Dorothy Lee Individual Autonomy

Everyone wants to be respected. It’s in our nature, but in order to obtain respect, first of all one has to respect oneself. Second, one has to show respect to others in order to gain respect from them. If one doesn’t show respect to someone, that person may often feel blown off and lose respect for you. Respect in my eyes is like a math equation loyalty plus duty equals respect. respect is gained in conducting ones self in a way that others can stand

* Respect. Respect each individual with the same respect as you would like to be respected.

In “Individual Autonomy and Social Structure”, Dorothy Lee discusses different types of cultures within a given society. Lee states that “the principle of personal autonomy is supported by the cultural framework.”(Lee, 5). Lee examines the differences between the individual autonomy of non-western societies and the autonomy of western societies in order to better the society we live in. The reading gave Lee’s point of view on how different societies deal with their conflicts. The conflict between the social structure in western society and individual autonomy is the key social problem that Lee is addressing. Individual autonomy is understood by one’s capacity to decide for them self, to be one’s own person, and the ability to determine their own actions. Individual autonomy is a large principle in western society, as individuals are free to make their own decisions, without being restricted by societies norms. In the article, Lee describes that personal autonomy can lead to lawlessness and chaos in our western culture. Dorothy Lee talks about individual autonomy and the social structure in western culture, and how it is very difficult to comply these two areas in order for them to work in accordance to one another.

A society consists of a community of people living together and sharing customs and traditions. Once immersed in this society, one can begin to see certain standards woven into the social fabric of the community. These standards, ranging from not walking into public areas scantily clad to not embarrassing people in front of others, are usually unspoken and sometimes cause strife. Young adults often find these standards to be extremely restricting and favor freedom of action over the collective control. Commonly known as individualism, this social theory is very alive in the hearts and actions of young adults and never quite leaves a human as he or she grows older and “matures.” In middle class, Protestant America individualism is subverted

Throughout life, in any society we develop a sense to conform and adjust to our surroundings but why? Our values in our society determines our norms and why we do the things we do. I recently sought out to break these social conformities that violated the values, and norms we hold as a society. Every society is different and, in every society there are different and similar values, norms, sanctions folkways, and mores. Breaking them up and analyzing them we began to understand why these terms and values are so important to us.

Native Americans have existed for thousands of years, developing a rich heritage that characterizes the value of the group. Today it is estimated that there are more than 2.5 million Native Americans living in the United-States and this population is steadily growing. Although they account for only 1 percent of the total U.S. population, they have been described as including 50 percent of the diversity that exists in this country. This diversity among Native American nations is illustrated by 250 languages and more than 500 tribes. One of these tribes is called the Cherokee Indians and this research paper is going to deal with them. Cherokee were probably the most acculturated Indians in the nineteenth century. They were one of the first Indian groups to successfully transform their aboriginal landscape into a new cultural landscape that sometimes surpassed their white frontier neighbors. They had a lots of powerful traditions focusing on the tribe first, the clan second, and the family third in terms of importance and duty. The family was the centrality of the circle and the individual was traditionally simply not allowed to upset the order of the family. Traditional beliefs permit us to think that “being Indians” was obviously not about the blood that flew in their veins, but how they lived in a cultural and traditional way in respecting the sacredness of the American way of life.

In other cases respect is earned, and not given. What I mean by this is that, sometimes people must gain the respect of others. This can be earned in many ways, like being respectful of others, being the best you can be, and doing kind things for others. This respect can cause people to look up and follow in example of someone, and eventually making you an example for others to follow and look up to, on so on and so forth.

Most people tend to think of themselves as an individual, but does this really prove to be true? The tendency to conform to societies “behaviors” is often stronger than ones own personal beliefs, however, every society is different and lives by their own certain behaviors. Shannon Cain’s protagonist Lisa in “The Necessities of Certain Behaviors,” is forced to quickly adapt to the new village she has stumbled across.

Respect shows the inner-self’s esteem of excellence to a person. Respect gives personality out to an adult or another person. Respect

It lessens the stress of selecting one’s own choices; therefore, rules are fundamental to prevent exhaustion in an individual. On the other hand, a rare clique, swayed by the ideas of individualism has discovered the thrill of governing oneself. They believe that uniqueness is the evidence to one’s identity. Although that concept is radical, humans refuse to grasp that chance. “Old habits die hard” especially when people are accustomed to this way of living. They are constantly daunted by the aspect of standing out amongst their peers. So, they stay as quiet as a mouse to prevent the possibility of becoming a loner. No one wishes to be left out. To be kept in, they blindly follow society’s

Analyzing and judging a culture based on one’s local attitude and knowledge will express only the person’s perception and it may also be highly influenced by the person’s own cultural knowledge. To understand a culture holistically, it is important to analyze and understand within its own perspective. Thus, the knowledge of cultural relativism is an important tool that this course has provided. Prior to this class, I used to judge all cultures I have encountered based on my own native culture which sometimes was contradictory and assumed the other cultures were wrong. This class is an eye opener for me as I have now learned the two most important knowledge; cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. I now have the necessary tools to compare the Bushmen (the Sans or Ju/’hoansi) and the Maasai indigenous cultures. This essay will attempt to compare the two cultures in terms of economics, sociopolitical system, and marriage including kinship. For the remainder of this essay, I will refer the Bushmen as the Sans as the previous term is deemed offensive.

There are a lot of concerns about behavior among people in Western society and in this article «Individual Autonomy and Social Structure» Dorothy Lee discusses different groups of people from California, New Mexico, Chinese and Arizona whose lives can be helpful examples in order to solve a number of problems in Western society. This woman tries to find the most alternative methods for coming up with new ideas how to deal with conflicts, therefore, comparing and analyzing usual things as mother tongue, children, and labor. In this essay, I am going to present the main concepts of Lee’s work.
 
The key social issue which was introduced by Lee in this article is the contention between individual self-rule and the social culture. Clearly,

One of the facets of living within civilized society is that there are certain norms and social conventions that people must follow. Frequently, there is a large effort on the part of government, financial, and social institutions to keep people doing most of the same thing as others going to work, driving cars, buying homes, etc. Despite the fact that people engage in these efforts individually, the simple fact that they are all attempting to do the same thing, in much the same way, is indicative of the fact that they are engaged in collective behavior. THESIS: Those who are able to overcome collective behavior and allow for their individuality to determine their own outcomes exemplify the best of human nature.

Social Structure is what we use to define how we will function in society as well as fit in. Norms, values, relationships, and social structure are prevalent in order for each of us to prosper. Robert Merton grasps the core essence of how a strong social structure is something that every individual's looks for in society and emphasizes its importance. He quotes “ Social structure defines, regulates, and controls the acceptable modes of achieving these goals. Every social group invariably couples its scale of desired ends with moral or institutional regulations of permissible and required procedures in attaining these ends.”( Merton 1938 :673). This illustrates the contribution social structure has to

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Quoted from American author Ralph Waldo Emerson, this encapsulates the very spirit of a natural human. In our natural state, we humans strive to continue building on our foundation. The foundation is different for each and every one of us, meaning different things will be built upon each of our foundations. This is humanity, what separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom. We strive to not only survive, but to live. To experience life in our own individual perspective is what makes us unique. In a society discouraging individualism, humanity is stripped away and replaced with synthetic interaction. Simply put, collectivism strips life away. People will not conform to what others think they should conform to, unless it is