It is generally understood that in order to participate in the cultural, economic, and political life of this society, it is essential that citizens be able to read and write. The second sense of literacy is the state of being well educated, well-informed, and knowledgeable in the realms of philosophy, history, politics, literature, music, art, theater, science, and technology. It is the quality of educatedness that enables one to participate more fully in the cultural, economic, and political life of the society. The term cultural literacy has emerged to refer to this array of competencies. These conceptions of literacy emphasize individual achievements and incline us to overlook the social nature of literacy.
Literacy is a characteristic of a culture.
It is a function of the political, economic, intellectual, and social activities that entail a reliance on texts, oral or written. Literacy, like language, is a means by which members of a culture construct and share meanings and intentions. We should situate literacy within the social context from which it emerges. Literacy is participation in literate social practices, i.e., those social practices that entail the use of oral and written texts. Each culture is distinguishable by the social practices in which its members typically engage, and, in a literate society, to become a member requires becoming literate in the manner valued by that society.