I absolutely agree with Ruth Benedict in that we are "creatures of our culture"! I find this idea very interesting and obvious at the same time. Just today I was watching Oprah with my mom and she was doing a show on different women throughout the world. She followed women in different countries and profiled their day-to-day lives as well as specific cultural norms. A large portion of the program focused on Copenhagen in Denmark. The women that were profiled in Copenhagen stressed the simplistic lifestyle, the free health care, the free education, etc. The show also mentioned that in a recent study, Danish people are the happiest people in the world.
While watching this program, I couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic. This would never work in the United States. Our core values are just too different for us to ever be able to emulate this country. I want free health care and free education but I also like working hard and reaping the benefits. I love the benefits of socialistic views (like Denmark's) but I am a materialistic American girl from a capitalistic country.
The women from Denmark couldn't understand the need for all of our "stuff", I have a hard time imagining life without all of the "stuff". I think the differences in cultures are so embedded in our brains that they become second nature and it isn't until we experience difference that we understand that there are other ways of living. I think the only way to break the limits of our own culture is to experience others. We need to investigate what is important in life, which can vary from person to person, but only when we experience difference will we understand what we really have.
That sounds like a really interesting episode of Oprah and a perfect one for this class! My first instinct is to think that Denmark sounds like a great place to live and the U.S. should be more like that but then when I think more about it, like you said, it probably wouldn’t work here. American culture is very materialistic and our cultural values are completely different than those of Denmark. We all strive for the ‘American Dream’ to make it to the top and buy fancy cars and live in nice houses. Our culture is very focused on status and we use all of our materialistic possessions as status symbols because it’s all about who has the most money. As you said, Denmark is much more laid back and they have not been raised to value possessions like we have in America.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that you hit the nail right on the head. For the most part I do like your blog, not the part about watching Oprah, but how we are different from other cultures. I like the part about how in Denmark they stressed about free health care, but here in America it wouldn’t fly due to the fact we have different values. Don’t get me wrong I believe that free health care would be fantastic, but we as Americans have a different belief system than Denmark. But we do in fact live in a capitalistic country, and this would be considered socialist, which would freak people out.
ReplyDeleteYou used such a great example to thoroughly explain your view about being creatures of cultures and the differences of various cultures, in consideration with their respective belief systems and how it affects how they may live. I agree with your standpoint that there are many differences between different cultures, where it is hard to imagine not having what we have or doing what we do on a daily basis within our respective cultures. We have lived within a certain mindset based on our culture where it is really hard to remove this cultural filter from our eyes and live as if we are from a different culture. We generally do get embedded into our respective cultures so much that it is hard to imagine or understand how others may live as they do. People of different cultures have different ways of living which may suit them very well, so in order to break the limits of our own culture, as you said, we need to experience other cultures and create an open mind about these cultures, learning and embracing the differences in their values of life, fostering more understanding, building more bridges between the different cultures, and expanding our own horizons.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that we are creatures of our culture but only to a degree. Nature versus nurture controversy that have been discussed and studied for years focuses on the same aspects. We cannot omit our personal characteristics and our core beliefs such as moral values that defined who we are. The core beliefs can be acquired regardless of the culture we live in. My friends are from Iraq. Their children were born in the USA and they grew up here. They are not like most American teenagers. They do not place so much value on material things. In fact, they consider materialism as shallow and shameful. Their parents made sure their children would have more in common with the culture in Iraq. Their children were not affected by the American culture. But this is not very common, I think. I also know a lot of foreigners with the opposite situation – parents making efforts to preserve their cultural values and children rejecting them and adapting American culture. .
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