Cultural Norms Research Paper

The term culture can be defined as the attitudes and patterns of behavior in a certain community. A norm refers to the attitudes or behaviors that are considered standard within that certain community. All societies have cultural norms. These norms can include language, clothing, music, education, religion, family, social groups, or beliefs. An individual can often feel denied by or secluded from society due to certain beliefs that may not be considered exceptional. For example, a family from a different area of the world moves to Granite Falls, NC. Our cultural and social norms are completely different from theirs, but they have not yet learned or accustomed to ours. The family could be looked down upon or belittled because of their cultural differences.
This is because in certain societies, individuals are taught that being different means being less. People in these communities often push individuals away because they dress, look, talk, or believe in something different. What may be considered traditional to these new individuals, is viewed differently by the societies they are new to.
We can observe many examples of this topic everyday, in various environments. As a high …show more content…
High school is all about cliques. To create a visual image; at the lunch tables always sits the jocks, the preps, the geniuses, the band players, and so on. It’s inevitable. The child of the family that moved to Granite Falls from another part of the world now attends South Caldwell. The new student scans the lunch room looking for a place to sit, eventually having to sit alone. The rest of the students sit with their friends, frowning upon the appearance of the new student. Listening closely, I hear the new student being called names such as “loser”, “ugly”, and “pathetic”. Along with these hurtful names are comments about the appearance, the name, the background, or the family of the student. Rumors are created, as