A lot of us partake in traditions and incorporate things from German culture in our daily lives without evening knowing it. For example, you might not have known that the tradition of putting up and decorating a tree in celebration of Christmas every year is actually a tradition started in Germany (CITATION HERE). This is just one small piece of German culture; there is so much more to this rich and vast style of life. It is things like social norms, food, and annual celebrations that make up German culture and make its heritage so interesting. Being someone with German ancestry and living in a city with one of the richest German histories in all of America connects me to and has given me an idea of what this culture is all about. In the following, I will talk about the different pieces that make up German culture based on both my own personal knowledge and experience with the culture and through additional research, starting with social norms. Social norms are informal rules or guidelines that shape how people in a society speak and behave with one another. German culture has two different categories of social norms. First, there is how Germans interact with one another at their places of work or on a professional level. Then, there is how Germans interact with each other outside of the work setting or on a personal level. At work, German people tend to be more formal with one another and stay to themselves. For example, when addressing one another in the workplace, German
Culture is part of special traditions and rites of passage. In this paper I am going to write about American culture compared to German culture. To do this I interviewed Michael Heidenreich, who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1943.
Another huge part of my life that comes from my German heritage is the foods that my family and I eat. Germans eat a lot of meats. The main meat that my family and I have is pork and sometimes steak. Pork is a very common food in Germany. We even have sausage occasionally. My whole family sits at the dinner table while my father and grandpa cook our dinners. Another thing that the adults do is drink beer on special occasions. My cousins and I are under age so we obviously can’t have
This paper will address what social norms entail and what role they play within a society.
Have you ever wondered why we hold the doors for those behind us? How about the reason we use utensils when we eat? What about why we always stand facing the doors in the elevator? These are all examples of what are known as social norms. According to Dr. Ward social norms are “basic rules of society that help people know what is and is not appropriate to do in any situation.” These basic rules of society are usually unwritten and unspoken and many of us pick up on them over time. Although, some social norms are very common throughout many cultures, there is a lot of them that vary depending on which culture you are apart of. For example, here in America, a major social norm that we have is when eating, the polite thing to do is to use spoons and forks, instead of digging in with your hands. For instance, we would not eat spaghetti with our hands but we would use a fork. In some Thiland cultures it is considered rude to put most foods in your mouth with a fork. Then there is also some cultures such as Chile in which it is impolite to use your hands for anything, even foods such as french fries, they use forks while eating.
Everyday we have social norms that we live up to. There is so many social norms that we are so used to doing that you would have never thought would be a social norm. Some examples include brushing your teeth, saying please and thank you. Although these are things a lot of us do other people may not consider them social norms. Social norms are different everywhere and what society you are coming from.
In society, social norms are conducted to define an appropriate behavior of how a person should be, specifying what is considered as "right" or "wrong." When a specific person does not follow the norms, they are seen as different, and is regarded as an outsider. According to Orson Scott Card, an outsider is a person who does not belong in a particular social group. He states all human beings are outsiders, because nobody ever feels like they are accepted by others.
Germany is country shaped by many instances of disorder and chaos throughout its existence and especially in the 20th century. During these chaotic times Germans came to realize that the only way to prevent disorder and chaos was Ordnung or order. This philosophy of Ordnung is fundamentally different than the culture in the United States in which the people are trusted to do the right things rather than being forced by a set of written and unwritten rules that regulate social behavior. There are three significant differences between American culture and German culture: rules and regulations, the bureaucracy, and categorization. These differences help explain why German and American culture are so different.
Humans interact and go on about their daily life unknowingly following rules that society establishes as well as common social norms. Although this is a strange concept to grasp, this phenomenon is how society acts as a whole and how we as individuals are. Social norms are ways of acting, thinking, and feeling that exist outside a person but exert social control over each person they interact with. These are the rules that we abide by and are ingrained in our heads but what happens if one breaks that social norm.
The three cultural groups/architecture styles I chose to compare are the Belgians, Midwestern Germans, and New England Tradition styles. Each of these groups used similar building materials and styles when constructing their homes and other buildings, yet they are very distinct from one another. The Belgians used large logs to create a sturdy structure and then covered the logs with brick. They began to do this after a serious forest fire, adding the brick to act as a fire retardant and possibly to keep out the cold weather. Since the size of the logs were out of their control, so was the size of their houses.
The values and beliefs of the German Americans pose obstacles to cross cultural understandings, causing rejection by American society, because of Germany's Political views and ---. The values and beliefs of the German Americans pose obstacles to cross cultural understandings, causing rejection by American society, because of Germany's political views. According to the International Encyclopedia, Germany was a part of a Monarchy during World War I. Political parties such as the centre party, democratic parties, and socialist parties did not control Germany’s government, nor any of Germany’s military. Instead, Toward the end of the war German troops were retreating and struggling to fight.
Norms are “how values tell us to behave” (Conley, 2017, pg. 90). They are like rules or guideline to what kind of behavior is acceptable. Norms can be informal or formal. Informal norms are unspoken for example, as I observed my surroundings I saw children taking turns going down the slide. I also saw families standing in line getting Pretzels. These are norms that are not written down but we learn them when we are young. Informal norms are viewed as what is right verses what is rude. Formal norms are written down like laws.
In the United States of North America ethnic groups are easily found everywhere. As a result, the American culture is a combination of many other cultures such as Irish, Latin, African, British, etc. However, one of the most significant of these is the German culture. German influence over this country is so strong that it goes through science, to architecture, to music, to sports and entertainment.
In sociology, the term “norms” can be described by a set of objectives where someone does to another person in a society that is normal to do in a culture or a country. There are many variants of types of norms in different countries, depending on what you are located has different norms. Just like shaking somebody’s hand, or making eye contact while talking to another person is proper etiquette in the American culture. In other countries like Vietnam, it is disrespectful to touch someone’s shoulder while talking to them. In American culture, that is allowed because we see it as a respectful interaction. An example of violating a social norm is, how president Trump expresses himself and what he is thinking of each major topic, whether it is the election or
Germany, a country rich in culture and heritage, yet plagued by the fallout of World War I and World War II, has progressed to become the centerpiece of the European Union and the world’s third richest economy. The first German Empire dates back to the Roman Empire starting in the 8th century AD. During the Middle Ages the German Empire fended off many attacks against their soil from the Hungarians and the Slavs. Fighting and power struggles continued until the 1400’s, when the modern world gradually came into existence with intellectual, economic and political changes.
Come drink a Bit burger and eat a delicious wiener schnitzel in Germany! Germany is just slightly smaller than the state of Montana in the United States. In addition, Germany is located in central Europe and borders the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the Netherlands and, Poland. The culture built around Germany has a foundation of Art, Literature, Sports, Food, and Music. In addition, Germany’s torn past over war of its modern day is very different form our own, but is very similar in many other ways. However to truly understand the unique culture of Germany, one must know the origin of the unique Art’s, Literature, Sports, Food and, Music, that Germany is known for.