Yenilsse Munoz

5/9/2025

ENGL 21002

Prof Brandon Borcoman

Experimental

  Culture is Ordinary by Raymon Williams is an essay that deals with the common meanings, values, and practices that people share, as well as the individual experiences and interpretations that shape those shared meanings. Williams emphasizes that culture is both a product of the past and a force of change, constantly developing and shaped by the interaction between individuals and society. He also argues that everyone participates in culture, from the most formal artistic expressions to the most mundane aspects of daily life, emphasizing the importance of understanding how shared meanings are created and challenged within a society. Individuals learn cultural meanings and behaviors, and also test and adapt them in their own lives. This dynamic interplay between tradition and individual agency is what makes culture a vibrant and evolving entity.  In Culture is Ordinary, Raymond Williams argues that culture is not an individual context or a special action, but rather an essential and common component of human life, intertwined with everyday experiences and practices.

First, Raymond specifies that culture is based on the details or acts that we experience at any moment or experience in our lives to build our culture. For example, he states: “Culture is ordinary: That is the first fact. Every human society has its own shape, its own purposes, its own meanings. Every human society expresses these, in institutions, and in arts and learning. The making of a society is the finding of common meanings and directions, and its growth is an active debate and amendment under the pressures of experience, contact, and discovery, writing themselves into the land.” (Williams 2) I think what Raymond Williams is trying to explain here is that culture can be deciphered through the place you surround yourself with and the experiences you live there. In other words, the practices you do or learn in the place you come from determine your culture. Some examples that might highlight some of the things I’ve learned from my culture would be family values ​​and the rich history that has shaped my country, which has been influenced by Spanish colonizers, African slaves, and the Taino indigenous people. Another of them is the typical music and dances of merengue, since thanks to them they have made the country much more popular and famous in cultural aspects. Merengue is considered a symbol of Dominican cultural identity, representing the union of African, European, and indigenous cultures that make up the island.

Secondly, Raymond Williams views culture as a complex and evolving system of construction, emphasizing that culture is not just a set of values ​​or traditions, but also a way of life that shapes behavior, thought, and experience. One example of this is: “If the people in the teashop go on insisting that culture is their trivial differences of behaviour, their trivial variations of speech habit, we cannot stop them, but we can ignore them.They are not that important, to take culture from where it belongs.” (Williams 4) What Raymon Williams wants to tell us with this is that the behavior that a person shows around him counts a lot and helps a lot to define the type of culture in which he resides, which its individuals around him can infer in his person. A person’s behavior can reveal a lot about their culture, showing how it influences their beliefs, values, and practices. Cultural norms can also influence the way a person interacts, views, and makes decisions. Cultures can also influence how people express emotions and relate to others. For example, If you see someone demonstrating a lot of respect and attention to you, you can have a positive aspect about the type of religion or culture where it comes from and you can infer a great statement or aspect about the people of this culture. On the other hand, if you come across someone who looks rude, angry, and not very nice to you, you might say that this culture is not cool or friendly, and they might infer the same thing about others who come from that culture. In my culture, the people are generally friendly, always willing to help. For the most part, they are warm and respectful at the same time. If at some point in your life you want to move to the Dominican Republic, you’ll find that one of the country’s main advantages is its people, since their hearts are free of pride, much less arrogance.  It’s so much so that even if they don’t speak your language, it will help you find someone who can or finds a way to communicate with you.

Third, Raymond Williams conceived of culture as a “customary difference,” which refers to what we are accustomed to and what others are not. One example of this is: There are many versions of what is wrong with our culture. So far I have tried only to clear away the detritus which makes it difficult for us to think seriously about it at all. (pg 5) After this we can realize that Raymond Williams wants to make it clear that in every culture, there’s something that makes us think it’s wrong or out of control. In my case, this very famous dish that is usually sold in many restaurants here originating in China or Korea, fried rice, is not something that is usually seen or eaten in our Dominican culture, while in other cultures such as China, Japan or Korea it is usually a common food. A common food in our culture can be mangu con los 3 golpes which is basically boiled plantains with egg, cheese, and salami. Another one can be la bandera which is rice, with beans and meat, if you want to add avocado that also counts.

Ramon Williams concludes that culture is ordinary, not just high or low level, but also the normal things that surround us and encompass the everyday experiences, practices, and customs that define human society. He also emphasized that culture, fundamentally, is something everyday; it is the foundation of every human society, and that each society forges its own customs, pursues its own goals, and imparts its own meaning to life. The various definitions of culture are significant because they highlight the difficulties and textures of the concept, which cannot be reduced to a single, fixed meaning.