You are always measured against the accumulated rules of the past. You can BE a culture. You can build on the experiences of the past and spontaneously continue the culture in your own original way. I think there is great promise in clarifying these distinctions. A society will by its very definition resist change.
Culture is a force of change in itself.
Seems that cultural values and cultural expression will be essential elements needed to change our world for the better. Maybe what we need is to change our perspective from social to cultural.