StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

A Full Picture of Culture in South America: Living Arrangements and Communication With Society - Research Paper Example

Summary
The paper describes the culture that allows people to experience the world and carry out daily functions based on their traditions. We often learn our culture from the people in our environment, such as family members, close friends, and our community…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER95.4% of users find it useful
A Full Picture of Culture in South America: Living Arrangements and Communication With Society
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "A Full Picture of Culture in South America: Living Arrangements and Communication With Society"

According to the dictionary, culture is defined as “the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.”1 Culture allows people to experience the world and carry out daily functions based on their traditions. We often learn our culture from the people in our environment, such as family members, close friends, and our community. Culture consists of the foods that we cook and eat, our living arrangements, communication with society, and our behavior. In order to get a full picture of culture in a general sense—and culture more specifically related to South America—we should like at four important aspect: Values, beliefs, norms, and behavior. What are values? Everyone decides for themselves what they believe to be right and wrong, but they are often powerfully influenced by the people and traditions around them. Some people have been colonized by other dominant countries and therefore have a slight inferiority complex. Others belong to ethnic and linguistic minorities—facts which influence the way they see the world. Some countries have religions that encourage them to have large families. All this must be taken into account when entering another country with the intention to practice business there. There are many different ways of measuring these different values in Argentina. Beliefs can be summed up as ideas that are held by a large number of people—perhaps not always based on empirical facts. They might be a religion held in common, for example, or an idea of history, which perhaps does not perfectly accord with the facts. These are often powerful motivating factors in a culture. Norms are very similar to values, but they are broader. Norms are what the society at large tends to believe are the correct values or morals to live by. In most societies, for example, including South American societies, the idea that lying is wrong is considered a norm. Norms might change, but usually they change very slowly. This is especially true of South American societies, which tend to be somewhat religious and conservative. Behaviour is to some extent motivated by values and norms. What people can and cannot do may be dictated to them by the law, but also by the expectations that society has of them. There may be cultural expectation that they act a certain way if, for example, they are a married Brazilian woman. It might not be appropriate, culturally, for such a person to dance provocatively at a nightclub. These behavioural expectations may come from their families, but really cultures are just large collection of families sharing the same sort of ideas. All of these things help to define people. The best way to understand people is to learn about what defines them. This helps to peer into a nation’s cultural soul and see what is important to them and why they do the things they do. It is difficult to describe the culture of a whole continent, especially one as large and varied as South America, but for the purposes of this assignment I will try to do so. Some assumptions will have to be made. To begin with, many South Americans live in a rigid hierarchical society and are collectivistic, but can be very individualistic outside of their work time. They enjoy leisure and it is important to find time for work as well as for family. When it comes to problem solving, many South Americans are emotional and individualistic, even sometimes irrational. They look at the world in a more intuitive manner. There is a reason, for example, that the tango was invented in South America—it is very emotional, irrational, and intuitive. This is a very representative culture export. South Americans are also considered to be quite an informal people. They don’t like doing a lot of complex paper work and certification, and it is clear to anyone who has ever gone to Carnivale in Rio that they know how to party! Aside from the above cultural characteristics something else that is quite representative is machismo or a type of stylized and assertive masculinity. Argentineans, for example, are definitely a machismo and assertive bunch. Women get less respect (although this changing with Christina Kirchner as president).2 Throughout the continent, men have a lot of the power and have elaborate ways of styling themselves and of demanding respect from society. There are complex rituals in the old boy networks. Young men drive around in scooter gangs and have various catcalls with significance to other young men. As stated above, one of the most important characteristics of South America in a cultural and political sense are social hierarchies and respect for authority. South American political history is littered with dictators. Through the 1960s and 70s many military generals came to power in countries like Brazil, Peru, and Colombia. In the 1950s, the Peronists ruled Argentina. Even today, there are leaders like Chavez of Venezuela and Morales of Bolivia who do not brook dissent. These people come to power in part because of corrupt political systems, but also in part because of historical and cultural reasons.3 South America has a history of being dominated by outside forces—in particular the Spanish and Portuguese—and they also have a religious history of being strongly influenced by the Catholic Church, which was in itself rigidly hierarchical. They were often told how to behave and what to do, and had little chance to express themselves individually through the political process. Authority and faith in the strongman are an important if unfortunate aspect of South American culture. Culture can define a whole country, or even a continent. It binds people together and also puts them into different categories. It is based on the values and behaviour that large numbers of people agree on and implement in their day to day lives. In order to understand a people, you must first understand their culture. Works consulted Barzilai, Gad. 2003. Communities and Law: Politics and Cultures of Legal Identities University of Michigan Press. Cormier, Bill. “Move over, Machismo: Women take over defense posts in South America.” Chicago Sun-Times. January 31, 2007. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3715581.html Definition of culture. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. 14 Oct. 2009. . Green, Eric. “Brazil Reforming Business Climate.” America.gov. July 31, 2006. http://www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2006/July/200607311718471xeneerg0.3501093.html Lula da Silva, Luiz Inácio. “Putting the B in BRIC.” The Economist. November 8, 2008. http://www.economist.com/theworldin/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12494572 Munck, Ronaldo and Anny Brooksbank Jones. Cultural Politics in Latin America. (London: Macmillan, 2000), 65. Mothershead, A. B. Dining customs around the world. Garret Park, MD: Garret Park Press, 1982. Read More

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF A Full Picture of Culture in South America: Living Arrangements and Communication With Society

Chinese Architecture Influence on Western Architecture

He spent some of his time examining and re-evaluating Japanese architecture, and on October 30, 1935, he revealed his conclusions in a Lecture Series on Japanese Culture sponsored by the Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai (society for International Cultural Relations) at the Peers' Club in Tokyo....
17 Pages (4250 words) Essay

Dances with Wolves

Clair was even in a worse situation and had to come to america with an even heavier burden.... Those western films we grew up with had always taught us that there were villains along the way who made sure that future america cannot partake of the wealth and prosperity that would be generated by the gold strikes in California and the oil finds in Texas among other discoveries of the west's vast natural resources.... These brutal, uncivilized savages they named as Indians or red men were called by them as america's version of the Barbarians, the Tartars, the Huns, the Vandals and the Visigoths....
12 Pages (3000 words) Book Report/Review

Psychology of Diversity between American Ethnic Minority Groups

This paper 'Psychology of Diversity between American Ethnic Minority Groups" focuses on the fact that psychological diversity is very distinct among ethnic minority groups of america, between African American and Hispanics.... These five elements are strong enough to define the whole black culture throughout the world, be it in the United States of america or in the dark continent of Africa itself.... This paper features a particular culture or race....
9 Pages (2250 words) Case Study

Life and Anthropology

Major Characteristics of culture Culture is defined as 'the integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristics of the members of a society and that are not the result of biological inheritance' (Dash 2004).... It is said that the key elements of culture are that it should be shared by the people who belong to the same nation.... It has been stated that another characteristic of culture is that it is based on symbols.... The most common way is through communication (Samovar et al, 2009)....
9 Pages (2250 words) Assignment

Cross-Cultural Training & Support Strategy

Being proficient to complete global business operations includes being sensitive towards customs, religions, business philosophies, history, political structures, language, communication practices and trade laws.... The paper "Cross-Cultural Training & Support Strategy " discusses that cost-benefit scrutiny is a process for organizing the information in order to support assessment about the resource allocation....
14 Pages (3500 words) Essay

Chinese Architecture Influence upon Western Architecture

He spent some of his time examining and re-evaluating Japanese architecture, and on October 30, 1935, he revealed his conclusions in a Lecture Series on Japanese Culture sponsored by the Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai (society for International Cultural Relations) at the Peers Club in Tokyo....
17 Pages (4250 words) Term Paper

African American Associate Professor Ivory A Toldson

He has over 60 recognized writings, as well as research presentations in over 32 states, in america, Puerto Rico, Paris, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Scotland and Barcelona.... This coursework "African American Associate Professor Ivory A Toldson" discusses the biological sketch of Toldson, a summary of his scholarly works and an analysis of Toldson....
8 Pages (2000 words) Coursework

Destination New Orleans

The society and Culture... Over an elongated duration of the epoch, the magnetism of the site in america provided confidence tourists and forced them to come for a vacation.... Over an elongated duration of the epoch, the magnetism of the site in america provided confidence tourists and forced them to come for a vacation.... Over an elongated duration of the epoch, the magnetism of the site in america provided confidence tourists and forced them to come for a vacation....
12 Pages (3000 words) Case Study
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us