Here’s a definition of culture I recently read in Nietzsche’s essay David Strauss, the confessor and the writer:
Culture is, above all, unity of artistic style in all expressions of the life of a people.
Nietzsche
Here’s one of the Oxford English Dictionary’s definitions of culture for comparison:
Chiefly as a count noun. The distinctive ideas, customs, social behaviour, products, or way of life of a particular nation, society, people, or period. Hence: a society or group characterized by such customs, etc.
OED
Culture is a red-flag word for me. Try as I might, I don’t think I know what it means for myself, and I certainly don’t know what it means for others. (Whenever I read one of my red-flag words, I try to stop what I am doing, and reflect on what is really going on. Who is writing, and more importantly, why are they writing? Are they trying to hide behind the vagueness of the word? Incidentally, that goes for this post too!)
But one thing I am sure of: The iPhone, social media, consumerism, media, and the internet have changed every culture they have come in contact with.