What is Culture?

Culture is not an easy thing to describe or explain.  In simple terms culture is the beliefs, customs, art, language, and more of a certain group of people in and at a specific time and place.  Culture is "sociological and ethnological," it can be a mix of different influences (Gaudium et Spes 53).

So if this is culture, then what is the Catholic culture? And what is the duty as a Catholic when it comes to the other cultures that make us up? Can we be more than just Catholic in our identity? The document Gaudium et Spes explores our duties and obligations. The Church is able to be "[f]aithful to her own tradition and at the same time conscious of her universal mission, [so] she can enter into communion with the various civilizations, to their enrichment and the enrichment of the Church herself (Gaudium et Spes 58). It is through our embrace of culture that "[m]an comes to a true and full humanity" (Gaudium et Spes 53). But all of us have different ways of growing up and being taught. Is it okay to have these different cultures? Gaudium et Spes says:

 "Different styles of life and multiple scales of values arise from the diverse manner of using things, of laboring, of expressing oneself, of practicing religion, of forming customs, of establishing laws and juridic institutions, of cultivating the sciences, the arts and beauty" (Gaudium et Spes 53).

So different cultures are bound to arise. But with so many different cultures, how are we to live in harmony and how is the "expansion of a new culture to be fostered without losing a living fidelity to the heritage of tradition" (Gaudium et Spes 56)? Communication and respect for each and every culture is what we are to do. We have to keep asking questions, learning about other cultures, and opening ourselves up to the world.

Along with that learning of different cultures comes the continuation in learning about a higher power. There is a danger in that "confiding too much in the discoveries of today, [we] may think that [we are] sufficient unto [ourselves] and no longer seek the higher things" (Gaudium et Spes 57). It is our duty to learn not just these different cultures of life, but also the culture of the divine and the new world.

Pop Culture

I have always had an interest in pop culture and the media.  Pop culture is focused around the perspectives and ideas coming from art forms, sports, politics, and any other category deemed “popular” by the media.  As a Millennial, I grew up with the fast and vast technological advances.  This allowed pop culture to become easier to disperse across the world and grew to more prominence in the eyes of the mass population.  For most people they write off pop culture as a very low and uneducated form of culture, one that does not have much merit to it.  But as an avid follower of pop culture, I believe that it is an underrated form to communicate globally about issues and morals while also connecting all ethnic, social, and economic cultures.  In a TEDx talk by Alexandre O. Philippe, he expresses why pop culture is important towards changing and viewing our collective culture.  Philippe calls pop culture a “universal language” that connects everyone regardless of their “racial, social, or political divides.”

So why then “must we be so serious about what divides us and trivialize what brings us together?”  Philippe’s question is a valid one.  Why do we not care at all about what we have in common?  Pop culture is a way to bring us together, to unite us.  It is something that we all can have in common and be a part of.  Gaudium et Spes even talks about the importance and influence that pop culture can have.

"Literature and the arts are also, in their own way, of great importance to the life of the Church. They strive to make known the proper nature of man, his problems and his experiences in trying to know and perfect both himself and the world. They have much to do with revealing mans place in history and in the world; with illustrating the miseries and joys, the needs and strengths of man and with foreshadowing a better life for him. Thus they are able to elevate human life, expressed in multifold forms according to various times and regions." (Gaudium et Spes 62).

Pop culture describes and emulates human life.  Sometimes it more fictitious than real, but it stems from real people and relatable concerns and issues.  Pop culture has the ability to improve and ruin the progress of our society.  The rise of reality television in the most recent years has been a large component in this progress.  If you look at the show , 16 and Pregnant, while not highly educational in its script and or plots, has been able to help educate more young people about teen pregnancy.  Teen pregnancy has decrease since the start of the series to a record low in the United States.  At the same time, if we look at a show like The Jersey Shore, there seems to be no moral or take away component from the show.  In fact, for the Catholic Church, it is a show that is deemed morally corrupt with the behavior of the individuals on the show.  Ultimately it just depends.  Pop culture can unite us and teach us moral and important issues in a very quick and simple manor, but if we do nothing with them to expand and deepen their meaning, we are likely to forget the messages and miss the powerful influence of pop culture.

#LikeAGirl: Our View on Women

"You threw that ball like a girl." It is a common phrase that is used everyday. But why do we say this? What does "like a girl" mean? Always, a feminine hygiene product, decided to see if they could find an answer. Always interviewed both boys and girls of all ages asking them to demonstrated how to do various activities "like a girl." Somewhere between childhood and young adulthood our views on girls and what they can do gets warped into a false viewpoint. From this we know that as girls grow up, they are taught that to do something "like a girl" is different to do something like a man.

We have entered a "new age of human history," but we are still have a long way to go before our world is perfect (Gaudium et Spes 54). Women in our culture are still not on an equal level with men. This video is a small representation of how our culture unfairly puts women down. Being "like a girl" is an insult. But as a girl, everything I do is technically as a girl. Me being a female should not mean that my work or actions are somehow inferior. The problem with how girls are viewed is not just a problem occurring in the United States; the treatment and views of women in most countries and cultures is not very respected. If you look at Yemen, women are considered half a witness, meaning their word is only equivalent to being half of a person. If you look at Saudi Arabia, women cannot vote and are not allowed to drive. Women are not respected and treated fairly. To be a girl means to be less than others. This viewpoint needs to change. Women now make up more than 50% of the population. Women are not just caregivers and subservient doers, they are an equal and worthy part of our society. Rachel mentioned how Barbie and other dolls have influenced our views on our bodies in "Barbie Body."  Barbie has been making strides in recent years to be a positive influence in young girls lives and to stress the fact that girl can be whatever they want to be, we just have to "imagine the possibilities."

Our culture is slowly changing. Now women "work in almost all spheres [so it] is fitting that they are able to assume their proper role in accordance with their own nature" (Gaudium et Spes 60). We can see it everyday when we see amazing women being commended for being the "first woman" to do this or that. Regardless of your political views, this election was going to be historic either way for women. If Hillary Clinton had won, she would have been the first women President. But Donald Trump won making his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, the first woman to successful run a presidential campaign. Or if you turn to pop culture, look at Jessie Graff, a stunt woman who is changing the way we look at femininity. Who says girls cannot be feminine and strong? Jessie Graff became the first women to get past the first stage at the Nationals for American Ninja Warrior.

But like I said this is a slow process. The fact that we can count the number of women who have done something speaks volumes. We have to keep fighting for change. We need to keep going and speaking up, especially for those that cannot. In Gaudium et Spes, the Council wrote that "[f]rom day to day, in every group or nation, there is an increase in the number of men and women who are conscious that they themselves are the authors and the artisans of the culture of their community" (Gaudium et Spes 55). We need to remember that. We are the authors of how our world will be. God is there as a watcher and creator, but it is up to us to change the life of culture here on earth. The change in the culture of how we view women and their abilities starts with each one of us.

Is technology killing culture?

In an age, where technology is inescapable, we must ask ourselves where technology brings about the good and where it can lead us astray.

Technology is a broad term. It can mean anything from a smart phone to a medical device to a toaster oven. Technology has allowed us to do things that we were never able to do before: live longer, communicate faster and easier across any distance, and enjoy many small conveniences in our everyday life (like making toast).  All these things seem pretty good, so where can technology lead to not so great things?

While we could get into a whole discussion about the ethics of medical technology (think: embryonic stem cell research, cloning, designer babies), that’s not the point of this post. I want to look at where the development of technology has affected our every day culture. Look at what Gadium et Spes has to say about culture:

Culture, because it flows immediately from the spiritual and social character of man, has constant need of a just liberty in order to develop; it needs also the legitimate possibility of exercising its autonomy according to its own principles. It therefore rightly demands respect and enjoys a certain inviolability within the limits of the common good, as long, of course, as it preserves the rights of the individual and the community, whether particular or universal. (59)

So what does this definition of culture have to do with technology?  I think it is important to look at how the technology we use every day affects the common good, as the common good is necessary for the development of culture. Let's see what has been technology’s affect on the common good – of the community and the individual.

With the rise of personal technology – computers, TVs, smartphones – less people seek the arts for entertainment. I would argue that this is a great loss for culture and the common good.  Gadium et spes agrees:

Literature and the arts are also, in their own way, of great importance… they strive to make known the proper nature of man, his problems and his experiences in trying to perfect both himself and the world. They have much to do with revealing mans place in in history and the world; with illustrating the miseries and joys, the needs and strengths of man and with a foreshadowing of a better life for him. (62)

Understanding the true nature of man is invaluable for culture. So much of culture is founded in literature and the arts. I know that the arts have certainly not disappeared, but many have lost interest, and I think this affects both communities and individual common good. Without a means of understanding what makes us all human, what unites us, there is a danger of becoming extremely divided and caught up in our own individuality.

If “culture is to be subordinated to the integral perfection of the human person, to the good of community and of the whole society” (59), then so should technology.

Sex and Culture

Because of the pill, sex no longer has the same consequences as it once did. Sex outside of marriage is easier and more convenient than ever before. This video talks about the economics of sex and the effects it has had on marriage rates, but what does this mean for our culture?

It means that our culture prizes freedom without consequences. The pill was created so that sex could be separated from its natural consequence, pregnancy. Perhaps, premarital sex is an emblem of personal autonomy. It is liberation from (now antiquated) societal norms, which in the past had limited a person’s sexual freedom. What has this done to society? 

Sex is the bedrock of marriage and the family, and when it has been perverted into something casual and for pleasure then the family suffers. Gadium et Spes calls the family “the primary mother and nurse of this education,” which is the “proper forms of human culture” (61). The family is the foundation of society, and therefore should be protected and preserved.

This perversion of sex not only affects the family, but it also affects the individual. Gaudium et Spes insists upon our responsibility to have “an understanding of the whole human person” (61). Casual sex is an affront to our human dignity. It reduces our personhood to our bodies, and our bodies to objects of use and pleasure. Our culture prizes the personal freedom to do what we want, but we must draw the line when our human dignity is violated. We must ask ourselves, where are we headed? Where will this perversion of sex lead us?

A Culture of Individuality

As Americans, I think we pride ourselves in being unique. We believe we have this unique freedom, the American Dream, to become whoever we want to be.

Over time, however, I think we have lost the American Dream, and it has become something entirely different.

The ideas of a being self-made man have slowly turned into seeking out individuality and personal freedom and autonomy above all else. We have gone from striving towards a better life for ourselves through hard work and perseverance to doing what makes us feel good, prizing the freedom to do what we want above everything else. What does this mean for our culture?

It means that slowly our unity is being stripped away.  With strong individualism, personal freedom and autonomy have come the ideas of relativism and personal truths. No longer are we united by the fact that we are “one nation under God.” Our society has rejected many of these universal truths on which we have built our country. So what can we possibly be united by?

While our society tells us to embrace our individuality and what makes us unique, maybe we have forgotten truly who we are as a human race. We have forgotten the common thread in all of us. It is true, each of us is unrepeatable, but we are also more than just individuals.

Gaudium et Spes addresses the way in which the Church is called to respond to this culture of individuality, and provides an example for all of society to develop culture in this way as well. 

It remains each man’s duty to retain an understanding of the whole human person in which the values of the intellect, will, conscience and fraternity are present. These values are all rooted in God the Creator and have been wonderfully restored and elevated in Christ.

Whether or not you follow the Church, understanding the whole of the human person is intrinsically important in the development of culture. We should move beyond the individual, embracing everything it means to be human. We must seek to grow in knowledge and respect of those around us. Gaudium et Spes again reminds us to “live in very close union with the other men of their time and may they strive to understand perfectly their way of thinking and judging.” (62) In recognizing who we are as humans, this not only unites us, but allows us to further develop our culture in a more unified way.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Individuality is not bad.

Our uniqueness, however, should never divide us. Rather, it should encourage us and lead us to wonder and admiration of the entire human race.