One idea/concept that I found interesting in chapter 12 was the idea of how culture can greatly affect our role identities. Culture tells us who to be and how to act and through we can be stratified by age, gender, and ethnicity among other things. Basically we are put into categories among other things and expectations/standards are placed on us. Each culture has there own sets up beliefs standards and identities. The book uses the example of age. In Ghana, age is equated with wisdom and is therefore respected, while in America youth is valued more than age. The book also explains that gender roles are also culturally derived. This idea of how we are affected by cultures standards and expectations led me to think about those who do not necessarily fit into those expectations. For instance, gender roles. In most places both boys and girls have expectations on how to act and look. But what if a boy finds themselves interested in playing with Barbies or girl finds herself more interested in wearing boy clothes? What happens then? The stratification of a person because they do not fit into a specific identity made by the culture could lead to subcultures, like the gay community, or mixed races.
Great post! I agree with you that even for gender roles, we have to live up society’s expectation for what boys and girls do. It’s funny because there Is no written rule in any book that specifies girl has to play with Barbie doll or girl’s color is pink only. Same goes with boys= no one ever said boys have to play with hot wheels and their color is blue only. I definitely think that our culture shapes each of us how to behave if we don’t want others to see us as freaks. However, I do hope that in the future generation, there’s no specific gender roles because it’s obvious to me that the society is slowly migrating to a more liberal side of things.
ReplyDeleteHello, I like your post about culture because i do believe that it is important for us to understand that culture shapes who we are through standards and expectations from our culture. I really like the examples you gave about boys wanting to play with barbies and girls wanting to wear boys clothes. It's hard to deal with those examples you gave because boys are raised to behave a certain way, different from girls. When that does not happen, our culture freaks out and find it difficult with different situations. As time goes by, society slowly becomes more acceptable of changes in the culture, but it takes a long time to slowly accept changes.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your post! I agree with what you said about cultures telling us who to be and how to act. Different cultures have different expectations according to their beliefs. In America gender roles i think, is a big part of our society. Women are known to have children, stay home and take care of them. Men on the other hand are known to go out and find work to help support their family. These gender roles are usually followed, but its interesting when they are reversed. I don’t believe that the society should be obligated to follow these expectations. We need to learn to stand up to the society and become more different individuals.
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