Language is the major means of cultural transmission. The process by which one generation passes its culture to the next. These are universal but the manner in which they are expressed will vary from culture to culture. Values and Beliefs Values are culturally defined standards by which people assess desirability, goodness and beauty and which serve as broad guidelines for social living. Values are broad principles that underlie beliefs which are specific statements that people hold to be true.
Beliefs are particular matters that individuals consider to be true or false.
As participants in cultural systems we each learn to accept mores and folkways as the basic rules of everyday life. We respond to those who break these rules of behavior with sanctions . Material culture are the artifacts that tell us something about the values and norms of the culture that we are looking at. Non-material culture is more resistant to change than material culture. This is the perspective that can be taken in which all other cultures or ideas are judged on the basis of European values and ideas.