]
• Multicultural Education Benefits: Functioning in a Pluralistic and Egalitarian Society Students are thus required to acquire knowledge and skills necessary to function effectively in a pluralistic and egalitarian society. The teacher is thus able to enhance socialization and transmission of culture while providing academic skills […]
• Adorno and Horkheimer ‘The Culture Industry’ Review The underlying principle of this theory was to encourage the liberation of the user from the oppression of the manufacturers by inducing the user, to subject attitudes and beliefs to questioning.
• Food Preferences and Nutrition Culture I gave my mother the recipe and nowadays, each time I visit her, she makes me a bowl of chicken noodle soup.
• The Egyptians and the Hindu Cultural Rites Comparison In this study, the researcher will compare and contrast the cultural rites of passage among the Egyptians and that of the Hindu.
• Social and Cultural Aspects of Pre-Colonial Africa in Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart The novel emphasize on the encounters of the pre-colonial Africa and the effect of British colonialism during the 19th century. Gender disparity is clear in this village and the crimes are identified with gender where […]
• Principles of Effective Cross-Cultural Communication Essay Most disagreements in businesses can be attributed to lack of skills in intercultural communication, which is more common when the sender and the recipient are of different cultures.
• The Renaissance and Its Cultural, Political and Economic Influence Renaissance which is also referred as the rebirth is the period that started in the 14th century and ended up in the 17th century.
• Gang Culture in the USA: Symbols, Norms, Values The term culture refers to the norms and social behavior of a given community or group of people. Having the objects makes them feel brave and ready to act in the interest of the group […]
• Society, Culture, and Civilization Thus, culture is a flexible feature of non-animal communities that penetrates their subsistence and helps to adjust to the surroundings. The last concept, civilization, is the consequence of the constant changes of the first two […]
• Socialization for the Transmission of Culture Cultural transmission is one of the basic constituents of recreating cultures and passing values from one person or group to others.
• Umm Al-Nar: Geoarchaeology and Cultural Heritage This report aims at revealing the essentials of the Umm al-Nar site along with its significance in the framework of cultural heritage and tourism to understand the role of this geoarchaeological complex in nowadays national […]
• The Role of Ethnocentrism in Intercultural Communication The only way to control ethnocentrism is to avoid biases as we find better ways to understand other people’s point of view.
• Multicultural Communication and Its Origin The level of education can be an ultimatum arising in society when healthcare services are administered to patients leading to the dissatisfaction of both patients and the doctors.
• American Culture and Indian Culture Comparison Children in India are raised mostly in patriarchal joint family systems, and the head of the family is usually the senior most male, in most cases the grand parents of the child.
• Culture Comparison Between China and Japan In Japan, it can be proved by the fact that the name Japan is written in the Chinese Kanji and not the Japanese Katakana or Hiragana.
• Haiti History and Culture The Haitian culture features the Spanish, American as well as the French music. The salad is provided as a supplement in Haitian meals.
• Cultural Identity Theory: “How to Be Chinese” by Celeste Ng
• Leading a Culture of Excellence in Healthcare Industry
• Qantas Airways: Cross Culture and Safety Management
• eBay in Japan, Its Strategic and Cultural Missteps
• Cultural Hybridization: The Beliefs, Language, and Social Habits
• Managing Cultural Diversity: A Case Analysis of Hilton Hotels Corporation
• Influence of Political, Social, and Cultural Issues
• Handy and Schein Models in Organizational Culture
• Race Matters, Cancel Culture, and “Boys Go to Jupiter”
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• Disney and Its Impact on Popular Culture and Society
• Organizational Culture & Leadership: Whirlpool Corporation
• American Culture Pros & Cons
• Chinese New Year Foods: Chinese Culture and Traditions
• Masturbation: Societal Views and Cultural Attitudes
• Culture and Health Beliefs in Korea
• Cross-Cultural Management and HRM in Walmart
• Geography, Peoples and Culture Areas of Oceania
• Adolf Hitler’s Cultural Theories in “Mein Kampf”
• Enron Company’s Organisational Culture Problem
• Cultural Identity: Problems, Coping, and Outcomes
• Sustaining a Culture in Multinational Corporations
• The Effects of Diverse Culture of IKEA in UAE to Impact of Cultural Diversity on IKEA
• Clothing and Culture
• Tribal Tattoos: Cultural Appropriation and Appreciation
• Ancient Greek Culture, Philosophy and Science
• Visual Culture Understanding in Modern Society
• The History of the Hippie Cultural Movement
• Columbia Under Hofstede’s Cultural Analysis
• Cultural Assimilation: Benefits and Challenges
• Porsche Brand’s Cultural Biography
• Xaniths as a Transgender in Omani Culture
• Ways in Which an Organization’s Culture is Transmitted to its Members
• Deaf in America: Voices From a Culture by Carol A. Padden, Tom L. Humphries
• The “Brave” Intercultural Film Analysis
• Culture, Identity, Diversity in the Sikh Tradition
• The Erosion of Cultural Differences and Globalised Consumer Culture
• Heritage and Cultural Tourism
• Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, Hip-Hop Revolution: The Culture and Politics of Rap
• Culture Identity: Asian Culture
• Art, Literature, and Culture: Heritage of the XX Century
• Cross-Cultural Sleeping Arrangements in Children
• Indigenous Australian Culture, History, Importance
• Western Culture Impacts on the UAE Local Lifestyle
• How Cultural Beliefs, Values, Norms and Practices Influence Communication
• The Influence of Heavy Metal on Japanese Culture
• Subculture Theories: Response to the Dominant Culture
• Teaching Cultural Identities: A Lesson Plan
• Multicultural Roman Empire History
• Brazil Food Culture and Dietary Patterns
• Spanglish: Mother, Daughter and American Culture Terms
• Technology as a Form of Material Culture
• Cultural Belief System: Experiences and Traditions
• Cultural Diversity in Women and Sport Participation
• Discussion: Cultural Roots and Routes
• Cultural Traditions: Arranged vs. Autonomous Marriage
• Henry Jenkins’ Theory of Convergence Culture
• Race and Ethnicity in Three Pop Culture Artifacts
• Cultural Products in Strategic Plan Development
• Social and Cultural Influences in Nursing Practice
• Selling in China: Culture-Related Concepts
• Marriott Hotel’s Promotion of Intercultural Synergy
• British and Brazilian People: Cultural Differences
• Popular Culture and Art Definition, Brief History and New Opportunities
• Bahrain Fashion: Culture and Antiquities
• The UAE Cultural Analysis: Adherence to Traditions, Cultural Beliefs, and Values
• Cultural Diffusion: Factors and Effects
• The Marriage Traditions of Wolof Culture
• Hamlet’s Renaissance Culture Conflict
• Pokémon Go as a Pop Culture Phenomenon
• The Importance of Understanding National Culture
• Socio-Cultural Approach of Humanity Examination
• “Family Supper” by Ishiguro: Eastern and Western Family Attitudes Cultural Differences
• Paisà (1946) by Roberto Rossellini: Style, Theme, and Cultural Value
• The Effect of Global Technology on Intercultural Communication
• Cultural Studies: What is Folklore?
• African-American Cultural Group and the Provision of Services to African Americans
• Hookup Culture
• GLOBE Initiative: How Cross-Cultural Management Has Affected Airbus?
• How Chinese Culture Influences Foreign Businesses
• How Geography Has Impacted the Development of Ancient Cultures
• Roman & Greek Mythology in Pop Culture: Examples, Referenses, & Allusions
• Cultural Event: Worship Service in World Changers Ministries
• Cultural Significance of Flynn Rider in “Tangled” by Greno
• Bombas Firm’s Organizational Structure and Culture
• Cultural Role of Crepes in France
• Japanese Kimono: A Part of Cultural Heritage
• Cultural Diversity and Cultural Integration in Western Societies
• Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Organizational Culture
• Fashion Changes in Society and Culture
• The Effects of Modern Popular Culture on Personal Beliefs and Values
• Cultural Bias in Counseling Practices
• Cross Cultural Management and International Business
• Cross-cultural Comparison Between the US and Japan
• Tourism & Cultural Change: A Critical Analysis
• Cultural Factors and Their Influence on Individuals
• Cultural Revolution and Education in China During the 1960s-1970s
• Singapore Geography and Culture
• Nacirema Culture
• Cultural Tools in the Education Process
• Organization’s Culture and Values in Nursing
• Expanding Chinese Cultural Knowledge in Health Beliefs
• The Parthenon and the Pantheon in Their Cultural Context
• Culturally Sensitive Care For Jehovah’s Witnesses
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) Cultural Analysis
• Korean Culture: History and Principles
• Impact of Religion and Culture on Development
• British Colonialism and Its Impact on Indian Culture
• Linguistic Repertoire: Language Identity and Culture
• School Climate and Student Culture
• Islamic Culture and Civilization
• The Cultural-Individual Dialectic and Social Nature of Intercultural Relationships
• Impacts of Culture on Consumer Behaviour
• The Role of Culture in Gospel Communication
• Global Business Cultural Analysis: Japan
• Irish Culture in Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia
• Body Ritual Among the Nacirema: Cultural Study
• Non-Material and Material Culture
• Indian Culture, Food, Temples, and Clothing
• Impact of Globalization on the Maasai Peoples` Culture
• African American Family Cultural Background
• Heritage Tourism vs. Cultural Tourism Definition
• Communication Challenges in Intercultural Interactions
• Culture Influence on Intimacy and Human Relationships
• The Role of Person Appearance in Western Culture
• Compare and Contrast the Political Culture of Australia and Saudi Arabia
• Hall Stuart: Questions of Cultural Identity
• Effects of Culture on People’s Learning Styles
• Dance Analysis: Social and Cultural Context
• Traditional and Non-Traditional Culture
• Culturally Informed Psychological Assessment
• Indian Culture and Its Distinctive Qualities
• The Western Cultural Narratives
• The Cross-cultural Construct of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems
• The Preservation of Our Cultural Heritage: Music for Entertainment and Communication
• Family and Culture: Major Problems Facing Families Around the World
• Assumptions, Experiences, and Lessons Learned in Cross-Cultural Communication
• Cultural Family Assessment in “Under the Same Moon” Film
• “Christ and Culture” the Book by H. Richard Niebuhr
• Indian vs. American Cultural Heritage and Traditions
• UK-Singapore Cultural Differences at Work
• Food and Culture Links
• Vanilla: History, Culture and Production
• Food Culture in Mexican Cuisine
• Cultural Differences and Ethics of International Trading
• Cultural Diversity in Society: Reforms to the Way a Society Is Conducted
• Authenticity in Cultural Tourism Sites: A Critical Discussion
• Identity, Language, and Culture
• Cross-Cultural Marketing and Cultural Differences in Markets
• Beauty and Culture
• Greek Culture and Traditions
• Disney Culture in China and United States
• Juno and Political, Social, and Cultural Ideology
• Cultural Change: Mechanisms and Examples
• Kazakhstani Culture Through Hofstede’s Theory
• The Depiction of Cultural Conformity and Moral Values in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery”
• Material and Nonmaterial Culture of Middle East
• History of Pop Music in the World: Cultural and Social Changes
• Cultural Anthropology. Nandi Warriors and Their Impact on East Africa
• “Understanding Media and Culture” by Jack Lule
• Football Impact on England’s Culture
• Language and Culture Interaction in English Language Teaching
• The Problem of Expatriate Management in Multinationals – Adaptation to Foreign Culture
• Threats of Globalization on Culture of Individual Countries
• How Does Culture Affect the Self Identity Personal Essay
• The Cultural Safety Concept: Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle
• Working Cross-Culturally: Forget “Business as Usual”
• Cultural Appropriation: Christina Aguilera in Braids
• The Spread of European Culture
• IKEA’s and Home Depot’s Cross-Cultural Management
• A Sociology of Food and Nutrition: Unity of Traditions and Culture
• Deaf Culture and Sign Language: Social Equality in Society
• Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: Structuralism and Post-Structuralism
• Culture of the Dominican Republic
• Struggle to Retain Culture: McDonaldization in China
• The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Ancient Egyptian Culture
• Japanese Popular Culture: Anime, Video Games, and the Film Industry
• Building High Performance Culture: Zappos
• Multicultural Education: Action Plan for Professional Development of the School’s Staff
• Effects of the Language Barrier on Intercultural Communication
• St. John the Compassionate Company: Organizational Culture
• Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions: Internationalization and Globalization
• Organizational Culture of Google Incorporation
• An Academic Critique of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory
• Fundamentals of Intercultural Communication
• Folk Music: A Tool for Culture Transmission
• Comparison Between Uruguay and Argentina in Term of Economy, Culture, and Sustainable Development
• Primary Mode of Subsistence in the Zulu Culture
• Angels and Insects: The Issue of Incest in the Pop-Culture
• Human Interaction and Cultural Exchange in the Sixteenth Century
• Coping With Cultural Shock and Adaptation to a New Culture
• Spain’s Geography and Culture
• Cultural Influences on Personality
• History of Children’s Literature in Western Culture
• “Food Colombusing” and Cultural Appropriation
• Emerson’s, Whitman’s and Thoreau’s Cultural Impact
• A Scarf as a Cultural Metaphor
• LGBTQ Co-Culture: The Key Aspects
• Feminism: Reflection of Cultural Feminism
• French Culture, Values, and Language
• Meaning of Culture and Its Importance
• Microsoft’s Culture Under Nadella and Ballmer
• African Music Culture Overview
• Google Inc. Employees’ Intercultural Competencies
• Japanese Society: Factors Affecting the Cultural Development
• Cultural Diversity in Correctional Facilities
• Cultural Background: Personal Journey
• Visit to France: Cultural Experiences Description
• Managing Organisations: Cultural Web Analysis
• Broadcast Culture Development: Participatory Culture
• The Culture of the Nacirema Society
• Cultural Assimilation in the “Spanglish” Movie
• The Culture of Volunteering in Saudi Arabia
• Cross Cultural Management Strategies: Brazil vs. America
• Cross-Cultural Management in Multinational Corporations
• Cultural Issues in China: Transformation in Social and Cultural Lifestyles
• Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India: The Key Cultural Management Issues
• Cross-Cultural Communication Between the French and German Communities in Switzerland
• The Concepts of Culture
• Understanding the Significance of Diwali as a Representation of Indian Culture
• Honour Killings in the Yemeni Culture
• African Folktales as a Reflection of Culture
• Portuguese Language and Cultural Facts
• Japanese and American Cross-Cultural Management
• Kitsch in the Popular Culture of the 20th Century
• Multicultural Competency in Nursing: Alan’s Case Study
• Cultural Effects on Health Care Choices
• Western Pop Culture and Street Fashion of Japanese Youth
• Matthew Arnold’s and Raymond Williams’ Ideas About Culture
• Anthropology. Nature Versus Culture Debate
• Venezuela Analysis: Economic, Political, Financial and Cultural Perspective
• Interrogating Cultural Hybridities in Jamaican Dancehall
• Cultural Identity: the Position in Society
• Competitiveness and Intercultural Conflict in Qatar
• Disneyland Hong Kong Company: Cultural Adaptation
• The Impact of Fashion Marketing on Culture
• Cross-Cultural Differences Between the US and Pakistan
• Ethical, Legal and Multicultural Challenges in a Crisis
• Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Consumer vs. Organizational Buying and Culture
• Hmong Culture Aspects
• Views of Benjamin Franklin on Indian Culture
• Cultural Context of the Play “Poker” by Zora Hurston
• Orange PLC’s Organizational Culture and Structure
• Cycling Culture in France
• Cultural Sensitivity and Language Use
• Cultural Linguistic Autobiography: An Experience of a Second Language
• The Practice of Counseling in the US and Indian Culture
• Culturally Responsive Teaching of Students With Disabilities
• Ideologies and Popular Culture: A Popular Television Commercial
• Mi’kmaq in Culture and Religion
• Cultural Conformity: A Person’s Behavior and the Standard Determined by a Culture
• Digital Art and Cultural Value That Underpins Art Worlds
• What Is the Relationship Between the Social Definition of Deviance and the Media’s Role in the Dissemination of Popular Culture?
• The White House as a Cultural Symbol in US
• The “Friends” TV Show as a Cultural Artifact
• Colombia’s and the US’ Cultural Dimensions
• Sports Cards, Their History and Culture
• The History of Guqin in Chinese Culture
• Sushi: History, Origin and the Cultural Landscape
• Popular Culture and Social Change Across Cultures
• Scott Joplin vs. Louis Armstrong: Integration of African American Culture
• Multicultural Diversity Conceptual Study
• Comparison of 20th and 21st-Century Dress and Culture
• Similarities and Differences Found in Each Country’s Cultural
• Appropriations, Prejudices and Cultural Cruise Control: Overview
• Distinct Lower Class Culture: An Impediment to Success
• The Influence of American Popular Culture on the Heroes of “The Bluest Eye”
• Diversity of Jamaican Culture
• Cultural Traditions. Quinceanera vs. Sweet 16
• Korean Popular Culture: Attractiveness and Popularity
• Cultural Conquest in “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
• “High” and “Low” Culture in Design
• Ugandan Culture, Traditions, Holidays
• Stephen Hawking: Visionary and Cross-Cultural Leadership
• Belarus: Geography, History, Economics and Culture
• Mobile Culture: Texting Effects on Teenagers
• Conformity: Western Culture vs. Islamic Culture
• Music and Its Effects on Culture
• Cultural Diversity and Cultural Universals Relations: Anthropological Perspective
• Can Culture Be a Hurdle to Conflict Resolution?
• Culture and Employee Management
• Personal Development Plans: Teamwork and Culture Shock
• Cross-Culture Project Cooperation
• Effects of Technology on Culture
• Indian Culture: Dances of Rajasthan
• Taiwan and the U.S. Cultural Elements
• Disneyland’s Cultural Dimension: USA v. France
• Punjabi: the Culture
• Cultural Traditions and Practices in the Novel the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Western Culture in the Early 21st Century
• Intercultural Awareness and Multicultural Society in a Global Village
• Language and Culture: The Honorifics (Speech or System) of Japanese and Korean
• Cultural Pollution:Traditions and Historical Concepts
• The Impact of Cultural and Religious Tourism on Communities
• Culture Jamming
• Multicultural Psychology as a Subspecialty of Psychology
• The Yanomami Culture and Survival
• Developing Cultural Competence & Life Roles
• Cultural Influences on Big Five Personality Traits
• Cross-Cultural Effectiveness of Ministry Engagement with the Elderly
• Vulnerability and Resilience as Cultural Factors That Affect Health
• Cultural Views on Heroic Qualities
• The Importance of Intercultural Communication
• Culture Lag and Conflict Theory of Change
• “Step Up” Movie Series as Culture Media Piece
• Cultural Diversity in International Organizations
• Cultural Anthropology, Gender and Kinship
• Saudi Arabia and the Rise of the Cultural Economy
• Entertainment Types in Western Culture
• Protection of Cultural Property in Cyprus
• Noble Cause Corruption – A Crime-Fighting Sub-Culture
• Cultural Differences Among Families in the “Hotel Rwanda” Film
• Utility of Cord Blood Culture in Early Onset Neonatal Sepsis
• Xerox: Organizational Culture and Change
• Mental Health in Asian Culture
• Socio-Cultural Issues and Health Assessment in Nursing
• Implications of Korean Culture on Health
• Cultural Factors in Health Promotion Strategies
• Comprehensive Health Assessment Based on Developmental and Cultural Factors
• The Blackfoot Indians Culture and Historical Heritage
• About Counseling Cross-Culturally
• Language & Cultural Impact on Sports Reporting
• Culture and History: Gender Roles Over the Past 50 or So Years
• Traditional Korean Music and Culture
• John Donne’s Poetry Relate to the Culture
• The Possibility of Modernizing Indian Culture
• The Cultural Differences Between Europe and United States
• Impact of Culture on Gender Identity: How Differences in Genders Are Evident in the Behavior
• Intercultural Communication Led by UNESCO
• Exploration of Popular Culture in 18th Century England
• Ecuador: A Country Study, Culture, People and History
• Cultural Diversity & Communication in the Workplace
• Food, Eating Behavior, and Culture in Chinese Society
• Culture in the Medical Field
• Worship and Changes in Culture and Technology
• Diverse Culture in the “Ongka’s Big Moka” Film
• Sioux Culture in the “Dances with Wolves” Film
• Chinese Restaurant: Cultural and Aesthetic Perspectives
• Printing Culture and the Chinese Society
• Themes and Culture in Li Bai’s Poetry
• Cargo Cults, Acculturation, Fat Acceptance Culture
• The News Media Role in the Culture of Fear
• Cultural Diversity: Diversification and Integration
• Cultural Intelligence by Christopher and Elaine Mosakowski
• Mass Society and Popular Culture Theories
• International Intercultural Management: Saudi Arabia and Spain
• Relations Between Homosexuality and Indian Culture
• Human Emotions Psychology: Rooting in Biology or Culture
• The Educational Organization’s Culture
• Characteristics of Organizational Culture
• Organizational Culture of Walmart
• Cultural Differences: Individualism vs. Collectivism
• Cultural Convergence: The Interactions Between Different Cultures
• Advertising Across Different Countries and Cultural Contexts
• Kinship Organization of Yanomamo Culture
• International Movements and Cultural Barriers
• Intercultural Communication and Success at Work
• Hofstede’s Cultural Classification Framework and International Business
• Cultural Diversity Management in the Workplace
• The Cultural Life of Canadians: A Uniform Culture in Canada
• All Forms of Culture are of Equal Value
• Cultural Diversity in Hotel Industry
• Japanese Anime and Doujin Culture
• Arab Music and Cinema Development: Western Culture Impact
• The Business and Cultural Practices of Japan
• Socio-Cultural Approach to Psychology
• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: The Cultural Significance of the Novella
• Ways to Improve Intercultural Communication
• Cultural Myth of Education as a Pathway to Success in America
• Culture Clash as a Great Conflict
• Fashion as an Integral Aspect of Modern Culture: Identity Importance
• Ways Through Which Space Is Defined by Cultural Ornamentation
• The Concept of Cultural Relativism in Nursing
• Taylor Swift’s Depiction in Genre, Culture, and Society
• Issues in Contemporary Media and Culture
• African Art and Cultural Heritage
• Market Culture Report on Singapore and Hong Kong
• The Analysis of Christmas as a Cultural Context of Consumption
• El Huracan over Language and Culture by Gonzalez
• Punjabi Culture and Threat to Survival
• Culture Values Expression through Humanities
• The Importance of Culture in Nursing
• Beowulf Character in Historical and Cultural Contexts
• Challenges of Adapting to Another Culture
• Arab American Culture and Events
• Mexican vs. American Cultural Differences in Business
• Poi Dance as Cultural Performance
• Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism Differences
• A Maslenitsa Festival as a Cultural Event
• Cultural Artifacts and the Importance of Humanities
• The Nile Delta: Impact on History and Culture
• Cultural Competence and Cultural Humility
• International Joint Ventures and Cultural Pitfalls
• Intercultural Communication: Self-Awareness’ Importance
• Culture of Organizations. Twitter and LinkedIn
• Personal Worldview and Intercultural Communications
• Construction and Culture: The Forestiere Underground Gardens in California
• Impact of Culture on the Health of Individuals and Communities
• Present and Past Understanding of Home: Social Mores and Culture
• Researching of the Culture of Japan
• Christianity Social and Historical Impact on Western Culture
• Integrity in Organizational Culture and Ethical Theories
• Gulf’s Indian Ocean Connections and Cultural Exchanges
• Sagging Pants’ Culture in the U.S. and The Romanticization of Criminals
• Material Culture: Chinese Red Envelope (Angpao)
• Intercultural Communication: Paul Haggis’ “Crash”
• The Igbo Culture: Use of Proverbs, Folktales and Song
• Organizational Culture and Physical Structure
• How Hutterites of Montana Maintain Their Culture and Effect It Has on State
• Popular Culture in America Today: Evolution, Features, and Impact in Other Parts of the World
• Marriott International: Analyzing Culture
• Cross-Cultural Promotion. Hazelton International
• TV Culture: The Oprah Winfrey Show
• Popular Culture Resistance: Causes and Goals
• Cultural Competency Quiz: Personal Reflection
• Culture and Values in Social System
• Cultural Hybridity in Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street”
• Food, Customers, and Culture in the Grocery Store
• Asian Community’s Cultural Values and Attitudes
• W.L. Gore Company’s Culture of Innovation
• Multicultural Diversity and Performance in the Classroom
• Why Does Popular Culture Affect Us?
• Why Does Culture Have a Prominent Position in I’m Research and Practice?
• Why Culture Alone Cannot Explain Morality, and Why It Matters?
• Who Was Right About Popular Culture?
• When Does Culture Generate Local Development?
• When Age and Culture Interact in an Easy and Yet Cognitively Demanding Task?
• What Do Virtual Culture and the Information Revolution Mean?
• What Would the Society Be Like Without Culture?
• What Role Does Culture Play in Influencing Human Health?
• How Has Globalization Affected Culture?
• What Role Does Culture Play in the Definition of Mental Illness?
• What Role Does Culture Play in the Development of an Effective Leader?
• What Was the Difference Between High and Popular Culture in the Eighteenth Century?
• Whether Immigrants Should Adopt the Local Culture?
• Which Society and Culture Have the Greatest Impact on the World Past and Today, Chinese or Western?
• Why Does Culture Attract and Resists Economic Analysis?
• Why Do Eastern Culture Religions Appeal to the Western Culture?
• Why Whites Embrace Black Culture, History, and Other?
• Which Social Processes Are More Important in Shaping Individual Identity: Social Structures or Culture and Socialisation?
• Where, When, and How African Culture Became a Part of the Culture of the Americas?
• What May Culture Contribute to Urban Sustainability?
• How Does Culture Affects How Students Interact?
• How Has the Internet Changed World Culture?
• How Does Culture Shapes the Economy?
• How Harry Potter Changed the World?
• How Radio, Advertising, Automobiles, and Movies Affected the Consumer Culture of the 1920S?
• What Does History and Culture of a Civilization Shape?
• What Does the Word Culture Mean?
• What Do Epics Say About a Particular Culture?
• Why Was Florence Considered Important for Culture and Arts?
• Civilization Topics
• Literacy Essay Ideas
• Music Topics
• Literacy Development Titles
• Cultural Psychology Ideas
• Equality Topics
• Cultural Relativism Questions
• Language Arts Research Topics
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IvyPanda . "612 Culture Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 21, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/culture-essay-examples/.