There are more than seven billion people living on planet Earth. Of the seven billion people, there exist many cultures that shape every person to act or behave in a specific manner. Society tells the general public how they should be acting and what they should be doing. If a person isn’t doing what society tells them to do, they are going to get some weird looks. Culture and society define each and everyone’s lives so much so that age is big. If a person is old, in some cultures they are praised for living so long, in others, it doesn’t matter. A person’s age can dictate what kinds of activities he or she participates in. Society within culture defines the very person that actively participates in any one culture. With every culture having …show more content…
Every culture has beliefs on subjects that most likely differentiate from culture to culture. Ages in cultures can separate a person from others just because he or she is younger or older. For instance, drinking alcohol before the age of 21 in the United States it’s frowned upon and is even illegal. Overseas in other countries there may be a lower minimum age or none at all. Yet, if a person from another country who is able to legally drink in their home country, travels to the US and is younger than the age of 21, that person would not be able to drink due to the US’s laws and rules. Some cultures believe that it is acceptable at certain ages to partake in specific activities such as drinking alcohol. In many other cultures, the coming of age signifies many things in many other cultures. Some cultures celebrate specific birthdays such as the sixteenth birthday in the US. Being a specific age in some cultures determines what kinds of activities a person shall participate in. The beliefs that cultures believe in, will shape those who reside within it. Although a culture defines where a person comes from, society will shape the person and how he or she
Every culture or group has a certain degree of expectations (norms) for its members, which is not all equally achievable by its members, especially the innate features
The world is filled with many different types of societies and cultures. This is due to the fact that many people share dissimilar beliefs and ideas, as well as diverse ways of life. People lived under different circumstances and stipulations, therefore forming cultures and societies with ideas they formulated, themselves. These two factors, society and culture, are what motivate people to execute the things that they do. Many times, however, society and culture can cause downgrading effects to an assemblage if ever it is corrupt or prejudiced. Society and culture not only influences the emotions individuals have toward things like age differences, religion, power, and equality but also the actions they perform as a result.
Rupp, D. E., Vodanovich, S. J., & Credé, M. (2005). The multidimensional nature of ageism: Construct validity and group differences. The Journal of Social Psychology, 145(3), 335–362. http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.145.3.335-362.
Nelson argues that ageism exists in America due to the cultural bias of American society towards the youth. According to Nelson, American culture encourages the youth to emulate a very individualistic and dominative personality, thereby promoting the idea that the life of the youth is in their own hands. Aging and death are factors that are not in our control, so lack of control causes youthful individuals to lash out in fear towards aging, death, and the elderly. This argument is made stronger by the comparison between modern, westernized culture and a more conventional, eastern culture. Nelson compares the idea eastern cultures promote a sort of reverence towards elders due to their long life and wisdom. In eastern culture, the youth look up to their elders with respect and dignity, while the modernized, western culture promotes a more individualistic viewpoint. By presenting this comparison, as well as the
According to Webster’s Dictionary, culture is defined as tradition or a way of life. It is also a defining principle in how we live our life and the type of people we become. The Salish Indians of the Montana and Celie, the main character of the book The Color Purple, are two examples of cultures that made them who they are. Celie is a poor, black, woman growing up in Memphis, Tennessee in the mid-twentieth century. The men have constantly put her down, through beatings and rape, for being a woman with no talent at all. Her husband’s lover comes to town and gives Celie a chance to see a culture where a woman can stand up for herself and teaches her that love is possible. The Salish on the other hand have a culture that has gone on through the ages and still is a part of each person today despite the obstacles they have had to face. Culture does shape us because from birth it is what tells us our ideals, laws, and morals that we live by each day.
305). Society is constantly bombarded by messages informing us about how to reduce the signs of aging, instead of accepting the natural process (Germov, 2014, p. 305). These beliefs have lead to ageism being very common in society. Ageism is best defined as the negative attitudes, which are associated with the aging process (Novak, 2006, p. 3). Ageism involves an individual or group being stereotyped and experiencing discrimination due to their biological age (Novak, 2006, p. 3). This discrimination can be direct or indirect discrimination, victimisation or harassment (Johnson, 2013, p. 27). Unlike other individuals and groups who are stereotyped and discriminated against, those who are making these comments will one day themselves be of old
According to Nelson, Badger and Bo (2004), non-Western culture tends to focus on practices that help the transition to adulthood instead of having the period of emerging adulthood. However, Asians usually leave home at a much older age compared to the Americans. With that said, Asians are slower in the transition towards adulthood by gaining independence and freedom much later in life. In addition to that, emerging adults of lower socioeconomic status reaches adulthood earlier than those who are from higher socioeconomic status (Settersten & Ray,
The connection between culture and society are fundamental in the understanding of anthropology. Culture on its own is a huge topic that can be studied for years and years. There is a never-ending stream of new ways culture affects human beings in everyday life. Just walking through the hallway puts culture into use. How we are supposed to interact with people in society and how we actually interact with people is all based on culture. Without culture, a healthy working society would not exist, and without society, culture would be a very difficult concept to pass on and use in daily life.
The Role of Culture in Shaping us as Individuals Culture has a big impact on how we all fit in as individuals in today’s society, and since this assignment is about that I decided to include some of my own experiences to illustrate my point of view and compare it with those of my classmates and some of the readings. My family and I moved to United States in 1998 from Albania. My parents believed that I and my sister would get a better education here and also it would be useful and interesting to learn another language and its culture.
The diverse views of reality come with the understanding of the culture that the individual experiences. Based on the other cultures, there will be different senses of identity if there are different experiences. If there was another reality in which the elderly were role models, and were viewed as the ones to imitate, there would be a different cultural reality. The social and cultural psychology aspects of this culture would allow those that are elderly to be viewed as the younger generation in our culture. Social psychology is defined as the study of the causes and consequences of sociality (Schacter, Gilbert, Nock, & Wegner, 2017). The cultural psychology is defined as the “study of how people shape and are shaped by their [own] cultures” (Cohen, 2015).
Culture has a major role shape in our society. Even though some individuals live in the same culture don’t end up with the same characteristics. Many things in culture can affect our society. For example the music we listen to, the clothes we wear the places we go to, government and many more. Another related issue I see now in days is how we are to follow any example that is established from popular culture, like the media. It just seems very strange and odd to me that whoever controls the media industry has so much control over people 's actions. People are influenced by their culture. Another example is the clothes we wear. We feel that we need to wear the best clothes and become very materialism and that’s because we are being drove by
Culture plays a significant role in shaping people’s behaviors. Humans start to expose to culture the day they are born and they learn cultural values through their everyday life interacting with the people and environments around them. The cultural values often help us in guiding our behaviors and provide us a context in helping us identify the proper way of responding to various situations. Culture can help to determine human behaviors because culture can influence individuals’ psychological processes, development of self, and motivation. However, individual differences should also be examined in determining people’s behaviors.
Like it or not, a person is judged by their appearance and the way they carry themselves. Appearance is directly related to a person’s character because some details of personal affectations tell much about one’s identity. Every person’s identity depends on their family and their race. As a book can never be judged by its cover, in the same way, a person cannot be judged by their appearance, identity, or ethnicity. There are 197 countries in this world, but every country’s traditions and beliefs are different from each other. Ethnicity, race, and sex play a large part in forming traditions and beliefs, which is why they are so different around the world. A person’s identity is based on their family, culture and personal interests, which are all the factors that tend to shape how people are seen in a community. When an individual is judged based on their appearance instead of their character, they often suffer rejection. Everyone in this world has a different identity and is different from each other. Cultures and traditions differentiate people and help
Without delving into deep sociological theories of the nature of society, we can consider human societies as any community of individuals who are united together by a common bond of nearness or intercourse and are those who recognize each other as associates, friends and acquaintances. Individuals who play certain roles and the relationships between each role form the society itself. The complexity of society makes it difficult for us to identify our relationships. Generally, societies form different norms and cultures and these norms and cultures will change. Despite the changes in ones society and culture, members of any society like happiness in their own ways. In complex societies, it is valid to question about our contributions to happiness of its members. While material contributions to societies meet the physical needs, mental problems and needs are more difficult to satisfy. This is the point where society and culture become intertwined.
The relation between culture and age has often been the subject of discourse in recent gerontological studies. It is argued that there is an inherent relation between the two. The difference marked by age or our perception of old age, in particular, is a cultural and social construction. Consequently, the meanings and value assigned to old age are also socially constructed. This in turn leads to a reshaping of identity or what Holstein and Gubrium term as ‘self-construction’(Randall and McKim 235). However, what we need to consider is whether it is only this construct that is solely responsible for determining our response to aging. Does our environment have complete agency in shaping our attitude or is it also dependent on how we, as