An Index of Cultures

Culture is a broad umbrella phrase that encompasses all the existing social practices and norms prevailing in human societies, the beliefs, values, knowledge, arts, behaviors, laws, traditions, skills, and customs of the people in these various groups. Culture can be conscious or unconscious, depending on the type of society involved, and the prevailing circumstances. Some examples of cultures are indigenous, global, ethnic, national, or traditional. The universal cultural patterns that are found through most of the human civilizations could also be grouped into several sub-categories, such as modernity, modernization, and globalization.

The Index of Cultural Differences was introduced by Emile Zola during the UCLA School of Medicine in 1950. Zola found that there were many indexes for measuring cultural differences. These include percentages of variance or deviation from the accepted norm, genetic relatedness, cultural similarities, linguistic ability, perceived authority, and mobility. The index measures the deviation from accepted norms while taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of cultural diversity.

Over the years, different areas of anthropology have researched into the various aspects of culture, including anthropology of America, ancient Near East, ancient China, ancient India, ancient Rome, the Middle East, southern Africa, and south-asia. The present-day American culture has undergone profound changes over the past century, with many changes in the types of individuals who constitute the nation and the degree to which they have individual freedom of choice. In recent years, even more specific topics related to cultural diversity have been researched including the influence of genes on cultural variation, the nature of ethnicity, the nature of gender distinctions, and the place of religion in society.