culturegeneral

Culturegeneral is a term used in social sciences to denote cultural phenomena, knowledge, and competencies that are generalizable across diverse cultural settings, rather than being tied to a single culture. In cross-cultural psychology and related fields, culture-general constructs describe cognitive, behavioral, and affective patterns that recur across many societies, in contrast to culture-specific constructs that are unique to one culture or subgroup.

The concept serves to distinguish broad, transferable cultural knowledge from culture-specific tacit rules. Culturegeneral topics include general nonverbal communication norms, universal or widely shared socialization processes, and problem-solving or adaptation strategies that people apply in multicultural contexts. It is commonly invoked in discussions of intercultural competence, global education, and international business, where practitioners seek skills and understandings that work across cultural boundaries.

Usage and scope vary by discipline. Some researchers focus on culturegeneral literacy—the ability to understand and engage with multiple cultures at a broad level—while others study culturegeneral processes such as cross-cultural empathy, adaptation, and communication efficiency. The term complements culture-specific analysis by providing a framework to examine what is shared among cultures and what remains particular to a given social group.

See also: culture-specific, cross-cultural psychology, intercultural competence, cultural literacy.