Prior to this week, I was guilty of using the word culture incorrectly. I didn’t fully understand the depth and different dimensions of culture. After completing the readings and watching the lectures, I have identified similarities and differencing within the United States and across the world.
Something I found very different was how important magic and spirituality is in many different cultures. The Nacirema have strong beliefs in keeping the human body as clean as possible, and they are even willing to subject themselves to extreme amounts of pain to allow “magical materials” to enter their bodies. The Nacirema also highly value the sick role in their society. Sick patients seek out the help of a medicine man who perform latipso ceremonies …show more content…
This puts limits on people because they often must alter their emotions to follow the norms of their society. In the novel Jane Eyre, Jane’s love interest, Rochester, keeps his wife locked in an attic because she is described as crazy. A common argument was that Bertha, his wife, wasn’t crazy at all. She just spoke her mind and was independent, which wasn’t cultural acceptable for women to do in the 19th century. Because of this rare behavior, he locked her up which is what ended up causing her to go insane (shmoop.com). This example proves that hiding emotions is necessary for survival, even if it does constrain us to do so.
In the article, “Development as Poison,” one of the five assumptions of modern Western culture are unlimited wants. This means that humans are always wanting more, no matter how much they already have. Having unlimited wants relates to the third U.S. ideology. Consumption is, “the tendency to define oneself in terms of the goods purchased” (Wadsworth). Basically, these two concepts go together because always wanting more goods directly relates to how we define ourselves. The more a person has, the better they feel about themselves. This just proves how selfish U.S. culture and Western culture societies can …show more content…
culture, is a sense of superiority. In “Development as Poison,” it is stated that cultures are ranked on a linear scale that is based on wealth. The United States is a wealthier country which is why our culture is overpowering, and many U.S. citizens would believe it to be superior to other cultures. This goes against cultural relativism, which hindering our progression as a country. Because of this sense of superiority, many U.S. citizens want to prevent other cultures from over powering the U.S. culture. The example used in the textbook discussed how a City Councilmen in Nashville tried to pass a bill prohibiting government workers from using any other language besides English. This sense of power and strength the U.S. feels, ends up causing resentment from other cultures around the
Something I found very different was how important magic and spirituality is in many different cultures. The Nacirema have strong beliefs in keeping the human body as clean as possible, and they are even willing to subject themselves to extreme amounts of pain to allow “magical materials” to enter their bodies. The Nacirema also highly value the sick role in their society. Sick patients seek out the help of a medicine man who perform latipso ceremonies …show more content…
This puts limits on people because they often must alter their emotions to follow the norms of their society. In the novel Jane Eyre, Jane’s love interest, Rochester, keeps his wife locked in an attic because she is described as crazy. A common argument was that Bertha, his wife, wasn’t crazy at all. She just spoke her mind and was independent, which wasn’t cultural acceptable for women to do in the 19th century. Because of this rare behavior, he locked her up which is what ended up causing her to go insane (shmoop.com). This example proves that hiding emotions is necessary for survival, even if it does constrain us to do so.
In the article, “Development as Poison,” one of the five assumptions of modern Western culture are unlimited wants. This means that humans are always wanting more, no matter how much they already have. Having unlimited wants relates to the third U.S. ideology. Consumption is, “the tendency to define oneself in terms of the goods purchased” (Wadsworth). Basically, these two concepts go together because always wanting more goods directly relates to how we define ourselves. The more a person has, the better they feel about themselves. This just proves how selfish U.S. culture and Western culture societies can …show more content…
culture, is a sense of superiority. In “Development as Poison,” it is stated that cultures are ranked on a linear scale that is based on wealth. The United States is a wealthier country which is why our culture is overpowering, and many U.S. citizens would believe it to be superior to other cultures. This goes against cultural relativism, which hindering our progression as a country. Because of this sense of superiority, many U.S. citizens want to prevent other cultures from over powering the U.S. culture. The example used in the textbook discussed how a City Councilmen in Nashville tried to pass a bill prohibiting government workers from using any other language besides English. This sense of power and strength the U.S. feels, ends up causing resentment from other cultures around the