The Culture of the Family

Culture can be defined as the customs, social institutions, and behaviors of a particular nation or people. Culture is an important part of many people's identity, and it can often permeate our lives and our behaviors in ways that we do not notice or observe ourselves. The culture that we grow up in becomes a part of how we behave, and it is something that we typically carry with us for our entire lives.

So, in other words, culture is a big part of what makes us... us!

Of course, culture will also impact our families. A family is fundamentally a dynamic group of people, and if culture impacts the individuals, then they will bring this culture with them into their family.

In some cases, this can be a good thing. The culture of our families can be an uplifting building block of their organization, and it can create a sense of connection between different families. While each family is governed in a different way, they can draw on that same cultural similarity and find familiar elements.

I mentioned that a family is a dynamic group of people, and we could go a step further and apply this same logic to society. Our society is composed of dynamic groups of families. So, while families are influenced by the culture around them, they are also the foundation of that culture. It is these family behaviors that shape and influence the culture. 

So we can see that the relationship between the family and culture is reciprocal. The culture around us influences us in powerful ways, but where did this culture come from to begin with? It came from us and our families. The behaviors that became normal formed the basis for our cultural precedence. 

We internalize some of these practices (often without knowing it), but we also retain our agency to choose what practices we invite into our homes.

Of course, that would be the optimal way to do it.

That leads to a point that I think is very important to keep in mind. We should be the final arbiters of what we choose to bring into our lives, and our homes. When we grow up, we do not always have the ability to control what influences us, but we should be conscious of the kind of family that we want to create for our future family, and how we want to interact with them. Even when you begin to start dating, you should think about what kind of culture you grew up in, and what possible conflicts might come from this.

We all have different ideas of how a family should behave; this is normal! We just need to be aware of this fact, that we are all coming from different places. You can begin to think about what elements of your family culture you want to take into your future relationships, and what you want to leave behind.

Some of the things that we grow up may seem normal to us, but they could be on the more harmful or destructive side. It is not always our fault, but certain practices that we grow up with could be things that do not contribute to the best family environment. 

Thus, we can see that the way that we choose to build our families has a very real and profound impact on not only our lives, but the lives of people around us. This even extends to the culture and society around us. Since culture is comprised of the family virtues that we choose to perpetuate, we have a very real opportunity and responsibility to build our families in a way that benefits society.   

We should start thinking now about how we want to affect the people around us, and how we want to live.