Final answer:
Culture is formed by the shared values, beliefs, and practices of a society, transmitted from generation to generation and continuously evolving. It involves both explicit education and implicit learning, with society influencing what is accepted or rejected. Individuals and groups have the power to question and change these cultural norms, indicating that culture is dynamic and never static.
Step-by-step explanation:
How Is Culture Formed?
Culture is an intricate web of values, beliefs, norms, language, practices, and artifacts that define a society. It is a learned system of meaning and behavior that encompasses how people think, express themselves, and the impact of culture on lifestyles. The process of cultural formation occurs through both explicit teaching and implicit learning; it involves everything from formal education to the subtle, often unnoticed, absorption of behavioral norms.
Culture is preserved through the transmission from one generation to the next but also changes via innovation, discovery, and cultural diffusion. The society in which one lives influences acceptance or rejection of certain ideas and establishes the unwritten rules that govern actions and thoughts. Nevertheless, individuals and groups maintain the ability to question, adhere to, or transform these cultural norms, thus contributing to the dynamic nature of culture itself.
Culture is not merely a collection of practices and rules, but also consists of the ways of thinking that underpin everyday actions. This provides a framework for understanding one's own cultural lens and emphasizes the balance between societal structures and individual agency in the continuous shaping of culture. Through this lens, culture is understood as an abstract, not a material, entity, one that is created by societies and thus can be reformed by them.