Marriage --- Cultural Anthropology

Marriage, or the ideas of being married, are different around the world. However it seems that, no matter where you live, there tends to be certain “rules” or ideas that go along with being married to someone. For instance, in America, parents are supposed to work from 9 AM to 5 PM then, quickly, return want to spend time with their children and spouse. Whereas, in Japan, the mothers do not have a career when the fathers get to work 7 AM to 11 PM on weekdays. Which, probably, contributes to the fact that 30 percent of fathers spend less than 15 minutes talking to their children on weekdays and the other 51% reported their father’s never speaking to them on weekdays thus making the father more a theoretical presence. Although the father’s don’t even seem to spend much time with their spouse either.

Arranged marriages are not always the best marriages to be in but the Japanize in Omiya, Japan seem to have taken things to the next level. Completely opposite of America husbands, Japan husbands do not tell their wives they like her, compliment her on the meal she made, never say “thank you,” or even call her by her name but instead grunt or say “hey, you.” Which is why it comes to no surprise that the divorce rate in Japan is at a record high, even though that record high is still only half that of the United States, thus, Japan has arguably one of the “strongest” family structures in the industrialized world.

MARRIAGE IN THE UNITED STATES

MARRIAGE IN OMIYA, JAPAN

30.1% of births are to unwed mothers Men are supposed to compliment women Woman are often called by their name or a nickname Want to spend time with your partner Higher expectations Affairs are traumatic Not much gaman Compatible You’re supposed to be able to tell your partner anything Both parents work (9-5) Encourage to talk to your children (both parents) Divorce does not impact your position at work

Husbands do not compliment wives Husbands do not call their wives by their names Considered one of the strongest family structures in the industrialized world Divorce rate less than half of the US 1.1% of births are to unwed mothers People are not as happy as the statistics Preoccupied by work and debts No time to fool around No expectations, patience, and shame Affairs are not traumatic—traditionally tolerated (woman would be wrong to get angry) Not compatible Very little time spent talking to each other Fathers only work (7-11) Father is more a theoretical presence Only remained married bc they don’t want to be the gossip Divorce weakens your position at work Mothers do not have careers Mother have few financial resources

The Concept of Culture

During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century diffusionist research began as a means of understanding the distributions of human cultures across the globe, diffusion. Specifically they addressed the question of cultural differences in the world in terms of the origin of culture traits and their spreading from one society to another (through migration, trade, war or any other contact). While there are probably many different versions it seems that that most believed in one of two different theories;  you either believed that certain cultural features were originated from one cultural center (heliocentric diffusion) or the more reasonable belief that culture originated from a few cultural centers (culture circles). For instance, Boas (1938) sought to understand culture traits in terms of diffusion and modification; eventually  bringing up an argument that independent invention of a culture trait could occur at the same time within widely separated societies, allowing them to create a unique style. Though it is suspected that there was some genetic linkage.

Nonetheless thanks to research that involved observing societies, how they may be influenced to innovate and predicting the results of such innovation diffusion is, now, well documented in the business and industrial world.  Eventually leading to the creation of copyright / patent laws to protect individual innovations which suggested that borrowing ideas is a decidedly human practice. Especially because it is easier to copy an invention than it is to create an entirely new invention. Although it may be difficult to justify, business historians credit diffusion in the development of industrial societies, such as in the U.S. and in continental Europe.

Political Organization and Social Control

Every society has institutions that encourage or emphasize conforming to social and customary rules or norms, these institutions can be referred to as sanctions. Though there are many different kinds of sanctions, they all can be found in our everyday lives. Positive sanctions are rewards by other, such as getting candy, while negative sanctions are more threats such as fines or corporal punishment. But sanctions can also be formal, such as actual laws, or informal, such as cultural norms. Nonetheless sanctions can also be considered a social control or an organized sanction, for instance if you break a formal sanction, or law, that may lead to a negative sanction, like going to jail or paying a fine. Diffuse sanctions, on the other hand, is more like when you were mocked or ridiculed in elementary school, it is the expression of approval or disapproval by members of your community. Furthermore, we also have sanctions that try to regulate behaviour by explaining incomprehensible, or impossible, things. Religion is also a great example of a sanction; many people dedicate their lives to religion, or the supernatural, letting it control or dictate everything they say or do. The ten commandments and the bible act like their own personal laws they have to follow else you’ll be punished by being sent to hell. These people do not like not being in control and admitting to not fully understanding what happens after you pass away is, probably, too much for them to handle. They like the thought that they can control what happens.

Global Challenge and the Role of Applied Anthropology

Encouraging immigrants to learn the national language and take on the social and cultural practices of their community is assimilation. It is largely being understood to have a utopian end result, or in other words, it’s a desired society where members would be culturally indistinguishable. To an individual it is the process of becoming completely adopted to another country, or becoming the ‘same,’ after coming from a, typically minority, immigrant group. Happening spontaneously, sometimes even unintentionally, those individuals tend to , inevitably, no longer want to relate to their country of origin, except for family history.

Whereas multiculturalism is a widely used term with many different meanings. Our understanding of multiculturalism tends to point to imbalances, discriminations or communities underlying the connection between individual freedom and cultural membership that come from diverse ethnic, cultural or national backgrounds. Promoting public recognition of differences, multiculturalism illustrates the crossing of culture and equality.

However thanks to media and United States immigration research, that showed that adolescents may be more receptive to new and foreign cultural values and beliefs than adults, globalization as well as individual autonomy and family obligation may influence adolescents with their cultural identity formation. Television and the internet, providing exposures to new ideas, events and people, influence their development of both their local and global identities.

Nonetheless multiculturalism and assimilation both represent general models at the two extremes and “contemporary adolescents are coming of age in multicultural world where creating a cultural identity has become complex. Often, they face the task of integrating diverse cultural beliefs and behaviors conveyed to them by multiple agents of socialization--socialization agents that, at times, are at odds with one another (i.e. parents and TV). The task of forming a coherent cultural identity that allows adolescents to become contributing members of society presents challenges that may be stressful or even considerably more problematic. However, adolescent cultural identity formation also presents challenges that may be met by developing new skills, the kinds of skills necessary for a multicultural world, that allows adolescents to function well psychologically and to contribute to society.” (Jensen)

Jensen, Lene Arnett. "Coming of Age in a Multicultural World: Globalization and

    Adolescent Cultural Identity Formation." Applied Developmental Sciences 7.3

    (2003): 189-96. PDF file.

Medical Anthropology: The Doctor's White Coat

In the middle of the 19th century they were unable to come up with better and effective remedies which nearly destroyed the reputation of medicine becoming known as quackery. However based on the facts that scientist’s changed the people’s night into day, you could send instantaneous messages and revolutionized transportation  they came up with the idea to begin representing doctors as scientists. It seemed as if science was validated the practice of medicine, rapidly consolidating into a scientific enterprise. Thus shortly after the field and context of medicine changed; they rewrote textbooks and became more of a laboratory science. Although it was the diagnoses of new illnesses and resources that could not be readily taken to patient’s homes that pushed the change of the hospital being viewed as a place where social outcasts died to a place where to took sick people to be healed or, in other words, their view changed from death to life. That, then, urged the changed of uniforms of the staff from the regular black religious ones to the, now, well-known white uniforms signifying life.

In the 19th century a campaign urged people to get physical examinations, which included the rectal and pelvis, in the hope of improving an individual’s health. In order to overcome the cultural dangers and fears of physical contact they needed something that could protect both the doctor and the patient. As we know, the doctor has his white coat which symbolizes bilateral protection, goodness, purity and so on but in order to perform the pelvic and rectal exam the patient would need to be naked which, eventually, resulted in the creation of the patient examination gown. That is part of the reason why today the patient-physician relationship is more a partnership instead of the doctor being an authoritarian figure.