A pronoun problem

a pronoun problem

The passage below is from ‘the Blank Slate’ by Steven Pinker.

http://evolbiol.ru/blankslate/blankslate.htm

A culture is not a symbolic pattern, preserved like a butterfly in amber. Its place is not in a museum but in the practical activities of daily life, where it evolves under the stress of competing goals and other competing cultures. Cultures do not exist as simply static “differences” to be celebrated but compete with one another as better and worse ways of getting things done — better and worse, not from the standpoint of some observer, but from the standpoint of the peoples themselves, as they cope and aspire amid the gritty realities of life.

In this passage I'm not sure about what the underlined 'they' refers to.
It seems to represent 'cultures' in a way, but it also seems to be able to refer to 'peoples.'
I'm in the middle of nowhere between two possibilities.

Regards.