Cultural Norm Assignment cultural anthropology using book by carol r. ember Melvin Ember - Essay Example

Cultural norm assignment Introduction Culture refers to ideas, values, and practices that are collectively held by a group of people and can uniquelydistinguish the group from another collection of people and forms a basis for understanding people. In this paper, I explore the concept of culture, its characteristics, significance of its understanding among anthropologists, and then explore cultural norms in a practical set up.Understanding culture and its componentsA formal and comprehensive approach to defining culture identifies it as a complex collective aspect that comprises of “knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs” and other potentials and behavior that are learnt from a person’s society (Haviland, Prins, McBridge and Walrath, 28).

The definition of culture that relies on social groups means that it is a relative concept that varies from one cultural group to another (28). One of the major characteristics of culture is its dynamism that can be considered from two perspectives, cross sectional dynamism and dynamism. Cultural dynamism refers to transition in cultural constructs within a cultural group over a period, or across cultural groups. Dynamism within a group may for example be realized across generations while dynamism across groups identifies fundamental differences in values and practices among cultures.

The dynamic feature of culture is important to anthropologists’ interest of understanding and explaining how the changes occur and driving factors behind the changes (Ember and Ember, 6). Other important characteristics of culture include mode of learning that is social, the fact that it is shared among members of a community and its associated symbols. Anthropologists therefore need to understand what culture is and how it works so that they can identify and develop meanings from the different characteristics of culture.

This is particularly important with indigenous cultures whose fundamentals can be traced over time, and compared with other cultures (Anthro 1). Breaking the cultural normThe observed cultural norms in a nursing set up were scientific belief on causes of illness and honest expressions in communications. These two are considered norms because they are common practices that have been historically observed and considered cultural. They facilitate service delivery in the health care set up that requires cooperation between care personnel and patients.

Cultural belief on causes of diseases is for example instrumental on a patient’s willingness to seek treatment and the scientific norm of causes of diseases facilitates scientific approaches towards provision of health care. Honesty in expressing people’s feelings in the set up also facilitates provision of care by promoting knowledge sharing between patients and caregivers towards accurate diagnosis and treatment. The norms correspond to the American culture that is English oriented (Timby, 73- 77).

I chose to break the norm of honest expression and to lie about being sick. Lacking background information on characteristics of illnesses, the physician noted inconsistencies in my expression and dismissed my condition as being a possible consequence of stress. The experience, during and after the exercise, was a little embarrassing because it exposed my ignorance before the care provider. This was contrary to my confidence before breaking the norm. I learnt that cultural norms are fundamental to communication and operations in a culture.

Works citedAnthro. “Characteristics of culture.” Palomar College. April 14, 2012. Web. February 21, 2013. .Ember, Carol, and Ember, Melvin. Cultural anthropology. New Jersey, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.Haviland, William. Cultural anthropology: The human challenge. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.Timby, Barbara. Fundamental nursing skills and concepts. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009. Print.