What Are The Seven Elements Of Culture?

Culture is widely thought to be made up of 7 individual factors or elements, which are:

1. Social organization
2. Customs/Traditions
3. Religion
4. Government
5. Language
6. Arts/Literature
7. Economy

Here's how I think each of these elements affects culture:

The seven elements of culture:

• Social organization- Is the way a culture divides society into smaller individual groups.

People are ranked according to what is important to that specific culture.

For example, in a culture where food is highly-revered because of its scarcity, someone who has a lot of food would be highly-regarded socially.

Other social divisions include money, job, education, heritage, caste, ethnicity.

Culture's social organization  also defines what is considered a 'normal' family unit, and governs how people interact with each other.

• Customs- Are the written and unwritten rules of society. They can refer to a culture's laws, but also its moral and ethical expectations.

• Religion- Unites people under a common belief system and values. Religion is the most important aspect of many people's lives, and is a major bonding factor within communities.

• Government- Offers protection and order, and defines power and responsibility within a culture.

• Language- can act to join people of the same culture, but can also distinguish people of different sub-groups within a common culture. Communication is vital to the spread of culture, so you can see how having the same language is important in cultural terms.

• Arts- Art and literature is one of the most powerful ways of spreading cultural knowledge and beliefs.

• Economy- A culture's economy regulates what it needs to survive in terms of resources.