Cultural Norms: An Example Of My Family Norm

Gender and familial roles are one of the common themes that films of all time employ. Some films challenge the patriarchy and traditional gender roles while others confirm to the stereotyped roles. Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure (2014) is a Swedish comedy-drama film that won numerous awards including the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It portrays the issue of socially constructed gender and familial roles through its in a different way from the common patriarchal ideologies in mainstream Hollywood cinema. . These familial and gender roles are strongly associated with each other because they are both preserved by children’s acquirement of behaviors from their same-sex parent. Thus, Force Majeure stresses the importance of gender equality by rejecting our unconscious expectations of how each member of a family should be and further our society’s anticipations.

My family is one that values high conversation but low conformity. Thus, we fall underneath a pluralistic family. We are all very open with each other, and understand that we all have differing view on things. However, we don’t expect anyone to bend and conform to our will. For example, my brother has wanted to be a marine all his life. I didn’t see it as a great life choice because of the amount of time he would be away from family, and the risk of death that he would openly purse. I discussed all the cons with him, trying to get him to understand my viewpoint on why he shouldn’t join. However, he was adamant about his decision and proceeded to list all the reasons he personally wanted to join. At that time, our arguments were on two different specters. However, we respected each other enough to listen to the others side. Ideally, I would have like him to conform and listen to what I said. However, I knew I couldn’t expect him to conform to my

A norm is something that is standard in society. Within sociology, it is specifically the cultural expectations and rules that a person within the culture is supposed to uphold. Norms tell an individual how they should behave within a certain situation. According to Saul McLeod of Simply Psychology (2008), people are expected to behave in a way that is not random. Norms are social standards that are agreed upon by a society so that members of a culture do not deviate into areas that others would consider abnormal and wrong. Also norms vary by culture, so one culture that has an agreed upon and socially practiced norm may vary from another culture that does not do the same thing and instead has different norms. Each culture’s norms differ based on beliefs and customs.

Lets start by understanding that cultures are a melting pot of people’s beliefs, language, behaviors, values, material objects, and norms. Norms are written and non-written “expectations of behavior” that govern a certain location, place, or culture (26). These norms also vary from culture to culture meaning what is a norm in the U.S may not be a norm in India. For example, a norm in America would be tipping a waiter after a meal. Another would be acknowledging someone as you walk past him or her, typically done at work or in a public place. In all, norms are folkways, mores, taboos, and written laws that are an established standard of one’s behavior.

Talking about my culture and society are two different things. What the norm may not be is the norm for me. Today you will get to know a little about my culture, who I am and how society has changed a little bit of my family traditions.

Families, as units, are extremely complex and vary drastically from one another. A person might be under the impression that his or her own family is nothing special, especially if they are accustomed to their family’s routines. After analyzing my own family through the sociological lenses of an assortment of scholars, it is now clear that it is not as simple as it seems. Sociologically analyzing my family through the divorces that have occurred in my life makes it clear that divorce can have an impact on a variety of family dynamics, such as my parents and their jobs and domestic duties, the amount of involvement they have with their friends and family, as well as my financial dependence on my parents.

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

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

Where do family values stand in today’s world? There is the traditional family that make ends meet no matter what and more common today is the modern family that take divorce like it is no big deal. Kingslover and White give great examples of what a traditional family is like and how the modern family is taking over. The world makes it easy to deplete family values in this day and age but really divorce has been considered for centuries. Divorce has become a regular occurrence and highly prevalent in today’s society, which is focused upon and exemplified throughout the essay “Stone Soup,” whereas, traditional family values and permanent marital status is shown in “Once More to the Lake.”

A social norm is defined as the rules of behavior that are considered acceptable in society. Throughout American history, the rules regarding what is considered acceptable behavior has changed tremendously. These behaviors haven’t changed just once or twice, but many times over the span of many years. Social norms can change quite often. There is a tremendous amount of behaviors we do in modern America that would have never been considered acceptable years ago. American society has changed significantly in consideration to social norms. Social norms that have changed excessively throughout American history are being affiliated with the LGBT community, dating, relationships, and premarital sex. So, how have social norms changed in American society?

Social and Cultural Norms shape the decisions individuals make throughout their lives. Social Norms are a set of guidelines that people follow when they take action and they are usually enforced by punishments and rewards, it is used on a daily basis (Wade, Tavris, 332). There are also social roles that people fall under and that typically is determined by one’s culture. Culture is a program that follows certain rules which govern the way the members behave. Usually all the members of a particular culture share the same beliefs, values, and customs (Wade, Tavris, 332). Culture and social norms not only influence a person’s decision, but it also affects who people trust. There have been studies that show people tend to trust people with the

Through learning, families values, community relationships, and the willingness to achieve. Culture can be easily seen - the behavior of people – is the smallest part of culture. The greatest part, internal culture is inside people’s heads. It is our way of thinking and perceiving. Most importantly, it includes the values and beliefs unconsciously learned while growing up. The collision of two cultures as people come together causes us to become more aware of the differences and similarities between cultural values. By understanding the internal culture and significant values, we have a system to analyze and interpret behavior. People from around the globe bring their cultures here to American and institute them into society. Although, the United States is a culturally diverse society, there is a dominant culture and others give up their culture (depending upon where they may live) so they can fit into mainstream society. My family as other African American families changed their ways to fit into society hoping to become socially accepted because of not being members of the dominant culture. As with most societal trends, family values in all cultures are in constant motion; the list of American family values is always evolving. African

The training exercises were fabulous activities that provided experiences in assessing cultural norms, identifying the role culture plays on our perceptions, and techniques for observing behavior. Each event provided the participants with a critical component required in field observations. The cultural norms activity helped to acquaint participants with interacting with strangers, recognizing that culture provides comfort and security. The cultural description activity was perfect for building and understanding the role culture plays when trying to understand human behavior. In field observations, "weird" can simply be behavior outside my cultural understanding.

When immigrant families move into the U.S. the culture shock is significant. Families can easily become overwhelmed by their need to fit in. This is especially true for young children. It is easy for the kids to get caught up in the American way of life, and because of this, the culture can be forgotten. That is why the adults in these families need to enforce their cultural norms on their children, so they can make sure that their culture is not forgotten.

I Feel that my views on social norms and adhering to those social norms are a bit skewed. Since I am a recent immigrant to this country from Afghanistan, everything, in a way, is new to me. Almost every aspect of social reality is different in this country. For instance, all the music, language, and arts are different. Let’s not forget the roles of women and children in the family. These rates very so greatly from culture to culture it’s astonishing women and kids are almost second rate citizens in Afghanistan, while they are almost put on pedestals and worshipped like idols here in the states. I am trying to embrace most of the social norms her in the states, while containing the tradition norms of my home country and culture.