According to Baffoe, “culture is the totality of the way of life of a group of people that has been developed, shaped and practiced over the years. The development of these cultural norms and practices are shaped by the environment and the needs of the people” (Baffoe 2005). As traditional societies develop as a result of modernization, the original indigenous practices of the community begin to disappear, and are replaced by ideas from more developed Western countries. Culture is forever changing, and it adapts based on the changes happening within the people of the community and their environment. With modernization, ideas and beliefs that are practiced in Western societies are diffused across the world, setting the standard for behavior that should be commonly practiced in all societies. Modernization in tribal African communities has affected their cultures in such a way that their rich traditions have began to become diluted as they are replaced with .
In my first informational text, "Money, Modernization and Ambivalence among the Sidama of Northeastern Africa”, by John H. Hamer, it is explained that the fast spread of market economics and new communication tools, which are ideas brought about by influence from western nations, bring an obstruction to local cultures and values, particularly in communities such as tribes in Africa. As a result of the structural change of the world’s economy, Africans are beginning to integrate new ideas, brought to them by the spread of
The main idea of this article in my opinion is to show the cultures combing how they changed over time with different people. Religion was definitely a big factor in the changing of the culture. The Impact on bringing slaves to work was huge, mixture of different cultures. A lot of the nuns at the time had left their job to go have families. Most times it wasn’t with the same race as them, They got together with indigenous people that are changing the culture more and more. At first if was quite odd to have both a spanish and indigenous mom and dad. But it slowly become more and more often over time. Religion was huge, Bartolome De Las Cases devoted his life to christianity he saw how people were treating the native people. He soon went back
Traditional societies begin with a small number of people living in one particular geographical region. Their traditions help them to achieve a flourishing society over time. They do so by passing their ideas and practices on from one generation to the next. Some of these traditions include cultural values and practices defined through the people group’s economic activities, social arrangements, and political organization.A traditional society flourishes using these passed on values and practices, rather than through impact of practices from other rival or complex civilizations.
Cultures should be preserved so that they are able to be passed down throughout different generations, especially as passing down information is one probable and important key to the survival of any culture. To accomplish the preservation of culture through transmission, change seems like an essential to cultural survival, instead of a potential enemy. In his TED talk, Davis (2003) asserts that “The Sioux Indians did not stop being Sioux when they gave up the bow and arrow anymore than Americans stopped being American when they gave up the horse and buggy” (14:46 – 14:54). Davis’s statement highlights the idea that change is always occurring, especially with the introduction of new technologies, and that specific individual traditions or ways in a culture do not make up the entirety of the culture. Rather, I think that culture revolves around the spirit and collective traditions of a group of people. For example, Davis (2003) mentions the story of a man’s grandfather creating a sleigh and weapons out of little material and describes the story as an example of the people’s “resilience” (18:50 – 19:56). Davis uses the practices of a people to explain their values, and in turn, to communicate their
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
Within every society, and every community or settlement across the globe, there is undoubtedly one thing that they have in common; we identify this as ‘culture’. “Culture is a design for living” (Clyde Kluckhohn, cited in Halambros et al, 2013: 5), it describes the norms, values, beliefs, and practises of a people. The economic base and division of labour, political structure, religion, and strata of the Nama Tribe
Before taking this class, I often thought that our advanced society was the standard in which to measure all other societies from, but after reviewing the material in this course, it is impossible to make such a comparison. Many of the people in a culture similar to the U.S. would probably find most of the cultures we have studied to be “slow”, strange, or undesirable. In fact, it seems that many of the societies actually prefer to live the way they do and accept it as normal. “Normal” is a relative term, and it is difficult to establish evidence to label a culture or its characteristics abnormal. What may seem to work here often would be disastrous to other cultures.
Since the early 1900s, “The Lottery” written by Shirley Jackson, is a haunting tale of ritualistic murder, intertwined with tradition and fear. Within this story, there are several themes to be found, such the effects of being a scapegoat, gender and family roles, and ultimately human nature. In this specific case, the short story introduces the themes of tradition. “The Lottery” asserts that the negatives of tradition can be dangerous, if followed blindly in a society that refuses to progress due to conformity, mob mentality, and a subtle, selfish enjoyment of violence.
Norms are means of guiding the behavior of one social group (Macionis, Jansson & Benoit, 2013, p. 161). Deviance is the recognized violation of cultural norms (Macionis et al., 2013, p. 161). Crime is one category of deviance. It is defined as the violation of a society's formally enacted criminal law (Macionis et al., 2013, p. 161).
Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” Culture, which consists of “ language, norms, values, and beliefs” (Long-Crowell), is the foundation to an individual's background. Through the culture that one is born into, he can adapt and incorporate different cultures to ultimately cultivate his own. This process causes cultures to be diverse; no one truly shares an identical culture. The different parts of cultures that one includes into his own defines who he is as a person. This includes clothing, food, religion, and hobbies. Therefore, people cannot be defined by ethnicity or race, but rather how they behave and think. For example, although someone may
How we judge others depend greatly on our own cultural norms. A person’s culture plays an important part of how we view other people, how we conduct business, how we view our own behaviors and style, the way we use language and how we solve problems, challenges and conflicts. The most importantly the way we developed new relationships.
I believe the cultural “norms” of an organization can be defined as the behavioral standards and practices that occur within that organization. These practices are often a result of written rules. In my opinion, when it comes to behavior, the standards are often a result of what has become acceptable within the organization over time. To ensure I am thinking somewhat correctly, I found an article by the Harvard Business Review on this very topic. The HBR stated, “Key in this definition of culture is the idea of behavioral “norms” that must be upheld” (Watkins, 2013). The article goes on to state these “norms” are developed by “Promoting and reinforcing “right” thinking and behaving, and sanctioning “wrong” thinking and behaving” (Watkins, 2013).
Culture is not to be confused with civilization. A nation can be civilized, possessing advanced technology, yet with very different ideas about democracy, the role of women, the rites of childhood or even the worth of the individual. Culture binds us subtly and powerfully, with its traditions constantly enacted and reenacted in order to reinforce itself. In this manner culture transmits its own set of values and virtues, providing nothing less than a comprehensive outlook upon life. Strong culture is like the air we breathe, invisible, yet life
Each generation has their own cultural based on what their attitudes, values and beliefs are based on society rules and norms. Socialization through media forms tend to be different, and how adolescents perceive, and respond to the norms. Flynn (2015) states “Broad socialization allows for the existence and performance of individual difference, self-expression and independence” (Flynn, 2015). These adolescents are able to problem solve by independent thinkers that can make their own choices on what cultural norms they find acceptable. The culture norms through era of music such as rap shows that binge drinking, and smoking marijuana are rite of passage for adolescent (McMahon, 2015). However, adolescents are more cognitively aware when receiving
Some have speculated that the root of Africa 's inability to be as successful as the western countries is African culture. Culture is defined as the shared set of assumptions, values, and beliefs of a group of people by which they organize their common life. Culture is both a process and an intuition. Roots of a culture lie within families, schools, music, art, and sociopolitical institutions. Each culture is difficult to describe in detail because there are so many aspects to it. There is an iceberg concept of culture, the majority of it cannot be seen. Surface culture includes languages, accents, behavior, food, dance, arts, physical appearances, rules, and regulations. Deep culture includes much more: such as value systems, emotions, attitude towards elders, class distinction, and socials norms. African cultures are changing to accommodate to western ways. Oral traditions are transitioning to written. Globalization encourages the homogenization of society and civilization, the world is becoming a global village. As English is becoming the dominant language in the world, many countries are teaching their children English in schools instead of their native languages. As a result, the native languages are dying out and the children begin to disassociate with their home cultures in favor for western culture.
Without taking to account the loyalty people have for their various tribes and ethnic groups, attempts to combine tribes failed and further heightening tribal tensions and conflicts ("Ethnicity and Tribalism in Africa: The Truth", 2014). Instead of working towards transitioning from the unfavorable hierarchy it so long endured, the African “bourgeoisie” inherited the practices of exploitation from its European colonizers ("Tribalism, Colonialism and Capitalism", 2014). Like the Europeans, Africans wanted to make economic gains in the expense of the working people. Therefore, today we see African politics made up of unequal advantages stemming from tribalism and ethnic discrimination ("Tribalism, Colonialism and Capitalism", 2014).