What make somebody deviant in society? Is it the way they look? How they act? Where they come from? The answer to this question is actually simply that deviance depends on perception.
If you are viewed by anybody else to be deviant, then you are. The example we used in class was from an episode of Seinfeld. In the episode, Jerry was scratching the side of his nose, but his girlfriend, from her perspective, thought he was picking his nose. Was Jerry being deviant? Yes. Since his girlfriend perceived him to be deviant, he was. In class, we did a reading called Saints and Roughnecks. In this experiment, a sociologist spend over a year observing two groups of male students at the same high school, and tried to determine which was more deviant. The group called the Saints-the preppy, white, wealthy, super involved, good students-were always described by teachers and parents as very good kids. Oppositely, the Roughnecks-poor, minority, poorly dressed, disinterested in school, below average students-were always described as troublemakers, as lazy and lacking drive or potential. In reality, both of the gangs of boys were fairly equally deviant, the Saints being a little more so than the Roughnecks. Both groups of boys drank, vandalized public property, stole, and caused general mayhem, but since the Roughnecks had the appearance of being deviant, they were the group that was always perceived to be that way.
At my own school, I find that a majority of the school is Saints. Being an affluent high school in the suburbs, the students that fit the appearance of deviance are few and far between. Almost all of the students that are deviants are Saints-they appear to be good kids, and do their deviant activity behind closed doors.
Another concept we discussed in class was social class, and how it affects people in America. We defined social class to be a ranking measured by someones income, their wealth, their level of education, as well has some other factors. The higher level someone has of these traits, the higher social class they belong to. Social classes range from the bottom level impoverished, to the top rung, elite capitalists. In America, we don't like to think of ourselves as a culture with a social hierarchy, but in reality, ours is one of the most skewed in the world. The levels of income in our country range from those making less than $10,000.00 a year, to the top 1%, making over $500,000.00 annually. In our country, the top 50% of Americans own over 98% of the wealth.
To demonstrate the realities of the income bracket in America, we played a game of monopoly, where one player played as the old-money capitalist, starting with over $3,000.00 and owning several of the properties, and another player played as the working poor, starting with about $100.00 and no properties, and the rest of the players ranked within that range. By the end of the game, it was impossible for anyone to come close to catching the capitalist, who ended up over doubling their wealth, and the working poor usually ended up in bankruptcy within a few minutes of starting the game. This game was able to illustrate the fundamental ideas within the American social class system, where those with money can just keep making money, and those without continually struggle.
We also looked at how certain aspects of one's social class can affect generations after them. One of these factors was of education. If a child is brought up in a house where one or both parents has a bachelor degree, or higher, that child is much more likely to go to and graduate from college, since there was an emphasis on education in the household. On the other side of the spectrum, a child in a home where both parents never finished high school and both work in minimum-wage, manual labor jobs, that child is very likely to also never finish high school, since college is almost a financial impossibility, and there was most likely little to no emphasis on the importance of education in their home.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Service Trips #3-5 at Holmes Middle School
Trip #3~
On Thursday November 13, 2014, I went to volunteer to tutor at Holmes Middle School in Wheeling for 2.5 hours after school. I have actually volunteered here since sophomore year, and each year have had the opportunity to work with a different group of kids. Each time I go, I help the kids with their homework or any projects they may need help with. This trip, I really took notice of how the kids at this school, which is in not a especially nice area, put little to no emphasis on their school work. The students I work with are seventh grade girls named Naomi and Kelly, and neither of them seems to grasp the importance of doing well and trying hard in school. I remember when I was in seventh grade, I was already thinking about where I wanted to go for college. These kids, both of whose parents never finished high school, don't even think about high school yet, and seem to already know that they will probably not be able to go to college, and have already decided that school is not of importance to them. I think it is very startling to see how kids that are raised in homes where education is not put on the front burner have completely different outlooks on school and their futures than children who grow up in homes where both parents graduated from college. So, whenever I go to tutor these kids, I try to not just help them finish their homework, but try as much as I can to instill somewhat of an emphasis on education in their minds.
Trip #4~
On Thursday November 20, 2014, I volunteered again at Holmes Middle School, again for 2.5 hours, with the same students, Naomi and Kelly. This trip, I noticed another factor that differentiates the lives of these kids from my own. This middle school is in an area whose residents are predominately Mexican, and many of the children at the school are native Spanish speakers. Through talking to the kids, and listening to them talk to each other, I've noticed that, since a majority of kids speak Spanish at home and are therefore fluent in the language, most of the students that are not native Spanish speakers try especially hard with their homework for Spanish class, and many of them speak enough of the language to be able to converse with the students that are fluent. I find it very interesting that even though many of these kids don't put a very large emphasis on schoolwork, they try hard in that specific subject so that they can fit in with the larger group of students who do speak Spanish.
Trip #5~
On Thursday December 4, 2014, I again volunteered at Holmes Middle School for 2.5 hours. This trip, I again helped my students Naomi and Kelly finish with their homework and, once we had finished, taught them how to play the game Clue. These students, who normally put up quite a fight when I try to get them to finish their homework, and are very reluctant when I try to teach them new things, were suddenly very interested in the prospect of learning a new game. I thought this was very interesting, and illustrated to me that while students who are brought up in different environments may have very different outlooks on education through school, they are all still very willing to learn when I is something that interests them, or is fun.
On Thursday November 13, 2014, I went to volunteer to tutor at Holmes Middle School in Wheeling for 2.5 hours after school. I have actually volunteered here since sophomore year, and each year have had the opportunity to work with a different group of kids. Each time I go, I help the kids with their homework or any projects they may need help with. This trip, I really took notice of how the kids at this school, which is in not a especially nice area, put little to no emphasis on their school work. The students I work with are seventh grade girls named Naomi and Kelly, and neither of them seems to grasp the importance of doing well and trying hard in school. I remember when I was in seventh grade, I was already thinking about where I wanted to go for college. These kids, both of whose parents never finished high school, don't even think about high school yet, and seem to already know that they will probably not be able to go to college, and have already decided that school is not of importance to them. I think it is very startling to see how kids that are raised in homes where education is not put on the front burner have completely different outlooks on school and their futures than children who grow up in homes where both parents graduated from college. So, whenever I go to tutor these kids, I try to not just help them finish their homework, but try as much as I can to instill somewhat of an emphasis on education in their minds.
Trip #4~
On Thursday November 20, 2014, I volunteered again at Holmes Middle School, again for 2.5 hours, with the same students, Naomi and Kelly. This trip, I noticed another factor that differentiates the lives of these kids from my own. This middle school is in an area whose residents are predominately Mexican, and many of the children at the school are native Spanish speakers. Through talking to the kids, and listening to them talk to each other, I've noticed that, since a majority of kids speak Spanish at home and are therefore fluent in the language, most of the students that are not native Spanish speakers try especially hard with their homework for Spanish class, and many of them speak enough of the language to be able to converse with the students that are fluent. I find it very interesting that even though many of these kids don't put a very large emphasis on schoolwork, they try hard in that specific subject so that they can fit in with the larger group of students who do speak Spanish.
Trip #5~
On Thursday December 4, 2014, I again volunteered at Holmes Middle School for 2.5 hours. This trip, I again helped my students Naomi and Kelly finish with their homework and, once we had finished, taught them how to play the game Clue. These students, who normally put up quite a fight when I try to get them to finish their homework, and are very reluctant when I try to teach them new things, were suddenly very interested in the prospect of learning a new game. I thought this was very interesting, and illustrated to me that while students who are brought up in different environments may have very different outlooks on education through school, they are all still very willing to learn when I is something that interests them, or is fun.
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Post #7
Sugar and spice and everything nice...that's what little girls are made of. Boys don't play with dolls. A woman's place is in the home. Nice guys finish last. Boys don't like smart girls. Boys will be boys. All of phrases are ubiquitous in our society. These are things that we have all heard, whether it be in the media, or from our peers, or even from our parents. And other these phrases have stemmed from our societal ideals of gender, and act as a way to keep these traditional gender values present in modern society.
As children, we are assigned our gender from even before birth. When parents find out the sex of their baby, they begin to buy things that are exclusively blue or pink. They buy either toy cars or dolls. They paint the nursery blue or pink. The idea of certain attributes, whether it be liking of a color or certain toy, belonging to a certain gender, is so engraved in our minds that I didn't even have to tell you which gender received which. You already knew. As I discussed in my last post, we are influenced from the second we are born by our families, and throughout the entirety of our lives by our peers and the media. All of these groups are what are called agents of socialization, and they act as a tool to teach us how we are supposed to be to be socially acceptable.
Our society teaches us that based on our sex, we must behave in a certain way, and keep ourselves within a certain box to be normal. I'll start with the girls. Agents of socialization teach girls that we have to have certain characteristics. We need to be pretty, dependent, nurturing, kind, easily controlled, affectionate, simple-minded, and willing to succumb to a man's will. Girls are taught that it is unattractive to be intelligent or strong-willed, and since our main goal in life should be to find a man that will take care of us, we cannot be this way. Now, obviously this idea of total females being sub-ordinates to men has lessoned, but these traditional female values are still rooted in our society. But, more importantly than anything else, girls are taught that we must be beautiful. We must fit this certain cookie-cutter outline of beauty, we must be thin and tall, and have perfect hair without styling it, and a perfect face without makeup. We must fit this outline of beauty to be considered attractive, and if we don't, we are less of a woman. This effect of the media on the self-esteem of girls is discussed in the movie Killing Us Softly 4, where ads are examined to show how women are edited and objectified, which leads to a huge effect on girls, causing them to view themselves as less. So, girls begin to put in hours of effort in order to achieve this effortless beauty. Girls grow up yearning to look like the models they see in ads, not knowing that those models don't even look like that. In a Dove ad we watched in class, we saw the process that goes into taking a normal woman and making her billboard ready. Being continuously exposed to these feelings of inadequacy cause girls to be exceptionally critical of themselves. In another Dove ad, it said "Amy can find 12 things wrong with her appearance. He can't find one." Girls are taught to be incredibly critical of themselves and others, while boys are not. This leads to the national epidemics of eating disorders and a influx in the number of cosmetic procedures done annually.
The effect of society on boys is almost opposite of that on girls. Boys are told that to be a real man, they need to be tough, smart, independent, strong, stoic, and dependable. Boys aren't allowed to show emotion, unless of course, that emotion is anger. Boys are raised watching movies and playing video games full of extreme violence and learn from it that in order to be a real man they need to be intimidating and controlling, and gain to ability to intimidate through violence, as was demonstrated in the movie Tough Guise. But, if there are any boys who do show sensitivity or don't wish to be violent, they are made fun of. They are called "gay" and a "fag." This "gay-baitng" is what causes boys to try and demonstrate their masculinity through extreme displays of violence, like school shootings, as discussed in the reading by Kimmel and Maher. Boys, specifically white, suburban boys, are the most likely to commit acts like school shooting because of history of "gay-baitng," and this constant blow to their masculinity causes them to eventually explode their feeling into this display of extreme masculinity through violence.
Now, I have just described gender by splitting this idea into two distinct groups, as is the norm in our society. In actuality, this is not how gender is at all, or sexuality. Americans tend to try and have two distinct groups, one being masculinity and heterosexuality, and the other being femininity and homosexuality. But in reality, these groups are just the two ends of a large spectrum of gender and sexuality. There are people who are gender queer, and don't find themselves fitting into either the groups of boys or girls, but somewhere in between. There are people who are bisexual or asexual, and people who are transgender or transsexual. There is a huge variety of gender and sexual identities in the world, even if society only wants to recognize two of them.
As children, we are assigned our gender from even before birth. When parents find out the sex of their baby, they begin to buy things that are exclusively blue or pink. They buy either toy cars or dolls. They paint the nursery blue or pink. The idea of certain attributes, whether it be liking of a color or certain toy, belonging to a certain gender, is so engraved in our minds that I didn't even have to tell you which gender received which. You already knew. As I discussed in my last post, we are influenced from the second we are born by our families, and throughout the entirety of our lives by our peers and the media. All of these groups are what are called agents of socialization, and they act as a tool to teach us how we are supposed to be to be socially acceptable.
Our society teaches us that based on our sex, we must behave in a certain way, and keep ourselves within a certain box to be normal. I'll start with the girls. Agents of socialization teach girls that we have to have certain characteristics. We need to be pretty, dependent, nurturing, kind, easily controlled, affectionate, simple-minded, and willing to succumb to a man's will. Girls are taught that it is unattractive to be intelligent or strong-willed, and since our main goal in life should be to find a man that will take care of us, we cannot be this way. Now, obviously this idea of total females being sub-ordinates to men has lessoned, but these traditional female values are still rooted in our society. But, more importantly than anything else, girls are taught that we must be beautiful. We must fit this certain cookie-cutter outline of beauty, we must be thin and tall, and have perfect hair without styling it, and a perfect face without makeup. We must fit this outline of beauty to be considered attractive, and if we don't, we are less of a woman. This effect of the media on the self-esteem of girls is discussed in the movie Killing Us Softly 4, where ads are examined to show how women are edited and objectified, which leads to a huge effect on girls, causing them to view themselves as less. So, girls begin to put in hours of effort in order to achieve this effortless beauty. Girls grow up yearning to look like the models they see in ads, not knowing that those models don't even look like that. In a Dove ad we watched in class, we saw the process that goes into taking a normal woman and making her billboard ready. Being continuously exposed to these feelings of inadequacy cause girls to be exceptionally critical of themselves. In another Dove ad, it said "Amy can find 12 things wrong with her appearance. He can't find one." Girls are taught to be incredibly critical of themselves and others, while boys are not. This leads to the national epidemics of eating disorders and a influx in the number of cosmetic procedures done annually.
The effect of society on boys is almost opposite of that on girls. Boys are told that to be a real man, they need to be tough, smart, independent, strong, stoic, and dependable. Boys aren't allowed to show emotion, unless of course, that emotion is anger. Boys are raised watching movies and playing video games full of extreme violence and learn from it that in order to be a real man they need to be intimidating and controlling, and gain to ability to intimidate through violence, as was demonstrated in the movie Tough Guise. But, if there are any boys who do show sensitivity or don't wish to be violent, they are made fun of. They are called "gay" and a "fag." This "gay-baitng" is what causes boys to try and demonstrate their masculinity through extreme displays of violence, like school shootings, as discussed in the reading by Kimmel and Maher. Boys, specifically white, suburban boys, are the most likely to commit acts like school shooting because of history of "gay-baitng," and this constant blow to their masculinity causes them to eventually explode their feeling into this display of extreme masculinity through violence.
Now, I have just described gender by splitting this idea into two distinct groups, as is the norm in our society. In actuality, this is not how gender is at all, or sexuality. Americans tend to try and have two distinct groups, one being masculinity and heterosexuality, and the other being femininity and homosexuality. But in reality, these groups are just the two ends of a large spectrum of gender and sexuality. There are people who are gender queer, and don't find themselves fitting into either the groups of boys or girls, but somewhere in between. There are people who are bisexual or asexual, and people who are transgender or transsexual. There is a huge variety of gender and sexual identities in the world, even if society only wants to recognize two of them.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Post #6
In class, we have been discussing the ideas of nature vs. nurture, and what agents of socialization affect the process of our nurture. Our nature includes traits we are born with. We are born with our sex, our sexuality, our appearance, etc. All of these traits are inherent in our genes; especially our aptitude to learn. As children, we learn most everything we know. As babies, we learn how to speak, how to walk, how to think and form ideas, even how to chew. We are born unable to do most of these things that we now do subconsciously. We learn how to do these things from the people around us, or the agents of socialization in our lives. Agents of socialization are things like our family, school, or the media, as described by James Henslin in the reading we read for class. When we are born, the first and most influential agent of socialization in our lives is our family. All the things I listed above are things we learn by being around our family. Proof of the importance of nurture early in our lives can be seen in the examples of feral and isolated children. In class, we discussed the example of Genie, who was found at the age of 13 locked in a room in her parents home, strapped to a potty-chair that she had never been able to leave since she was born. Genie had never had any human interaction, had never had any nurture in her life, and as a result, couldn't speak, couldn't chew, wasn't able to stand up straight, could walk without shuffling her feet, couldn't straighten her hands or legs, couldn't feel temperature, the list goes on and on. Without having any agents of socialization at any point in her life, Genie had remained in the primitive state in which she was born.
Through the agents of socialization in our lives, we learn both manifest and latent lessons. Manifest lessons are lessons that people like our parents have purposefully taught us. For example, when our parents would discipline us as children, and tell us "Don't hit people" or "Don't talk back to me," they were teaching us manifest lessons to not be violent and to be obedient. Our parents and others also teach us latent lessons, which are things they teach us unintentionally. A prime example of a latent lesson is how our parents teach us our gender before we are even born. While we are still in the womb, our parents will paint our room based on our sex, either blue or pink. These gender norms are so engraved in all our minds, I don't even have to tell you which color is for which gender, you already know. Once we are born, our genders are further imposed on us from the toys our parents give us to play with, be it Barbies or Matchbox cars. We are dressed in certain colors and types of clothing that we carry with us our entire lives because from birth, we are shown that girls are supposed to like things that are frilly and pink, while boys like structured and blue.
Thinking back on the idea of gender norms in my own life, I have realized that my parents actually did a pretty good job of not imposing certain roles on any of my siblings or myself. Growing up, my favorite color was dark purple, and I was obsessed with the movie Toy Story as opposed to princesses. I always carried my Woody the cowboy with me, and almost everyday wore my gray, fleece Toy Story hoodie, and never wore shoes, simply because I hated them. Similarly, my older sister was a fanatic about Thomas the Tank Engine, and my little brother would push a football around the neighborhood in a pink Barbie themed stroller. I also aspired to be a football player throughout most of my childhood, until it was made clear later in life by the rest of society that girls can't be football players. But, even though my parents never really pushed these gender specific roles on me, once I started school, I began to try and act more like a "girl," even if I didn't really realize it. My favorite color became a lighter shade of lavender, like the color font I am using right now. I began to wear more girly clothes, and play with dolls, and decided I wanted to be a chef instead of a football player. I decided I wanted to be more like the girls I saw on TV and in the ads for Barbie dolls and fun hair accessories. Even though I wasn't pressured to fill certain gender roles from my family, the agents of socialization of my peers and the media made me want to fill those roles, and be more of a "girl."
Through the agents of socialization in our lives, we learn both manifest and latent lessons. Manifest lessons are lessons that people like our parents have purposefully taught us. For example, when our parents would discipline us as children, and tell us "Don't hit people" or "Don't talk back to me," they were teaching us manifest lessons to not be violent and to be obedient. Our parents and others also teach us latent lessons, which are things they teach us unintentionally. A prime example of a latent lesson is how our parents teach us our gender before we are even born. While we are still in the womb, our parents will paint our room based on our sex, either blue or pink. These gender norms are so engraved in all our minds, I don't even have to tell you which color is for which gender, you already know. Once we are born, our genders are further imposed on us from the toys our parents give us to play with, be it Barbies or Matchbox cars. We are dressed in certain colors and types of clothing that we carry with us our entire lives because from birth, we are shown that girls are supposed to like things that are frilly and pink, while boys like structured and blue.
Thinking back on the idea of gender norms in my own life, I have realized that my parents actually did a pretty good job of not imposing certain roles on any of my siblings or myself. Growing up, my favorite color was dark purple, and I was obsessed with the movie Toy Story as opposed to princesses. I always carried my Woody the cowboy with me, and almost everyday wore my gray, fleece Toy Story hoodie, and never wore shoes, simply because I hated them. Similarly, my older sister was a fanatic about Thomas the Tank Engine, and my little brother would push a football around the neighborhood in a pink Barbie themed stroller. I also aspired to be a football player throughout most of my childhood, until it was made clear later in life by the rest of society that girls can't be football players. But, even though my parents never really pushed these gender specific roles on me, once I started school, I began to try and act more like a "girl," even if I didn't really realize it. My favorite color became a lighter shade of lavender, like the color font I am using right now. I began to wear more girly clothes, and play with dolls, and decided I wanted to be a chef instead of a football player. I decided I wanted to be more like the girls I saw on TV and in the ads for Barbie dolls and fun hair accessories. Even though I wasn't pressured to fill certain gender roles from my family, the agents of socialization of my peers and the media made me want to fill those roles, and be more of a "girl."
Monday, October 27, 2014
Service Trips 1&2: Wealshire
For my first two service trips, I went to Wealshire Nursing Home on September 30 and October 14, from 3:45 to 5:15 both dates. Wealshire is a nursing home for people suffering from various forms of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and when I go with Key Club, we do activities with some of the higher functioning residents. I have actually been volunteering here for the past four years, and have always really enjoyed it. My first trip there this school year, we spent the afternoon playing bingo with the residents. There is one woman named Nancy who I have gotten to know there over the past couple of years, as she is one of the only residents who is able to really remember who we are each time we visit. While we were playing, I would help her by pointing out spaces on her board the she hadn't heard be called, and each time she would say "If I win, I'll split my prize with you. Wanna know what the prize is? A whole lot of nothing." Each time we go, Nancy also makes sure to say "I give you kids props for coming back here. I wouldn't." My second visit on the 14th, we spent the time painting pumpkins, as many of the residents, and I'm sure many of the volunteers, were unable to safely handle carving tools. This week, Nancy wasn't feeling well, so I worked with a woman named Elaine, who is in the picture above. She spent the time telling me about her grandsons who graduated from Stevenson also, and asking me about my family. It was really great to see how our going there and talking only an hour and a half out of our day was able to brighten theirs so much.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Post #5
For introduction into our discussion of American culture, the teacher asked for each of us to email him two pictures that we believe capture our culture in the United States. A majority of the pictures were the same-iPhones, McDonald's and other fast/fattening food, other brand names like Lulu Lemon, Ugg, and Vineyard Vines (which I didn't understand, as I know for a fact at least two of those companies are Australian). My personal favorite was a picture someone sent in of hoards of people charging into the mall on Black Friday as it was first opening. These images were the first things that people in my class, American people, thought of when they thought of their own country. In our reading of Kohl's The American Values to Live By, the author addresses 15 or so different identifiers of American culture. They are:
Another source we analyzed that depicts more of these values of American culture is a passage from the book Thrive by Dan Buettner. In the novel, Buettner outlines strategies to achieve true happiness. Based on the tips to the reader, it is easy to see how the novel is modeled to find happiness by embracing and moving past certain aspects of American culture. For example, one step to finding happiness is to create a type of "pride shrine." That is, a place in your home that is dedicated to celebrating and displaying your own personal achievements. By doing this, people can find some happiness by embracing the American values of personal achievement and success, along with motivating you to value self-help and initiative. Another one of Buettner's tips is to live close to where you work (close meaning walking distance, not a ten minute commute). While this increases happiness by removing many people's most dreaded part of the day, the morning commute, while also increasing one's interaction with nature, which also increases happiness, being able to walk also takes into account some American values. By being able to get to work with a short walk as opposed to a 20-60 minutes drive in heavy traffic, Americans are able incorporate their value of practicality and efficiency into their daily routine by saving time from no commute and money from not having to pay for gas.
- Personal control/responsibility
- Change/Progress
- Time
- Equality
- Individualism/freedom
- Self-help/initiative
- Competition
- Future Orientation
- Action/work
- Informality
- Directness/Honesty
- Practicality
- Materialism
- Personal Achievement
- Morality
Another source we analyzed that depicts more of these values of American culture is a passage from the book Thrive by Dan Buettner. In the novel, Buettner outlines strategies to achieve true happiness. Based on the tips to the reader, it is easy to see how the novel is modeled to find happiness by embracing and moving past certain aspects of American culture. For example, one step to finding happiness is to create a type of "pride shrine." That is, a place in your home that is dedicated to celebrating and displaying your own personal achievements. By doing this, people can find some happiness by embracing the American values of personal achievement and success, along with motivating you to value self-help and initiative. Another one of Buettner's tips is to live close to where you work (close meaning walking distance, not a ten minute commute). While this increases happiness by removing many people's most dreaded part of the day, the morning commute, while also increasing one's interaction with nature, which also increases happiness, being able to walk also takes into account some American values. By being able to get to work with a short walk as opposed to a 20-60 minutes drive in heavy traffic, Americans are able incorporate their value of practicality and efficiency into their daily routine by saving time from no commute and money from not having to pay for gas.
I myself, having become more sociological mindful, have decided to embrace the values of American culture I am proud of, while trying to separate myself from the ones I'm not. There are certain aspects of American culture that should inspire and motivate us to do well. Our culture pushes us to have strong work ethics and strive to gain personal success, which are both good things that I want to have in my life. Our culture also values taking personal responsibility, which I believe is commendable, as it makes each of very aware of the effects of our actions, allowing us to grow from our mistakes, where as a culture that values fate and destiny might not be able to do that.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Post #4
In our class, we began learning about culture, and different norms found within different cultures. When our teacher asked us to think about any different cultures we are a part or have experienced, I initially drew a blank. I have never spent an excessive amount of time outside the Midwest my whole life. But then, I thought about the way life was when I lived in Michigan for the first 12 years of my life, and how differently it actually is from suburban Chicago, even though the two are geographically near each other. In Michigan, we proud Michiganders (which actually is the correct term for people from the great peninsula) have a certain arsenal of lingual terms and gestures that those who do not dwell there wouldn't understand. First, when a Michigander meets a fellow native of Michigan, we ask where they're from in the state. And every time, the person will hold up their right hand, palm out, and point to approximately where they are from on the mitten. Another thing is that in Michigan, we have a chain of restaurants called Leo's Coney Island. This restaurant is essentially a traditional diner, but one that serves Greek food. And they are located in almost every single strip mall in the Detroit metropolitan area. So, when you are in Michigan, you can tell someone you are going to Leo's, and they will completely understand what you are talking about, while someone who is not from Michigan will ask in confusion "Who is Leo?" A third predominant term used by all Michiganders is saying "Up North." In Michigan, everyone vacations "Up North," and when you tell people you are going "Up North," they know with absolute certainty that you are talking about going to northern Michigan to enjoy the beaches of Lake Michigan. The list of terms and gestures that are used in the subculture of the great state of Michigan goes on and on.
Thinking about this other culture that I had grown up in helps me to see some of the different ideas we have learned about in class in action. The idea of non-material culture, which is essentially anything that is unique to a culture that you can't see, like language, gestures, specific rules and practices, is evident when I think about the culture of my home state. On the other hand, the material culture-which is a term that describes exactly as you would expect, the items unique to a culture- of Michigan is basically identical to the material culture of the rest of America. This unique non-material culture found within Michigan is a great example of a sub-culture within American culture. While overall, the way of life in Michigan is very similar to the way life is practiced in the rest of America, Michigan has a few differences that give it its own subculture, because they are things that non-Michiganders would not understand.
Within the realm of culture, there are two categories that different practices are grouped into: non-material and material culture, which are as I just described above. The material culture in different cultures is the one that is most easy to see. In the film we watched in class God Grew Tired of Us, the "lost boys," who were refugees of the Sudanese civil war, were brought to America to have a chance at life until their homeland was no longer too dangerous to live in. When the boys arrived in America, what they were initially shocked about was the stark contrast between the material culture of America and where they grew up. The things that shocked them the most were the things that we Americans are so accustomed to, we never give them any thought. Things like electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, refrigerators, single person beds, garbage cans, etc. The boys experiences extreme culture shock, which is when you find yourself in the middle of another culture and are taken aback by how different it is from your own. Seeing people so shocked at these extremely common pieces of our culture in America gives you perspective as to how completely different people's lives can be in different parts of the world. Not that they are in some way deprived, it's just that we are so reliant on our modern conveniences, that the idea that other people could live so well without them is a shock to our systems.
The other type of culture, non-material culture, includes anything that isn't a material possession. Things like language, gestures, and the norms of a culture. Cultural norms are divided into three categories: folkways, mores, and taboos. Folkways are things that are not very important, forgotten rules of a cultures. Things like not eating with your elbows on the table, or not holding the door open. They are the kinds of things that if you did them, people might notice, but they would not judge you for them (even though I, personally, find it incredibly rude to not hold doors open, and think it is a very simple act of kindness, but that's irrelevant). The second type of norms are mores. Mores are things that are a bit more severe than folkways, and if you did or didn't do these things, people would judge you. In Western culture, an example of a mores would be that if you are eating, especially in public, you don't eat certain foods with your hands. If you went to a restaurant, and started chowing down on fistfuls of spaghetti, people would start to question that immediately. While they might not confront you about it, they will think there is something wrong with you. Finally, taboos are norms that are so forbidden and just wrong that most people wouldn't even think about doing them. Things like picking your nose in public, or farting on a date, or talking about what people do in the restroom, or basically anything that you can think of doing that would be mortifyingly embarrassing.
In class, we read an article about a Danish woman who was visiting America with her husband and baby. When she and her husband went to dine at a restaurant, she left her baby in its carriage outside on the sidewalk. When passer by's saw, they were shocked, disgusted, and decided to call the police. The police took the child away from its mother, and she had to go through great lengths to get it back. In America, leaving your child unattended in a busy city is a taboo, and everyone here wouldn't even think about doing it. But, in Denmark, as well as many other northern European countries, leaving your baby outside while the parents dine in a café is completely common practice, and no one there would question it. These differences in non-material culture caused culture shock for both the mother and the Americans who saw the child.
Thinking about this other culture that I had grown up in helps me to see some of the different ideas we have learned about in class in action. The idea of non-material culture, which is essentially anything that is unique to a culture that you can't see, like language, gestures, specific rules and practices, is evident when I think about the culture of my home state. On the other hand, the material culture-which is a term that describes exactly as you would expect, the items unique to a culture- of Michigan is basically identical to the material culture of the rest of America. This unique non-material culture found within Michigan is a great example of a sub-culture within American culture. While overall, the way of life in Michigan is very similar to the way life is practiced in the rest of America, Michigan has a few differences that give it its own subculture, because they are things that non-Michiganders would not understand.
Within the realm of culture, there are two categories that different practices are grouped into: non-material and material culture, which are as I just described above. The material culture in different cultures is the one that is most easy to see. In the film we watched in class God Grew Tired of Us, the "lost boys," who were refugees of the Sudanese civil war, were brought to America to have a chance at life until their homeland was no longer too dangerous to live in. When the boys arrived in America, what they were initially shocked about was the stark contrast between the material culture of America and where they grew up. The things that shocked them the most were the things that we Americans are so accustomed to, we never give them any thought. Things like electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, refrigerators, single person beds, garbage cans, etc. The boys experiences extreme culture shock, which is when you find yourself in the middle of another culture and are taken aback by how different it is from your own. Seeing people so shocked at these extremely common pieces of our culture in America gives you perspective as to how completely different people's lives can be in different parts of the world. Not that they are in some way deprived, it's just that we are so reliant on our modern conveniences, that the idea that other people could live so well without them is a shock to our systems.
The other type of culture, non-material culture, includes anything that isn't a material possession. Things like language, gestures, and the norms of a culture. Cultural norms are divided into three categories: folkways, mores, and taboos. Folkways are things that are not very important, forgotten rules of a cultures. Things like not eating with your elbows on the table, or not holding the door open. They are the kinds of things that if you did them, people might notice, but they would not judge you for them (even though I, personally, find it incredibly rude to not hold doors open, and think it is a very simple act of kindness, but that's irrelevant). The second type of norms are mores. Mores are things that are a bit more severe than folkways, and if you did or didn't do these things, people would judge you. In Western culture, an example of a mores would be that if you are eating, especially in public, you don't eat certain foods with your hands. If you went to a restaurant, and started chowing down on fistfuls of spaghetti, people would start to question that immediately. While they might not confront you about it, they will think there is something wrong with you. Finally, taboos are norms that are so forbidden and just wrong that most people wouldn't even think about doing them. Things like picking your nose in public, or farting on a date, or talking about what people do in the restroom, or basically anything that you can think of doing that would be mortifyingly embarrassing.
In class, we read an article about a Danish woman who was visiting America with her husband and baby. When she and her husband went to dine at a restaurant, she left her baby in its carriage outside on the sidewalk. When passer by's saw, they were shocked, disgusted, and decided to call the police. The police took the child away from its mother, and she had to go through great lengths to get it back. In America, leaving your child unattended in a busy city is a taboo, and everyone here wouldn't even think about doing it. But, in Denmark, as well as many other northern European countries, leaving your baby outside while the parents dine in a café is completely common practice, and no one there would question it. These differences in non-material culture caused culture shock for both the mother and the Americans who saw the child.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)