Anthropology: Cultural Norms Essay

While his coworkers constructed his designs, what hobby did Bernini pursue? Answer Selected Answer: Correct Answer: Writing plays and designing stage sets Writing plays and designing stage sets

In this essay, I will be discussing my observations on two norms violation I have observed and personally committed to observe our societies reaction. In order to evaluate the publics reactions a professor name James Henslin defined a norm as a “expectations of ‘right’ behavior” (49). The way I see a norm was something that our society would never do every day. A norm is not the only violation. Folkways, for example, are “norms that are not strictly enforced” (Henslin 51). Mores are “norms that are strictly enforced because they are thought essential to core values or the wellbeing of the group” (Henslin 51). Just because norms happen everywhere does not mean it is the same violation everywhere. What we may considered something that

Sexism is a common hurdle that women have to cross both in American and Chinese cultures. In America, for instance, when the chess prodigy, Waverly Jong, tries to join the old men for a game of chess, they taunt her because she is simply a girl and girls are expected to play with their little dolls, not chess. In China, people force An-Mei’s mother to marry her future husband just because he rapes her and she has to preserve her honor while the husband, due to being a man, may marry any number

American culture has been referred to as a “melting pot.” Different cultures have added their own distinct aspects to society, making America a diverse country. Despite the plethora of cultures, certain norms, mores, and folkways are evident in American society. These ideas are vital to the function and stability of America. They provide guidelines for what is acceptable and not. In virtually every society, there are people who engage in deviant behavior and do not abide by the values that the rest of society follows. Theorists have debated if people are socialized into acting this way and if it is a social or personal problem. The sociological study of culture focuses on norms, mores, and folkways.

Normative societies score diminutive on this dimension. For example, choose to keep up time-honored traditions and customs while observing societal change with suspicion. Individuals with a high score with culture, on the other hand, take a more realistic attitude: they encourage economical means to prepare for the

Since the inception of human civilization there have been countless cultures and societies which have helped shape the current world today as we know it. The modern human race dates back more than 200,000 years and in that time frame many cultures have risen to great virtue and success only to deteriorate or cease to exist altogether. First before examining one of these cultures we must know what culture truly means. The Army’s Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Culture Center defines culture as a “dynamic social system,” containing the beliefs, behaviors, values and norms of a “specific organization, group, society or other collectivity” learned, shared, internalized, and changeable by all members of the society (Watson, 2010). In

Take the Chinese culture for example, males have for many centuries been valued more than females. This was in large part that due to Confucius “[codifying] the position of the patriarch as the sole arbiter for the family unit” and “all family members were subservient to the eldest male.” This value has persisted through the 20th century, though now more valued due to their “physical and economic ability to contribute to the family.” Although this traditional idea is not as strong as it used to be, it is still evident, which can be seen in the gender gap in China due to the one-child policy and still occurs in Asian American families. An interviewee, Winnie Huang, discussed how her experiences growing up greatly differed from her brother’s based on just their gender, claiming, “I was expected to be at the top” and “my mom wanted us to learn the piano, but for some reason my brother did not have to.”

Over the course of history, people have sacrificed themselves for a greater purpose, which offered them no personal gain other than the fact that they did the right thing to improve the world around them. In his "The Future of

The USA is a very diverse nation with many different groups of people, and that being said it is a wonder our nation is able to coexist despite many cultures being integrated within our population. Several things that came to mind while researching this topic were; ,“What kind of social norms do other cultures have?”, “ How would I have turned out if I would have been born in that country with a different culture?”, and “ What do people from a different context think about the way I communicate?”. We oftentimes disregard a very crucial entity that is essential to any civilization, and that is the way the populous communicates with each other. Foreigners oftentimes struggle to adapt living in a new country because they have to overcome many endeavors, and have to deal with the initial culture shock. Aside from learning a new language they have to learn certain social cues that were not used in their native countries, and most of the time they will have to learn the social cues on their own. Even if you learn the language prior to your arrival you will still find it difficult to have a conversation with a local. There are two distinct ways to communicate, and it is oftentimes influenced by the culture an individual is born in. There are cultures that are considered to be high context, and their counterparts would be those who grew up in cultures considered to be low context. An individual’s upbringing greatly influences how well they would be able to adapt to communicating

Anthropologist are known to play devil's advocate, to accumulate knowledge on a global scale and to ultimately make the familiar strange and the strange familiar. Their whole purpose is to study the language, traditions and customs of societies so knowledge on how humanity has developed over time may be advanced. Cultural anthropologists use a wide range of techniques in order to reach an insightful understanding of human behavior in a specific culture. Cultural Anthropologists play a vital role in spreading what knowledge is accumulated from other regions of the world.

Gender inequality is a colossal problem, but in the Hmong Community, it is the most known problem. Because of old Hmong traditions, there is a lack of education for women, and the effects do not produce a happy outcome. In the Hmong Community, men are emphasize as the leader. They are the better one, the one who can follow their dreams and be looked at as an inspiration. However, women cannot have this role as they are told to learn the qualities of a housewife: cooking, cleaning, having children and raising them. Often times, men are the only ones who can pursue education. Women who pursue their dreams and have an education are seen as shameless and a bad influence. The outcome only leaves more pressure to the men. This causes men to feel

Social norms have always played a major role in today's society. A social norm is how we consider behaviors to be appropriate. However, norms are the rules and guidelines regarding what kinds of behavior are acceptable (Mills 1959). Social norms are essentially the means by which any given society may construct and organize itself. They are the ways in which a society defines what tends to be acceptable and unacceptable when it comes to an individual. Different views change over time whether it is through history or an individual themselves who tends to age. Sometimes staying up to date with society and keeping up with the new trends can be unhealthy and have an effect on individuals and the public. The social norm I choose to break was walking into a public men's restroom at a restaurant while out with friends. I choose this social norm because it shows the men's reactions and behaviors once I entered their restroom. However, their behaviors showed how society acts toward certain situations in certain places and what roles are played during the process.

The traditions and social norms in today’s society are still being challenged in many different ways. Those such as religion and sex. Although these are the same from which we’ve read about in the text, they are both being challenged in different ways than the 1960’s. Instead of religion stating that kings rule from the will of God, the will of God, or anything resembling religion, is being taken out of the political systems and schools. Instead of the role of women in any given household being challenged, we’re challenging the right of any male or female to claim the sexual preference of heterosexuality. The twist is that some people (Christians) go around killing those that don’t conform to their standards of sexuality and justify their actions

What may have been the norm for one may not be the norm to another, especially when it comes to the cultures of foreign lands.   Cultural norms often are so strongly ingrained in an individual's daily life that the individual may be unaware of certain behaviors. Until these behaviors are seen in the context of a different culture with different values and beliefs, the

Almost every society participates in a unique culture that cannot be accurately judged without acquiring viewpoints from the individual’s in it. While reading the article India’s Sacred Cow by Marvin Harris (1978) I was able to gain insight about the Hindu people and their reasons for “worshipping” the “sacred cows” (Harris, 1978). According to the textbook Sociology Thirteenth Edition by Richard T. Schaefer, “through cultural realism, or the sincere attempt to understand an individual’s culture from his or her perspective, we might obtain information on how to better ourselves and our society” (Schaefer, 2012). At first, many factors of Hindu culture seemed a little arbitrary compared to American cultures, but after I gained information