Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology Alice F. Brown Psy 450 May 21, 2013 Shally Vaid Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology Culture is defined as a set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols that are shared by a group of people and passed down from generation to generation (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). Cultural psychology is about finding links that are meaningful between a culture and how an individual thinks who lives in the same culture (Shiraev & Levy, 2010). How an individual internalizes his or her culture is the basis of cultural psychology. Cross-cultural psychology is the study of cultures in a comparative and critical method by psychologists. Cross-cultural psychologists are interested in the similarities and differences in all cultures.
In psychology people such as Freud, Maslow and Rogers play an important role in understanding the self, whereas society can be explained by sociological figures such as Durkheim in sociology. The psychologist, Freud’s theory of personality suggests that our personality is structured by the interactions of our id, superego and ego. The id being our pleasure principle; it is the selfish part of our self and causes us to desire things such as food and sex. It is an unconscious part of our personality and present from birth. The superego is our morality principle which we develop from three to six years old, it helps us to define the difference between right and wrong and Freud suggested that it is often in conflict with the id.
Gattaca, 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 essay "A blueprint, a mirror, a warning or simply fanciful entertainment" what is the purpose of utopia and dystopia texts you have studied. Utopias and Dystopias are alternate societies created to serve as a platform to highlight the values associated with the contexts of their respective times. While they may be antonymous concepts, utopias and dystopias are ultimately a critique of the events of a certain time or the attitudes and values of a society, thus such a text offers a vision of how cultural values have changed through the process of appropriation as a result of the changing connects that shape these texts. This is illustrative in the text 1984 a novel by George Orwell published in 1949, Andrew Niccols 1997 Gattaca film and Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury, the novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and firemen burn any house that contains them. Through a variety of literary and visual techniques, all texts concurrently present themes of technology and physiological manipulation revealing the disgusting homogeneity of a superficial utopia.
He believes that the society survives because al the members of society have shared norms and values which he calls the collective conscience. Parson calls this the central value system (CVS). merton's theory of crime attempts to explain why some groups in society are forced to abandon their shared norms and values and replace them with deviant ones. He says in order to achieve the American dream (CVS) they must accept the cultural goals which is the accepted success goals of society. E.g.
Body Ritual Among the Nacirema Karie R. Shepherd Ivy Tech Community College Abstract The study of sociology allows us to understand the relationship between people and other cultures. As we define culture by a set of norms and values, we can also study how these cultures can often change over time. Several concepts, such as ethnocentrism and cultural relativism, can often change the way we think or view other cultures. These topics become more relevant as you read Horace Miner’s “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” and force us to put these ideas into practice. How this short, but satirical, piece makes us initially feel or perhaps react to other cultures can say a lot about who we are as a person and our level of understanding and tolerance
For example, achievement is greatly influenced by class background rather than ability. Furthermore, interactionist Dennis Wrong(1961) argues that functionalists have an ‘over-socialised view’ of people as mere puppets of society. Functionalists wrongly imply that pupils passively accept all they are taught and never reject the school’s values. Marxists, on the other hand, argues that education is mainly there to serve the needs of capitalism. Althusser, sees education as an ideological state apparatus that reproduces and legitimates class inequality, ensuring working-class pupils end up in working-class jobs, and that they accept their exploited role.
The functionalist believe that the understanding of deviance is the function for society rather than individuals themselves. Even though they believe that consensus is a function required for society. Functionalists therefore, argue that it is important for society to maintain society and the social control. However, the strain theory which is Merton's theory is based upon the theory of functionalist as they encourage anomie of deviance. Merton 1930,highlights the strains between the cultural goals of society and legitimate and regular ways to achieving the goals of success.
Myers (2010) provides an example as to how behavior is shaped by social influences making humans social creatures, “We speak and think in words we learned from others (Social psychology, p. 7). At times social environments or situations manipulate behaviors contrary to emotions, overpowering feelings and allowing the situation to guide behaviors. Another ideas of social psychology is that personal attitudes and depositions shape behavior, this describes the belief that inner attitudes and personalities
Youth Culture Is At Heart Essentially A Culture Of Consumption In order to look at subcultures in terms of consumption, it is important to outline what a subculture is made up of. To participate in a subculture is the notion of living a way of life that shares an interest or involvement in music, style, slang and ritual with other people, ensuring that you present a level of authenticity, by assimilating to the ideologies of an exclusive group. By being active within a subculture, you are separating yourself from the rest of society’s cultures (Clarke, J, Hall, S, Jefferson T, Roberts, B. 2001). Youth based subcultures such as teddy boys, mods, rockers, skinheads and punks have resisted the pressures of mainstream society and dominant culture through the means of active participation in a particular style, music choice and other areas of consumptive practice.
Sociology 1 Class Paper Looking through the Sociology lens we are able to see the systematic study of human society today. Beliefs are specific statements that people who share a culture hold to be true. Beliefs are strongly underlined by Values which broadens Beliefs. Deviance is the violation of cultural norms. Norms guide all human activity, so the concept of Deviance is quite broad itself.