Consider the following predicament: you are hit by a car and the driver evacuates the scene. Is it common sense to file a police report or hunt down the perpetrator yourself? I believe most Americans will choose the former over the latter based on their perception of common sense. However, if someone chooses to seek retribution for the hit and run by themselves, do they then lack common sense or does their common sense merely differ from ours? The Merriam Webster dictionary defines common sense as a “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts.” Do all people then have the same judgement towards all situations? Culture, I believe, is what may blur these lines of judgement based on what is “common …show more content…
However, the more I define cultures and try to conclude where differences in common sense may arise, the more questions I discover. Common sense, though defined, does differ amongst cultures. Much like any belief, common sense is interpreted through different eyes. Religion, region, and other traditions can greatly impact this interpretation. When identifying common sense, many may merge common sense into the same realm as morality. Again, the question arises, can morality differ between a culture as well? As you can see the very definition of what a culture is and how they can differ between others, truly shows the complexity of humanity. Complexity amongst humans is what makes defining groups of us into specific cultures, difficult. There are too many variables to accurately state that one person believes and follows certain traditions solely because of their location, birth, religion, traditions, etc. I believe that idea of being apart of cultures and subcultures is in question, but the idea of common senses stems more from specific questions. For example, the vast majority of people in first-world countries have used stoves to cook with. Therefore, the vast majority of people in the first-world know not to touch a stove when either the light is on or the flames are burning. Resting a flammable object on the hot stove, thinking it as a countertop, would be an interference of common sense in their culture because of their past experience and knowledge of
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.
Throughout this essay, I will explain the distinction between sociological and common sense understanding, highlight the differences between sociology and other social sciences, and evaluate two sociological perspectives – Marxism and feminism.
Morality exists throughout all cultures and religions of the world in some shape or form. In
Culture differences is defined as the integration of social values, beliefs and rules, which guide the behavior from one societal group to another. (Jackson, Guerra, 447) Social construction has shaped many societies, each of them have a different understanding on how social construction defines their life. Societies have practices, traditions, and values, which allows them to have a unique identity. Each one of us comes from diverse cultures that have shaped the way we understand, communicate and perceive the world.
Did you ever know that every country has different cultural values and norms that may cause misunderstanding among cultures around the globe? Of course, I didn’t really know that till I migrated from my country to the USA. A long time ago, I believed that the world was filled with homogenous societies which are based upon one culture only and that culture must be my own culture which I must follow as the ethnocentric standard to all other nations in the world. But later, I had experienced living in multi cultural communities and different continents around the globe, such as Africa and Asia, where getting involved in other people’s lives is very common. As a result of my experience, I have realized that American cultural values have less
The United States has many different cultures and smaller subcultures due to being a melting pot of different peoples of various nations, but with a predominant American culture characterized by clothing brands like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, with a certain type of clothing like cowboy hats, boots, jeans, etc, along with foods like burgers, fries, and hot dogs. Since America has other cultures due to immigration you may find some that Mexican cuisine Is a part of the Texas culture. Within the United States there are smaller subcultures like bodybuilders, bikers, and the BDSM culture. Bodybuilders are defined by weight lifting, while some of the lifters scream to achieve attention. These group of individuals take appreciation in building the human physique, and display of strength, taking pride in being different from conventional society. Bikers also known as the 1% ers, are a subculture with smaller subcultures within it. They are described as hard individuals who go to dangerous venues, and doing leisurely activates on weekends. The different subcultures of bikers are, manufactured riders, sport riders, reginal riders, and activists. BDSM is a taboo subculture
The environmental makeup of the colonies was crucial in the attraction of English subcultures to America and its specific regions. Farmers had no interest or need to go to rocky New England, so consequently they settled in the “bread colonies” of the Middle Atlantic, which were full of rich topsoil and plentiful access to waterways for irrigation and the inexpensive exchange and transportations of goods. Similarly, though Virginia’s soil was not ideal for grains it was exquisite for the production of Europe’s new addiction, tobacco. Tobacco, a cheap man’s crop, was easy money, for it was in high demand and not as expensive to produce as sugar, and thus was enticing for the second sons of England, whom were unable to inherit much of value from
In relation to judgment, I do believe that cultures should judge each other. I think judgment plays an important role when
When comparing cultures, one must form a definition of what culture is. Culture can be easily defined as the social behavior and normality’s found in human societies. It can also be easily made up of a composed arrangement of educated conduct and thought designs. Culture is a sorted out framework since it includes many parts. Throughout the world, there are many cultures that are both very different and also very similar. "Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at table, how we greet visitors, how we behave and one million other things." (Cristina De Rossi.)
After reading this article by Early and Mosakowski, I came to a better understanding on how culture could be learn and understood by using “common sense”. In this article, the authors state that “A person with high emotional intelligence grasps what makes us human and at the same time what makes each of us different from one another”. By reading this quote, I came to understand that “culture can only be used meaningfully by comparison” (class notes). I totally understand and agree with what this article is referring to because I came from a country that has a very different culture than the Americans. When I first arrived in this country, I felt lost and did not know how the Americans culture works but, as I start utilizing “my senses to register
Moral Relativism is generally used to describe the differences among various cultures that influence their morality and ethics. According to James Rachels, because of moral relativism there typically is no right and wrong and briefly states : “Different cultures have different moral codes.” (Rachels, 18) Various cultures perceive right and wrong differently. What is considered right in one society could be considered wrong in another, but altogether all cultures have some values in common.
The Sociological Imagination was a term that was first coined by sociologist C. Wright Mills. It could be said that definition of The Sociological Imagination is having the ability to look beyond personal experience and realise that society is shaped by the cross over between biography and history. Mills thought that everyone in society had the capability to think sociologically and that this was essential to gain a deeper understanding of both their society, and their current circumstance. This approach contradicts a more readily adopted approach by the public that sociologists call “The common sense approach”. The common sense approach is a collection of knowledge that has been acquired through little scientific merit, such as: personal experience, gossip or anecdotal evidence. This essay will discuss and explain the difference between the Sociological Imagination and Common-Sense explanations through the use of examples to explain the topic of sexuality.
One of the most fundamental people in the push for American Independence, Thomas Paine offers much advice in both Common Sense, and The Crisis. Paine offers very strong arguments in Common Sense, which are supported by his own reason, his sensibility, his common sense and by his ability to draw inference from what has already happened. Paine uses every element in his ability to help give more depth to his arguments and plans. However, of all the cases Thomas Paine makes in Common Sense, the ultimate goal of Paine is to incite the American Public to make a stand against British tyranny, and break from Britain altogether, and become independent.
questions asked by our own society. What I am trying to say is that every society
Different societies have different moral codes. Cultural relativism claims that ethics is relative to individuals, groups, cultures and societies. Relativism resists universal moral normal. The moral code of society determines what is right or wrong in that society. There’s no objective standard that can be used to judge one’s society code against another. Its arrogant to judge others cultures. We should always be tolerant of them. Cultural relativism for many people is a response to the complexity of moral issues and the number of different responses various. Groups our cultures have given to moral issues so for many when we look at just how different cultures have responded two different issues the way different cultures. All this diversity that there seems to be a response where we want to say well, maybe there isn 't some sort of absolute right or wrong maybe morality really is just relative to a different group that different people believe different things. In this paper, I will discuss the aspect of my culture from an outside perspective and discuss another culture from an inside perspective. In sociology, the principle is sometimes practiced to avoid cultural bias in research, as well as to avoid judging another culture by the standards of one 's own culture. For this reason, cultural relativism has been considered an attempt to avoid ethnocentrism. Cultural relativism is related to but often distinguished from moral relativism, the view that morality is relative to