I am always faced with the sad reality that very few people have the
vaguest idea of what culture is. Virtually no one to talk to about the
subject.
My father was an anthropologist in his later years and one of my daughters is. I didn't learn what culture was until I was 33 years old on a trip around the world. It was 17 years after my first visit to another culture and 17 years during which I traveled extensively.
The following is a question based on understanding cultural difference: 'Why do the Chinese find gambling so important?'
The photo on the right shows San Francisco Chinatown residents boarding a bus to an Indian gambling casino. There are dozens of such buses every day, always free, often to Reno and Lake Tahoe resorts.
Commerce knows it should provide free buses, commerce does not need to know why Chinese gamble.
Do you have an answer to the question? I don't because I'm not Chinese. There are very few third generation Chinese-Americans who go on these free bus trips. The cultural structure doesn't survive assimilation.
Check the first comment below for a fascinating explanation.