Adults?... Already?

Recently in class we have been discussing the development of human lives and the milestones that we pass while on this journey. I found it interesting that in class we were only naming milestones placed on us by society, "artificial" milestones as I like to call them. Things like getting your license at 16, being able to go see R rated movies on your own at 17, and being considered a legal adult at 18. Then when Sal said "how about learning to walk" I felt like I should have face-palmed on my own behalf because, actual developmental milestones like those didn't even come to mind until then. I then realized how we as a society put much greater emphasis on these "artificial" milestones, rather than the developmental milestones that actually have meaning like learning to walk, talk, etc. This also relates to conformity (a topic on which I touched on in my previous blog post) in the sense that the "artificial" milestones are expectations put on us by our society. For instance, in July I'll be a legal adult. This is strange because I haven't thought about it very much until recently, at 18 I'll be legally responsible for myself. I'm sure not much will change in my life besides the fact that I'll be moving out of the house and going to college. Hopefully I will make an easy transition but I can't help but think about teens my age who won't be prepared for something like this. Like the article we read in class "Putting Teen-Parent Conflicts into Perspective", we are forced into adulthood perhaps before we are ready. Like a small child being thrown into a pool, will we swim or struggle to keep our heads above water.

Masculinity

This week in class we have been discussing masculinity and the idea of what makes someone manly. From discussions and the video we watched in class it seems like society believes a man has to be tough, swear, and hide his true emotions from the world to be a true man. This belief has been embedded in us perhaps mainly through the media. From an early age we are bombarded with messages that tell us that this view on  masculinity is true. Through movies of tough guys with guns, we are taught that if you are tough you not only are a man you have power and respect. This seems appealing to us, power and respect just from putting up a false front? In reality this type of behavior has been detrimental to our society. With this belief of masculinity there are far more murders, rapings, and assaults cause by men then by women. By adjusting our perceptions of masculinity we further expand our society's potential. By getting rid of this "mold" that is masculinity we make it socially acceptable for people to truly build themselves to become what they desire. In a way it would be like straying away from conformity allowing greater diversity in our society thereby allowing creativity to prosper.

A New Civil Rights Movement

A new civil rights movement is gradually gaining more support, and for good reason. People are fighting for the rights of homosexuals all across the country with more people voicing their opinions because the recent debate over both Don't Ask Don't Tell and California's Proposition 8. Rights should not be limited to specific parts of society, homosexuals should be able to have the same freedoms as all other citizens of this country including same-sex marriage. With Don't Ask Don't Tell constantly trying to be debated in the senate, and constantly being filibustered the progress is slow. Also with California enacting Proposition 8 the only state that sold same-sex marriage licenses has also stopped doing so. Our country to keep denying homosexuals their rights is very backwards and truly unbecoming of our potential as a nation.

Nature vs. Nurture

This week in class we discussed the idea of nature vs. nurture and how these both play significant roles in shaping who we are. Nature is what you are born with, they are innate traits that we receive from our parents through heredity such as learning to blink and breath. Nurture however are things we are taught after we are born and when we are being raised such as how to walk, and how to eat. The nurture phase is our progression from a baby to a fully grown and functioning adult, this process is called socialization. The agents of socialization are the things that push us towards adulthood in certain ways. A big one is family, your family's values and actions are reflected in you because your parents raise in according to those values. For instance in my example my parents have taught me to be  open minded about things, and not to negatively judge people because they are different than me. Since they raised me with this mind set from a baby I reflect that because as a child I was taught it was the right thing. Nature vs. Nurture are both vital to humans because the combination of the two are what make us human.

The Fear of Death

This week in class we finished up the movie "Tuesdays with Morrie", and analyzed it in accordance to typical American values. One of them being our seemingly innate fear of death. Americans as a culture fear dying, and also fear the death of others. We fear losing our lives probably because we fear the unknown, we fear it because we have no knowledge of what happens to us after we die. Do we just cease to exist? Perhaps, and if so that is a scary thing. We also fear the death of others and mourn them when they pass because we feel that we have lost that person forever. This is a somewhat selfish thing, we fear that they will no longer be in our lives and this in a way connects to our cultures materialistic ways. We see that person as a thing, something we feel makes our lives better. For instance a man that loses his wife mourns her because he has lost her, he lost the person he loved enough that he vowed to be with forever. I lost my grandfather earlier this year and although I did not know him very well because I did not get the chance to spend time with him I saw how it affected my mother. She mourned him constantly and when see talked to me about it she said the hardest thing was the fact that she would never get to talk to him again. Death affects us all greatly, perhaps for the right reasons. The idea of death motivates us to slow down and spend more time with the people we love.

Sooo... a culture specific America exists?

This week in class we talked about American culture, and what it was that defined us as Americans. Going into this lesson I was certain there was no such thing. I always thought of America as a melting pot of different nationalities and a mixture of different cultures. However, I was wrong. There really are certain values that label us as Americans. For instance Americans see change as positive, believe in equality, believe in competition, and are future orientated to name a few. While, other cultures seem to see change as dangerous and destructive to order, believe in rank and different social statuses, believe in cooperation, and are past orientated. I always pictured my self as Polish, and influenced heavily by Polish culture. After seeing these "American Values" I saw that most of them are reflected in me. For instance I am a strong believer in future orientation and looking at what will be next which ties into support of change. Whereas Polish culture is primarily past orientated (however my parents/relatives do not reflect this). Though, I do maintain a lot of Polish material culture, my symbolic culture is no doubt dominated by American values.

Material & Non-Material Culture

This week in class we've been looking at culture, in particular material and non-material culture. Material culture is concerned with food, technology, books, movies, and more of a culture. Non-material culture is concerned with language, gestures, and values. These two sub-categories define a culture and how it functions. Outsiders of this culture may experience a culture shock when thrown into it. They may feel troubled when they are made to abide by the cultures material and non-material aspects, we got a taste of this in class when we played the card game. When the winners or losers changed tables they were unknowingly introduced to a new set of rules, and they often got frustrated when they couldn't deal with the new rules. They may have also felt some ethnocentrism and thought that their original rules were better than the new ones. I personally deal with two cultures on a regular basis because I'm Polish-American. I eat both American food and Polish food, and at school I experience American material culture while, when I visit Poland over summers I then experience Polish values which are much more traditional than American values. Material and non-material culture help us better analyze culture to see how individual aspects of culture affect our lives and how we are raised.