Culture is just one link in the chain of causality. And no-one could deny that cultures vary, often significantly. So being raised in one will affect the decision you might have made in another. Attitudes between people who were raised in pastoralist culture will differ to those raised in a farming culture. If you raise cattle as opposed to growing corn, then it's easier to lose a cow or two than half an acre of land. From the book:
'Such pastoralists are uniquely vulnerable. It’s hard to sneak in at night and steal someone’s rice field or rain forest. But you can be a sneaky varmint and rustle someone’s herd, stealing the milk and meat they survive on. This pastoralist vulnerability has generated “cultures of honor” with the following features: (a) extreme but temporary hospitality to the stranger passing through—after all, most pastoralists are wanderers themselves with their animals at some point; (b) adherence to strict codes of behavior, where norm violations are typically interpreted as insulting someone; (c) such insults demanding retributive violence—the world of feuds and vendettas lasting generations; (d) the existence of warrior classes and values where valor in battle produces high status and a glorious afterlife.'
From his footnotes: B. Wyatt-Brown, Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South (Oxford University Press, 1982). Theory about the origins of the southern culture of honor among pastoralists in the British Isles: D. Fischer, Albion’s Seed (Oxford University Press, 1989).
