Why a New View of Culture Is Necessary

If you shrank the world to the size of a 100-person village but kept the proportion of each cultural group the same as in the world today, this is what your village would look like:
It would have 58 Asians, 12 Africans, 10 Europeans, 8 Latin Americans, 5 North Americans, and 7 people from other areas.
Seventeen people would speak Mandarin Chinese, 9 English, 8 Hindi, 6 Spanish, 6 Russian, and 4 Arabic. The other 50 would speak any of more than 200 other languages.
Thirty-three people would be Christian, 18 Muslim, 6 Buddhist, 3 Jewish, and 5 atheist. The remaining 35 would identify with other belief systems.
Twenty people would make 75 percent of the total income; another 20 would make 2 percent of the total.
One-third of the villagers would have access to clean drinking water; two-thirds would live in substandard housing; and only seven would own a car.
Of the 67 adults in the village, half would be illiterate; only one would have a college education.

Source: R. Banner (2003). Presentation to the International Personnel Association, October 12.