Awareness Trainings - Draft #1

Culture as a Human Resource
Social Capital - (Bourdieu / Putnam): social institutions, values, customs, interactions, and
relationships that construct a « social unit ». It is believed that a society can only prosper through
sustainable social cohesion: in other words, our social ties form a vital element of the fabric of our
communities and peoples.
Intangible Capital - in economics, the term is used to describe the intangible assets and values
that are the key drivers of economic growth and competition. The concept also represents the
intellectual capital and the collective knowledge of an organization such as a society or a company.
« Cultural Capital » - (Bourdieu): a person's education (knowledge and intellectual skills. .
Embodied Cultural Capital - a knowledge that is consciously acquired and the passively
inherited, by socialization to culture and traditions. Unlike property, cultural capital is not
transmissible, but is acquired over time, and becomes a person's habitus (character and
way of thinking), which, in turn, becomes more receptive to similar cultural influences.
Cultures Today
Globalization: process of international integration which occurs as a result of transnational and
transcultural integration of human and non-human activities through interchange and exchange of
worldviews, people, products, ideas and cultures. It is facilitated through a greater access to
information, sophisticated means of communication and transportation, increased trade,
transaction, migration, and the increased movement of people and capital. The worldwide
movement towards the integration of economic, trade, financial and communication activities has
enabled greater interconnectedness and interdependence.
Global Village (McLuhan): the term suggests that through the development of technology the
world has become more like one village. The almost instant movement of information across the
globe has brought together different political and social actors and consequently raised the human
awareness and therefore responsibility to events occurring across the globe. McLuhan viewed the
internet as an extension of consciousness, as news events are spread instantly. The term « global
village » reflects the effects that increased interconnectedness and global sociological structures
have within the context of culture and identity.
Global Culture or the « One-World Culture »: the phenomenon that the inhabitants of the world
will eventually lose their distinctive identities and cultures, leaving behind one global culture. In
other words, people around the world will subscribe to the same values, traditions, and customs.
The socioeconomic evidence underpinning this thesis is the worldwide consumption of the same
goods and services together with the exponential use of Information and Communication
Technologies. The biological argument standing behind this idea is the cumulative cultural
adaptation of human beings, the characteristics which allowed human kind to evolve and produce
technologies suitable to different environments.