Human beings are not born people.
At birth, they are nothing more than oddly-shaped animals. Every human trait, such as language, values, norms, traditions, and taboos are learned, passed from adult to child through cultural transmission. Cultural transmission is a process by which children are socialized into recognizable human beings by their caregivers, communities, and societies. Without this socialization, there can be dire consequences, as in the cases of Genie and Isabella, two “feral” children.
When Genie the world’s most famous “feral child” was discovered, she didn’t how to speak, had no understanding of cultural norms or taboos, and was thought to be mentally handicapped. Until she was thirteen, Genie was raised in almost complete
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In this case, this was mainly due to the timing of socialization and the way that we are socialized, through cultural transmissions. Language is one of the main forms of cultural transmission; as James Henslin states, “Without language, there can be no culture—no shared way of life—and culture is the key to what people become” (68). Therefore, while Genie was discovered too late in her development to acquire language, Isabella was fortunate enough to be caught before the critical period in which she could acquire language, and she was able to receive cultural transmissions that socialized her in a way that Genie was unable to compete with. While this instance points to the importance of language and human contact in a child’s development, it also paves the way for the argument that socialization can be deemed the transmission of culture. Neither girl was initially offered human culture of any kind, and so they were completely unsocialized.
But, what other examples can be offered to support that argument that socialization is the transmission of culture? One need only look at gender roles around the world. Throughout history, there have been “men’s jobs” and “women’s jobs” in every society; however, the assigned roles, which can shape entire cultures, are not universal. This points to the fact that gender differences are mainly socialized into infants through cultural transmissions and are not
During this era of global history from 632 to 1352 C.E, it is seen that the societies began to interact with other cultures leading to cultural diffusion which would have both positive impacts, such as new trade goods, on societies along with negative effects, such as being conquered, on these societies as well. The documents provided show these benefits and harmful factors of cultural diffusion during this global era. Documents one, two, four, and five show some of the negative effects of global interaction. Within this group document one, four and five shows how societies have a direct negative impact on each other. On the other hand document three and six show how global interaction can have a positive impact on societies.
“Babies”. Is a documentary made by the Thomas Balmés. It offers a window on the lives of four infants in four completely different cultures. This is not a usual kind of documentary; there are no narration, no subtitles and actual dialogue was very minimal. The film explores childhood rituals, enculturation, socialization and parenthood. I will try to explore each of these themes and try to make the case that behaviors, values and fears are learned not something congenital. It has, in my opinion, comparative perspectives and different methods in rearing children in different societies. It achieves this by cutting the scenes in certain ways to show the differences between these different children. For example, in one part of the film, both Bayarjargal (the Mongolian child) and Mari (the Japanese child) were playing with their pet cats and then the two scenes were edited to a shot of Ponijo (the Namibian child) looking interested in flies. The four children developed in somewhat similar ways. However, there are differences in their behaviors due to the enculturation by seeing their parents or siblings who were doing what they thought to be the norms and the obvious landscape in which they are brought up. Two of the kids were born in rural areas (Namibia and Mongolia) and two were born in urban areas (the United States and Japan). The mothers of these infants were interviewed and chosen to be in the film
The popular Disney film Aladdin follows the story of “street-urchin” and orphan Aladdin and his pet monkey Abu. In the story, Aladdin falls in love with princess Jasmine. However, she is not allowed to marry anyone other than a prince. Meanwhile, Aladdin is swept away to become a part of a ploy by villain Jafar to search for and claim a mysterious lamp that is said to grant wishes. The movie is full of false representations of Arabia and Arabians. Seen by children, Aladdin perfectly exemplifies the idea that many racial stereotypes in the media easily go unnoticed. While these young boys and girls are excited by the story, they are blind to treacherous social constructions that are indoctrinating them.
However, there is still and will always be debating points stating that gender socialization either doesn’t occur or doesn’t pose a problem. This can be refuted using multiple examples that trace back to one main topic: sexism. Sexism essentially has been the byproduct of gender socialization in the sense that it is based off the notion that ‘one sex isn’t
The French documentary Babies shows the first year of development of four different babies who live in four completely different environments. The film follows Ponijao, a little girl from Namibia, Bayar, a little boy from Mongolia, Mari, a girl from Tokyo, and Hattie, a girl from San Francisco. Even though the babies live in very dissimilar parts of the world, their physical, cognitive, and social development seem to all follow a set pattern. On the other hand, the babies learn to do some activities distinctive to their environment by watching their parents and siblings. Therefore, Babies provides evidence to support both the nature and nurture sides of the debate.
K. (1995). Feral children and clever animals: Reflections on human nature. New York: Oxford Univ Press.
My first core value is autonomy and independence, and it is important to me because I want some freedom to decide how and when to do my job. Having autonomy will allow me to implement some of my own ideas into my work, which will increase my dedication toward the job. I also need to believe that I am the source of my actions, rather than a manager above me in order to be satisfied with my job. I have always been around and interacted with a diverse group of people throughout my education and in my community. Therefore, I want to collaborate with a diverse group of people in my workplace as well. I believe having people similar and different from me in my workplace would make me more comfortable and at ease with my job because I would be more
On November 4, 1970 in Los Angeles, California Genie’s condition was brought to attention by a social worker. The worker discovered the 13-year old girl in a small, dimly lit, confined bedroom. An investigation by authorities exposed that the child had spent most of her life in this room and typically was tied to a potty chair. Genie was found in diapers because she was not potty trained. Her case is an example of extreme isolation from human contact, society, sunlight, and any other environments besides her room. The deprivation of attachment showed when she was timid to humans, almost afraid. Someone whose life was a developmental nightmare could not possibly be expected to have the basic trust that the world is trustworthy and predictable. The life she lived was incredibly horrifying as morals, and psychology portray just how severe the consequences were on Genie.
In the Wikipedia the definition of a feral child is a human being that was raised in an isolated environment away from human interaction from an early age, and has no familiarity of human behavior, human care and human language. Feral children are completely different from other children. They were born and raised in a different environment. The guardians the feral children had were abusive and unloving towards them. The pain and abandonment they felt is something no one should ever go through, especially young innocent children. These feral children don’t have the opportunity to learn the basic stuff like other children do. The first years growing up as a child have a huge impact on our development like learning some language skills, eating
Social isolation is one of the most severe punishments known to man. However, for one innocent girl, known as Genie, social isolation was all she knew. Genie was a nickname given to a feral 13-year-old girl who had been a victim of being severely abused and neglected by her parents, in her own house in Arcadia, California. Prior to Genie being discovered in 1970 by Los Angeles child welfare authorities, much of her life consisted of being locked alone in her room strapped to a potty chair or a crib resulting in her being immobile (Reynolds & Fletcher-Janzen, 2004). While Genie was locked away in her room she was never exposed to speech and would get beat for any noises she would make. Her father, Clark Wiley only interacted with her through barking and growling at her; as a result of this extreme isolation Genie missed the critical period to acquire language (Curtiss et al., 1974; Reynolds & Fletcher-Janzen, 2004). Immediately after Genie had been found she became a new subject for researchers to study and examine the theories of critical periods on humans to learn and understand language. Unfortunately, soon after Genie turned 18, her mother forbid any of the scientists from anymore testing and observations, which ultimately decreased any and all process Genie had made towards learning and understanding language.
When it comes to anthropological theories, it is hard to prove or disprove them because everyone has different experiences in their lives within their different cultures that contribute to their opinion on that theory. I believe this is true with the theory of cultural relativism. My experiences within my own culture and the beliefs of my culture have led me to both agree and disagree with different aspects, or lack thereof, of cultural relativism. I believe there exists a duality within the theory of cultural relativism, a duality that I am familiar with and that has become a significant part of my culture. I am from the Twin Cities in Minnesota. The “Twin Cities” refers to Minneapolis and St. Paul. Only divided by a river (or in some cases, just a street), these cities are of equal, yet different importance in Minnesota culture. My experiences spending time in the two cities have led me to live in duel cultures. While many people live in a duality of cultures through their ethnicity, I identify with duel cultures based on geography. My experiences in both Minneapolis and St. Paul contribute to my ambivalence regarding cultural relativism. In Anthropology, there is a gray area when it comes to generalizing about cultures, because we all come from different ones. The idea of duality is a familiar one with which I can apply to my own life and my own culture, as well as to the well-known anthropological theory that tries to find an answer to the question of what culture is.
"Case 4 Genie, The Wild Child Research or Exploitation?" Case 4 Genie, The Wild Child Research or Exploitation? Georgetown University, n.d. Web. 15 Sep. 2013. .
The number one questions the surrounds the case of Genie Wiley is whether she was born mentally retarded or was this a result of her ten years in isolation from birth? This question can receive two different answers based on how you choose to perceive the nature or the nurture of another person. Genie did have the capacity to grow, just as Victor did in a similar study years ago in France. Once their isolation was removed, they began to civilize, which leads myself to believe that nurture took more part in the development in Genies behavior rather than a genetic disorder that her father seemed to believe she had.
Ethics is defined as a study that deals with what behavior is considered to be, good or bad. Ethics is about doing what is right for other people throughout society (Kraft). Ethical principles result from religions, philosophies, and cultural ideas. The world is changing and so is everything in it, judgments about what is ethically right and wrong are also changing. Ethical relativism is important within society, along with utilitarianism, deontology, virtue-based ethics, and ethical principles of healthcare.
There are a lot of different cultures in the world we live in today. Finding the place you belong and discovering your own culture can be a challenge. This is especially true when you look at culture as an individual versus culture in your family, or even within your community. I’ve always been very family oriented, so that plays a big part in who I am and how my family’s dynamic works. I believe that my family has had a huge impact on the development of my culture, and I hope that I have had the same impact on theirs.