A Complement or a Panacea—On Culture and the Efficacy of Cultural Interpretation

What is culture and how well does it work in explaining our social phenomena? This paper is an attempt to answer these two questions. The vagueness or uncertainty around the concept of culture has somewhat undermined its effectiveness as a convincing tool for interpretation in social science. Following an analysis of the core elements of culture, this paper then discusses the merits and the challenges the cultural interpretation has confronted. In this paper, I argue that mainly due to its vagueness, culture without clear specifications should not be treated as a panacea, but a complement to other means of interpretation, a way to enrich our means of understanding our multi-faceted world. Cultural interpretation should not be a tautological conversation stopper for further inquiry, but be a more precise tool for critical inquiries.