The Many Faces of Culture Essay - 1372 Words

Defining culture has been a debate among sociologists and anthropologists since the 19th century. Culture is vital for the perseverance of a society and has its own identity that distinguishes it from others. Culture is not rooted into a person from birth, but it is learned from wherever he or she is from. It acts in a subconscious manner in that when a culture differs, one society may find another society to be odd. Every society has a different culture where the people share a specific language, gesture, belief, behavior, norms, sanctions and more. Language greatly influences how we see the world. Languages shape the way we understand some aspects in life such as time, direction, space and even causality. For example, while English†¦show more content†¦In Japan, it means money and in France it means zero or worthless. If you try to learn another culture, it is important to learn the gestures of that culture as well or there may be misunderstandings and embarrassments you may face. Cultural values reflect the goals members of society are expected to endeavor for by adjusting to social norms, which are social rules of behavior. Those who comply to the norms receive positive sanctions (i.e. rewards like approval and recognition) while those who dont conform to the norms are seen as impeding success of the cultural values and are punished with negative sanctions (i.e. withholding or withdrawal of approval and recognition). For example, if you see a man holding a stack of books heading towards the door, the norm would be to hold the door for him and by doing so you will receive a positive sanction. However, if the door is too far away and don’t bother to open to the door for the man, you will receive a negative sanction. There are different kinds of norms; folkways, mores, and laws. Folkways are norms that are not sternly enforced such as being courteous to elders. Mores are rules of behavior that if debased, it would jeopardize the stability of a society su ch as murdering a person. The distinction between mores and laws are that while laws are set up and imposed by the state, mores are set up and imposed by the public response. There is a norm so robustly embedded that even theShow MoreRelatedFace Negotiation Theory By Stella Ting Toomey1465 Words   |  6 PagesFace-negotiation theory was developed by Stella Ting-Toomey, a professor of Speech Communication at California State University, Fullerton, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1981. She developed the theory after being influenced by the work of Goffman, and Brown and Levinson. 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