An Example Of A Nonmaterial Culture In The United States

Cortney McMath Many ideas and practices that are applied here in the United States are a result of cultural diffusion from Mexico. Cultural diffusion is defined as “the spread of cultural beliefs and social activities from one group to another.” In today’s times, people are more open and welcoming of other cultures, while they are still preserving their own in the process. Throughout, the cultural portfolio project, many connections and differences have been made between my lifestyle and values here in the United States with Mexico’s lifestyle.

Eye contact is important in America and Europe, but it can be rude in most of Asian countries and in Africa. Closing your

It’s not only how we speak to people but it can also be reflected through our body language. We have to bear in mind that other people’s cultures may find some gestures offensive to them. Being respectful to their beliefs and cultures is important in maintaining positive relations. A raise of an eye brow or shrug of the shoulder can send the

Culture is something that we all know to be very diverse a crossed the entire world and is something that carries on through generations of families. When we think about the American culture we think about the American flag, the English language, and many other things we may take for granted. But half way a crossed the world this culture we have is known as the “American dream”. Culture one way or another is part of every person, and nobody is completely without it. Culture is broken down into two sub categories, material and non-material. Material culture is physical things such as food, clothing, and tools, while non-material culture consists of things such as ethics, beliefs and social roles within that particular society. It’s almost a

For example as mentioned above high context cultures tend to leave the meaning of what they’re trying to say up to the recipient. However in low context cultures, such as America, they tend to cut straight to the point. Each culture has its own set of rules of how to communicate. In Goblin you notice how when you greet someone or leave a room you are expected to bow. Say someone coming from France to Korea is leaving a room and they don’t bow that would be considered rude. The person from France wasn’t trying to be rude they just didn’t know what was expected of them since they have never communicated with people from that culture

Idioms are not the only barrier between cultures social customs can also be a barrier in Australia it is very common for people to shake hands when meeting in other cultures touch by strangers is unwelcomed to avoid this research cultural customs and if unsure ask the person how they would like to be

In some cultures touching and hugging is a big part of their lives. How you touch someone says a lot about you. The way you touch someone says a lot if you touch them loving and comforting it shows you are kind. If you touch them too hard and hurt them, people are going to be afraid to touch you when they see you. In the United States we always shake hands with people when see them or meet someone a new person. That says you are friendly but not always in a good way. We shake hands with a lot of people and sometimes we don’t really want to see that person any more.

The OK hand gesture that we us in England is also considered offensive in countries like Latin America and France. The thumb up hand sigh is considered rude in many Asian and Islamic countries. In most westernised countries nose picking is considered vulgar. However in many Asian countries such as china nose picking in public is perfectly expectable behaviour and it is most common in older generations younger generations tend to be more westernised and most do not pick their nose in public.

Every country has a culture that is unique to that area, and in that culture are different things that are considered normal. There are certain rules to obey and norms that are just expected to be followed by observing other people. Going to a different country can be shocking because social norms in one area may be completely different from the social norms of another area, leaving the visitor feeling confused and out of their comfort zone. One example of a social norm in the United States is leaving a tip after eating at a restaurant, usually around fifteen percent, but in some countries tipping is not expected and can even be offensive.

The only major difference between Poland and China it that polish people’s non-verbal communication consists more of hand gestures rather than facial gestures. Furthermore, Poland is as unique as China, Poland is a European country that also consists of a different culture and a different language. Along with different ways of greeting individuals, according to Strybel (2008:14), their greetings consist of hand shaking, hand kissing, the combination of both, bowing, and hat tipping. Poland is certainly an interesting country; it has different ways of interpreting things that are interpreted differently in western countries. In other words, in Poland some gestures have different interpretations. Such as in Poland tapping the forehead hints someone is crazy, tapping the neck indicates drinking and pointing at one’s eye is known as an individual believing something is not true or someone is full of lies (Strybel 2008:14). A western visiting Portland would certainly feel quite lost when it would come to the county’s communication skills. For example, an American uses and knows some gestures that do not even exist in Poland, such as the okay sign. When it comes to insults the middle finger did not even exist in Poland it wasn’t until Poland’s younger generation started imitating the Western entertainment that it then became a

Brennan Manning’s says that Americans measure success by one’s pile of possessions. Manning talks about a few articles that he read and he found out that the majority of Americans are fat, exhausted, frustrated, lustful, and dissatisfied with their level of achievement because we care about being overweight, and how to maintain a nice body, and caring a lot about all of these useless things. He states that a lot of Americans’ conversations revolve around consumption, including what we buy/bought, where/what to eat, the price of things, what’s on sale, etc. Americans show a lot of interest in this materialistic items when they won’t even matter when we die. The things that matter in our life should be non-materialistic items and that we should

Physical cultural has made a significant impact in the societal dynamics of the United States. According to the lectures in class, physical culture identifies with the dynamic window into politics, economics, gender, race, class, ideology, and religion. Former president of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage stated, “sport, like music and other fine arts, transcends politics... We are concerned with sports, not business and politics.” Recently, the San Fransisco 49ers starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem as a political protest, which caused nationwide controversy. This is an example that contradicts Bundrage’s statement based on the impact Kaepernick had in politics and business through sports. However, prior to Kaepernick there were names such as Muhammad Ali, Jack Johnson and Jackie Robinson that impacted the minds of the masses through the use of physical culture. These individuals used their sports platforms that impacted racial barriers, political decisions, economics and more. It is adamant we note that through the dialectic thesis, physical culture and society are mutually reinforcing products and producers. For example, if it was not for police brutality in the United States, Kaepernick wouldn’t have knelt during the national anthem. Society feeds physical culture based on the occurrences that are happening at the given time. Once the impactful careers of Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, and Jack Johnson are evaluated

These paragraphs are going to be talking about materialism, over consumption, straining, personal lives, eroding our communities, destroying the environment, the impact of media, and who we vote for.

Many of the latter are very minute details that an individual may act without realizing how rude they may seem. Which is why it is very important to research the customs of a different culture before interacting with each other.

In the short story, multiple elements of material/non-material culture are portrayed. Material culture is composed of tangible items that are symbolic or hold meaning to a society such as having a car. Non-material culture consists of ideas, morals and values that hold importance a society or culture. This story illustrates the effect culture can have in our behavior and how it shapes our society, it just comes to support the idea that culture and society are dependent on each other in order to thrive. In order to comprehend material and non-material culture we will first have to separate the both an apply them to context.