Culture is a form of human identity and includes all phenomena's transmitted through social education in human societies. Culture incorporates various elements of art, cuisine, language together with other tangible and non-tangible aspects. It gives people a structure, guidelines, expectations, and rules to enable them to understand and deduce behavior. Across the world, different groups of people have their cultures based on these aspects (Kalman, (2009) . Therefore, for one to learn a particular culture, one requires lots of efforts and time to understand the core values and the basics. As a result, cultural values are usually influenced by a number of factors such as the existing educational system, wealth distribution as well as the form of ruler ship inexistence. However, a lot of attention has not been directed at understanding how such values are likely to shape peoples attitude.
Culture thus plays an integral role in any given society. One is likely to see how this is depicted from the way it is expressed in peoples traditions, art, as well as music just to name a few. It is even depicted across the world as portrayed in artifacts, people’s way of life as well as attitudes ( Talley , 2017). However, such cultures are likely to form over a long duration of time and known to affect the livelihood of many people. In many societies, this can even shape the roles among the different sexes as seen in the community. People are as well prone to adjust per such norms in spite of them being redefined over time. On the other hand, these cultures also shape how people tend to go about decision making as seen from an instance when a misunderstanding occurs. Many are prone to consider the need to embrace a well-initiated effort geared at facilitating the development of a sound kind of environment to avoid such situations from going out of hand.
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The American Experience
To a great extent, one is likely to come across different nationalities in the American context, especially in colleges at times find it hard to fit into the society owing to the different cultures in existence. This also hinders them from associating with the rest of the students the same way they would while in their local environment. It simply shows that while we might consider some of our cultural aspects as normal, this might not be the case on their side. America, is, however, so diverse with many different races all coexisting in the community (Aguirre, 2003) . While taking a look back at the American history, one is likely to discover how a lot came into being with many settlers coming from across the world while seeking new territories to exploit its resource. At the time, the locals were not considered civilized and thus were also subjected to a harsh reality now that they were forced to engage in a fight with the newcomers. As time went by, in their quest to acquiring a cheap labor, slaves were as well introduced into America with the African now considered less superior were exploited by their masters. Racial segregation also led to the rise of rights movement among the black community while being trampled over. Therefore, these atrocities led to the formation of a substantial amount of civil rights movements, all for the purposes of fighting for equality amongst all Americans (King, 2010) .
One was as well prone to see how they lived in a deplorable kind of situation with many even being subjected to inhumane living condition and subjected to poverty. It didn’t take long before the world awaked into a new error with the major world confrontation such as the World War II taking, place. This also demonstrated how the existing environment had the ability to shape how it was likely to dictate the changes taking place in society. The blacks were as well recruited into the military to fight along with the white and were perhaps a sign of a new horizon taking shape. The American society was as well waking up to a new error when all people irrespective of their race were going to be respected and appreciated for the role they play in society.
Whereas before America gained equal rights hip-hop was used as a tool that fought for civil rights, the present has seen youths using hip-hop to fight for equality ( Linn, 2017 ). It is thus always imperative for people to create an identity, meaning and to identify their community. This could apply pretty well to the groups of teenagers that have today been identified as the MTV generation. In this case, music and television become a significant part in the creation of an identity by young people. Through hip-hop, it is easy to understand some of the experiences that other people have undergone throughout their lifetime. This is still experiences in colleges with some students feeling less privileged while being subjected to humiliation just because they may not come from affluent backgrounds.
Most of the black youths in America, have used hip-hop throughout the years, as a way of creating their identity. It is true that the post-civil rights movements saw a period in which all Americans were looked at as being equal notwithstanding their skin colors, sexual preferences or even their incomes. However, this does not mean that the black community has reached the level where it wanted to reach. Americans are still being exposed to a flawed justice system, murders are taking place on almost a daily basis, and as if this is not enough, there is still inequality in education and healthcare. The situation is made worse when students from poor backgrounds find it hard to join such institutions now that they may not be in a position to afford it. On the other hand, despite finding their way in such institutions, the Blacks is likely to experience racism thus may not love their experience while in school (Brown, 2010) .
However, the process of change is unlikely to take place overnight as thought and could as well be taken through different phases before eventually materializing. This is demonstrated by the fact that, despite having played a great role fighting for the Americans, not only at the front line but as well contributing much to the America economy the Black Americans were still stigmatized owing to racism which has continued to affect the country till today (Barnes, Gartland & Stack, 2004). In an attempt to express their objection to the way the blacks were being treated in the society the Hip-Hop culture was born. This culture has not only been used to fight for civil rights but also as a way of calling for changes in areas that need to be catered for; a perfect example where hip-hop has been used to call for change. Many people have become rap fanatics in the recent past, and so the message is most likely going to reach these people, and call for change.
The culture has had quite a huge following since time immemorial. Among the contributing factors leading to this is how celebrities play a great role in influencing the pop culture. The best example of how pop culture might end up influencing fashion is taking a look at the stylish TV shows like Sex and the City, as well as Dynasty ( Gordon , 2013). During the times when these shows were being aired, it was very easy to notice that almost everyone that was watching them wanted to be seen dressing like the lead and even witnessed among college students. As time goes by, celebrities continue to be given a lot of exposure by the mass media, considering the fact that they are constantly in the public eye, with their looks being studied and copied by their fans. For this reason, a lot of organizations in the fashion industry are trying to create products that are similar to those that are being adorned by celebrities to appeal to the masses. Finally, is the subculture, which has also been defined as the low culture. The subculture is often encompassed by street movements such as graffiti and hip-hop. It is quite obvious that the subculture has got quite a great influence on the fashion trends ( Syed, n.p ).
The visual culture is also one that is significant in the world today. This culture has been mentioned slightly in the pop culture, and it is encompassed in film, television, and photography. It also explains why most college students love the idea of imitating celebrities or looking sexy and can go to extra length while seeking to actualize this ( Linn, 2017) . The world is presently full of images and the contemporary culture keeps on proving just how complex it is. The multimedia then spreads out to a global society where there are people with different tastes and preferences; in as far as fashion is concerned. Conversely, considering the complexity of the visual media, it becomes imperative for certain tools to be incorporated to be able to understand these images and texts. It goes without saying that theoretical insights can go a long way in the creation of literacy; in as far as the media is concerned, hence shaping culture and fashion on a global basis.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a lot has been discussed while illustrating how culture the environment influences a peoples way of life and likely to shape how people perceive life. Most students are however caught up in a dilemma trying to fit into the society but still subjected to a lot of pressure. This can as well have an adverse effect on their school life thus may inhibit them from realizing their dream. It doesn't however negative the role played by culture but meant to highlight a few issues on how this is likely to affect their life while in college.
References
Aguirre, A. (2003). Racial and ethnic diversity in America: A reference handbook . Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Barnes, W., Gartland, M., & Stack, M. (2004). Old habits die hard: path dependency and behavioral lock-in. Journal of Economic Issues , 371-377.
Brown, M. (2010). Lookism: Do you discriminate based on someone' appearance . Retrieved from http://www.newsminer.com/
Gordon , R.A. (2013). In School, Good Looks Help and Good Looks Hurt (But They Mostly Help) . Council on Contemporary Families. Retrieved from https://contemporaryfamilies.org/good-looks-help-report/
Kalman, B. (2009). What is culture . New York: Crabtree Pub. Co.
King Jr, M. L. (2010). Stride toward freedom: The Montgomery story . Beacon Press.
Linn A. (2017) . Another reason to hate high school . CNBC LLC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2013/12/16/appearance-as-a-teenager-can-affect-earnings- later.html
Syed, U. How does lookism affect people . Lookism. Retrieved from https://lookisminfo.weebly.com/how-does-lookism-affect-people.html
Talley H. (2017). The Ugly Side of Lookism and What We Can Do About It . Huffpost. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-laine-talley/the-ugly-side-of- lookism_b_9042114.html
