Cultural belief systems, understood as shared knowledge, and their function

Abstract

The objective of this article is to explain that a large part of culture is knowledge shared by all or most of the social subjects that make up a society. Firstly, it is defined as understanding an idea and what a system of ideas is. Secondly, the difference is established between systems of ideological ideas (produced by a social group within a society) and systems of cultural ideas (shared by the entirety and the majority of the subjects that make up a society) and that can be called shared knowledge as proposed by Van Dijk (1999). Thirdly, we talk about how culture is a macrosystem made up of different systems, which imply systems of ideas. Finally, the functions of idea systems in culture are explained. It is proposed that there are elements that unite them, such as the theme, function and purpose. Likewise, exemplifications of cultural idea systems and their function are presented.