Chructuralism And Structuralism In Christmas

Culture, similarly to language, are composed of systems that govern the behavior of its practitioners. What makes cultures unique and different from one another are the hidden rules individuals of a group understand and expose via cultural acts. Because the elements of culture are comprehended in terms of their relationship to a system, it can be argued that different semantics such as structuralism and cognitive processes can assume the universality of human thought existing in cultural phenomena. By comparing the theories of D’Andrade in structuralism with Claude-Levi Strauss of cognitive processes with a collective experience, such as Christmas, it can be examined how cultural schemes are perceived and related to action. This argument ultimately

Because structural relationships vary within each culture, the meaning of Christmas can be manipulated to give meaning from a sense of self to being part of something, to being greater than the self. In other words, individuals “perform” their identity in which the tradition becomes evidence as a part of a group or greater society where social networks are built. We see, for example, Christmas celebrates authentic meals with its own line up of traditional dishes, including stuffed turkey. But why is this done? A turkey is not born with an underlying human significance. Its life does not depend on the evolutionary purpose of providing meaning to a group of humans on a specific day of the year. Yet, it is prepared because it is part of a system or social structure where social networks are built to achieve some higher form of existence within a society. This question brings into mind Levi-Strauss’s concept of binary opposition, and the idea that acts within a culture are composed of hidden rules that govern the behavior of our actions and the way we think. Similarly to Christmas traditions, cultural practices do not sit upon universal functions that remain stagnant. Instead, underlying human needs, along with cultural acts, alter as individuals and societies undergo transformation through time and space. In accordance to structuralism, because individuals

In reference to the premise, by investigating how individuals internalize culture during socialization, be it through structuralism or cognitive processing, cultural schemes will be perceived and related to action. Whether individuals who “perform” their identity to be a part of a group or greater society, or utilize the outer world by means of contributing to a greater “self,” both views provide satisfaction of needs for relatedness to others, which is a well-known determinant of positive functioning. Further perusing the acceptance of the hypothesis in question, elements of our actions and patterns of our behavior are structuring elements that shape human culture and are universal to