1. Read the following - What do you think?
In 1997, Annette Sorensen, 30, an actress from Copenhagen, Denmark, and Exavier Wardlaw, 49, a movie production assistant from Brooklyn, NY, were arrested for leaving their 14-month-old daughter outside a Manhattan restaurant on a chilly day while they ate inside the restaurant. They left the child in her baby carriage on the sidewalk. Many passersby called 911 to alert the police. New York authorities took the child away from her parents and temporarily placed her in foster care.
In an ensuing article in the New York Times, one Danish commentator observed that leaving a baby outside of a restaurant is a very common practice in Denmark. The commentator wrote, “Often, Danish parents. . . leave their babies outside. For one thing, Danish baby carriages are enormous. Babies ride high above the world on horse-carriage-size wheels. It’s hard to get such a carriage into a cafe. . . . Besides, Danish cafes are very smoky places.” The commentator continued, “In Denmark, people have an almost religious conviction that fresh air, preferably cold air, is good for children. All Danish babies nap outside, even in freezing weather—tucked warmly under their plump goose-down comforters. . . . In Denmark all children own a sort of polar survival suit that they wear from October to April and they go out every day, even in winter.”
Different Cultures, Different Approaches to Parenting
A. What would be an ethnocentric interpretation of the parents’ actions?
ethnocentrism - Ethnocentrism, in contrast to cultural relativism, is the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture.
B. What would be a culturally relative interpretation of the parents’ actions?
2. What is culture?
The set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people, but different for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next.
a. cultural universals - A cultural universal is an element, pattern, trait, or institution that is common to all human cultures worldwide.
Ex:
clothing/jewelry
religion
music
education
dancing
feasting
sport/recreation
art/entertainment
drug use
b. material culture - material culture are the physical pieces of culture (artifacts) that you can see, taste, hear, wear and touch.
Ex: fashion, clothes, magazines, newspapers, records, CDs, computer games, food, books, cars, houses and architecture—anything that people make or build.
c. nonmaterial culture - Non-material culture includes the behaviors, actions, ideas, norms, values, and beliefs of a society - or the way people think.
Ex: concepts such as good and evil, religion, gestures, rites of passage, table manners/eating habits, age of consent/adulthood, beliefs in the common good or individualism, or dating, marriage and mating habits.
d. culture shock - Culture shock is the disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to being in a new culture.
Ex:
tipping
advertisements
eye contact
food/diet differences
dating/mating patters
beliefs on sex/nudity
beliefs of time
student-teacher relationships
3. How does culture influence our daily behavior and social interactions?
a. norms - Social norms are the explicit or implicit rules specifying what behaviors are acceptable within a society or group.
Ex:
eye contact
shaking hands/hugging
holding the door open
Greetings: What's up, How's it going? What's going on? How are you?
Asking a woman how old she is.
Asking someone how much money they make.
b. mores - norms that are widely observed and have great moral significance. Mores are often seen as taboos; for example, most societies hold the more that adults not engage in sexual relations with children. Mores emphasize morality through right and wrong, and come with heavy consequences if violated.
Ex:
Incest
pre-marital cohabitation or sex
prostitution
drug use
racism
d. sanctions - a penalty, or some coercive measure, intended to ensure compliance of social norms, values, etc.
c. folkways - norms for more routine or casual interaction. This includes ideas about appropriate greetings and proper dress in different situations. In comparison to the morality of mores, folkways dictate what could be considered either polite or rude behavior. Their violation does not invite any punishment or sanctions, but may come with reprimands or warnings. An example to distinguish the two: a man who does not wear a tie to a formal dinner party may raise eyebrows for violating folkways; were he to arrive wearing only a tie, he would violate cultural mores and invite a more serious response.
Ex:
dress codes
waiting in line
raising your hand to speak
"civil inattention"
personal space
Ex:
legal: fines/arrest/jail/prison
detention/suspension
social judgement/isolation
romantic rejection
employment problems
4. But not everyone in a society following exactly the same culture. What about groups that are outside of the dominant or common culture?
a. subculture - A subculture is a culture shared and actively participated in by a minority of people within a broader culture.
Ex:
Any ethnic group (Native Americans, Chinese, Hispanics)
Religious groups (Jews, LDS/Mormons, Moonies)
Teenagers
Vegans
Farmers or Cowboys or Coal Miners Tea Party Members
Homosexuals
Goths, Punks, Geeks, or Trekkers
Knights of Columbus or Masons
Daughters of American Revolution
b. counterculture - Counterculture is a term describing the values and norms of a cultural group that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day.
Ex:
Jihadists or Nation of Islam
Fundamentalist Church of LDS (Bigamists) Gangs
PETA
Ku Klux Klan
Militias such as Huteree
Hippies
Hells Angels
Mafia
Neo Nazis or Skinheads
Soccer Hooligans (GB)
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