Dorothy Lee Individual Autonomy And Social Structure Analysis

Within numerous societies many individuals must give up their uniqueness for the good of civilization as a whole, succumbing to such things as minority status and inequality. However, Dorothy Lee’s intriguing piece Individual Autonomy and Social Structure, discuses how individual integrity and social structure are able to function simultaneously (Lee 14). This is crucial to the community, yet it is often lost within the confines of social structure that creates barriers around what one can and cannot do. These barricades prevent the freedom of self, a concept that all should willingly embrace instead of neglecting entirely. This essay will discuss the fundamental social problem of individual autonomy and social structure, the paper will critically analyze the Navaho Indians’ child rearing methods to prove that the two are able to coexistence effectively, thus concluding with the basic resolution of the key social dilemma presented by Dorothy Lee. …show more content…
The complication at hand is that society indeed possesses a form of social group, however, this collective does not allow human beings the freedom or chance for spontaneous operation, thus lacking the value for sheer personal being (Lee 5). By giving members of society the freedom to act on their own accord, specifically children, they are learning about responsibility, life, and community without control. That is, the parental control that is exerted upon them as children, making sure they refrain from disobedient or dangerous behaviour. The Navaho Indians and their childrearing behaviours display how individual cultures can co exist rather than being in opposition to one another, it is possible to still have structure and also have personal autonomy. The respect for individual integrity is a concept that a Navaho mother and son exhibit in the following