Differences in Culture

Throughout this week, we have been discussing the differences we encounter from culture to culture. We talked of differences in language and daily lifestyles, we read an article regarding how cultures value time differently, and we even compared and contrasted toilets from different cultures. This reminded me of something we learned in AP Psychology recently. Researchers placed a basket with food, clothing, tools, etc. and asked a tribe in Liberia, the Kpelle tribe, to sort these items. Of course, we would sort the food with other food, the clothing with other clothing, and so forth. Members of this tribe didn't do this! Instead, they sorted a tool and a food together, the knife and the potato, because the knife is used to peel the potato. Then, the researchers asked them to sort the items the "fool's way" and they sorted the items exactly as we would. This shows that cultures develop different ways to see things around them. When we look at that basket, we place items together that are similar. When they look at the basket, they pair the items based on their functions. We respond differently, than other cultures do, to almost everything. In order to comprehend the world around us and avoid developing ingroups and outgroups, we must remind ourselves to see things cultures do/think as "different", not "wrong"

Gang Leader for a Day

This week we read an excerpt from the book Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh. Venkatesh was interested in studying the poor living in the projects of Chicago. He was just beginning to learn the procedure of interviewing someone and he set up a list of impersonal multiple choice questions he expected would be answered easily. To his surprise, he was not welcomed to the neighborhood by a gang, called the Black Kings. The part of this chapter that really surprised me was when the leader of the gang told Venkatesh he could meet him and his gang members at the same spot the following week, and that Venkatesh actually accepted his offer. Eventually, he ends up hanging out with them and learning a lot without interviewing them directly. It was really brave of him to do this for his career and it was shocking to see that he would go this far. Relating to Charon's article regarding categorizations and generalizations, Venkatesh uses his natural skill of categorizing when he hangs out with these gang members. Since he was studying to become a sociologist, he had the advantage of knowing that using negative assumptions when categorizing makes them his categorizations inaccurate. If you notice, he never judges or racially stereotypes people in the gang or people in the neighborhood. When generalizing, he makes intelligent ones. For example, even though the gang members wouldn't let him accomplish his goal when he first came into the neighborhood, he shouldn't try to harm a gang leader or gang members because he could risk getting hurt. This shows that no matter who you are, sociologist or not, people generalize others naturally. These categorizations are useful because they protect us and help us understand our surroundings. However, we should be careful to prevent these categorizations from becoming racial stereotypes or negative assumptions about a group of people.

Complex You

In class, on Wednesday, we sat in a huge circle and we were asked to classify ourselves in groups we are a part of. Whether we put down that we're apart of a certain sport, a family, a group of friends, or a certain sexuality, we were also asked to list our status within each group. Finally, we placed a star by the status we saw as being the most important, the status we define ourselves as. The people who thought their role/status in their family defined them said so because they were so close to their family members that, without them, they would be a different person. The people whose top choice regarded their status in sports, believed their lives are the way they are today because of the sport they play; they believe they have the type of friends they have because of this sport, they manage their time the way they do because of this sport, and their attitude is the way it is because of that sport. This activity showed me how complex people are because of one thing; one group they were involved with had such a large effect that it has made them the person they are today. People are used to developing schemas about people in their mind, and by using confirmation bias, if they see one person in their schema group that fits that schema, they will see everyone in that group as the same. This activity really showed that everyone is different; no two people are ever replicas. We should open our eyes and realize that everyone is their own, unique individual.

The Social Construction of Reality

In class this week, we learned about the social construction of reality; our reality is what we create. Our society creates the "norm" and the norm is different everywhere you go. At Stevenson, we've constructed a society where we sit down at 8:05 every monday-friday morning, watch the announcements, take out our notes, and stare at the teacher until he/she speaks. We get 55 mins to eat lunch and, if we leave campus, we usually just go to a fast food restaurant. In Europe, it's completely different. They get enough time to go home for lunch, because they have constructed a reality where eating with family and friends is really important. Going back to what Sal was talking about in class, regarding the bathrooms we have in America, we have constructed a reality where we have the toilet, the shower, and the bathroom all in one room. In Japan they find the fact that we bathe in our own filth when we take baths is disgusting. In Iran, they believe that our toilets are unsanitary. Their norm is a toilet that is built into the floor so you can avoid the germs that come from sitting on a toilet seat. When I visited my family there, about five years ago, I was so shocked to see that and I even thought it was weird. However, everyone uses that type of bathroom so they've constructed it to be normal. In the diverse community we live in, we should become more open-minded of the realities other societies construct, in order to understand people better.

Iranian-style Toilet: