What is a national culture?

Dancers in Mexico 

(photo source : Wikipedia)

From the begging of time humans created all sorts organizational  systems that were meant to satisfy certain common needs that people from a certain place had at a certain time. 

From the earlier , more primitive forms of social organization , such as tribes and tribe unions , to the modern state , people used a number of elements to make their association with a state and its culture more noticeable to the exterior environment. 

 Modern states used symbols and  built , or are in the process of building , a national culture .

National culture can be described as the total of material (objects,monuments,artwork ,etc) and immaterial (norms,values,mentalities,costumes,language,oral tradition,etc) elements with a high symbolic and functional meaning to a nation. 

  The elements that fall in to the framework of a national culture are highly desirable and are validated through the regular practice of a nation's citizens , in the case of the immaterial elements , when it comes to the material ones, we can group them in two categories : functional material elements - traditional weapons , traditional household objects , traditional vehicles and  traditional houses  ; symbolic material elements  - generally monuments fall in this category , some of them can have both practical and symbolic meaning , the case of governmental buildings or castles , some have a purely symbolic meaning - statues , memorials , etc. 

  National cultures are the subject of  design , planing and intervention . They don't showcase the natural evolution of nation's culture . National culture takes visual form as national symbols .Language is the most important immaterial element of a national culture , do to this , languages that have official status are the subject of permanent intervention in order not to loose their characteristics that made them suitable for this role . 

  In order to suit the national identity construction plan , some dialects were given the status of a language in order to fill gaps of a fragile , not yet well define national identity (examples : Bosniac became one of  Bosnia and Hertegovina's national languages after the fall of Yugoslavia , even though , it is almost identical to the other two national languages : Serbian and Croatian  ; Moldovan - a variety of Romanian - became Moldova's national language after its split from the USSR ).

  Languages can act as a glue , stimulating social unity and progress , they give unity in thinking and understanding , having a high functional role before the symbolic one. National culture is open books in which we can see a nation's state of evolution - economic and social - and its capacity to form a solid identity which will incorporate all of the citizen's ideals and moral believes. 

   National symbols : flags , coat of arms , anthems , national impersonations and others. When it comes to classification , we can group national cultures by a number of characteristics :

By configuration : 

1. The umbrella type - National cultures specific to multicultural , multiethnic,multiracial and multilingual states.  They incorporate elements of very general use for all the citizens of the nation regardless of their background . In most cases ,  if a group's  culture is  regarded as desirable at a wide scale , certain elements that are compatible with all the other groups own culture will  get assimilated and it time will become part of the national culture. This type of configuration is specific to states from North and South America , Africa and Australia.

 2. The homogeneous - Specific to national states , where a ethnic group holds the majority , usually has at least 70% of the total population . This type is more rigid and conservative , it incorporates the cultural elements of the dominant ethnic group . This configuration is specific to states from Europe,Asia and North Africa.

By the degree of resistance to change and assimilation of exterior influences :

1. Rigid national cultures - They redundant to change or the assimilation of new elements , especially from exterior sources. This type is found in countries that had been a long period of their history under the occupation of other states , ethnically homogeneous states ,socialist states  and  theocracies .

2. Flexible national cultures - They quickly assimilate elements of other cultures and incorporate them in their own , type found in multinational states , democracies with long tradition , industrialized nations , secular states , etc . 

By the level of traditionalism :

1.Traditionalist national cultures - Geographically isolated states , 3rd world states , states with  a homogeneous population , national states , theocracies, new states , etc.

2. Modern national cultures - Industrialized states, multinational states , 1st world states , former colonial powers , democracies with tradition , secular states , etc.