Cultural Anthropology - Essay Example

Philosophy and Psychology Human adjust to the immediate environment in an effort to ensure survival. These methods couldbe attributed to the nature of the surrounding. The natural spaces provide opportunities that need to be analyzed. Those who utilize the opportunities tend to prosper. In some situations, the environment does not provide the needed opportunities. This forces individuals to innovate models that will ensure their survival. Carol Stack highlight the adaptive stagey and how poor people living in flats use to survive their poverty level.

The richer regions depend upon their economical and social prowess to survive the environment. The poor in this scenario adapt based on the environment. The manner in which a person survives the social and economical complexities will determine their success. The nature of survival is attributed to adaptive strategy in that those who positively adapt would survive the complex environment. The society bases itself along the social hierarchy. According to Stack (1974), the society within which poverty prevails adapts a risk and opportunity sharing strategy.

This strategy implies that members within a certain community collectively solve issues in an effort to reduce the costs incurred while performing particular functions. In this case, family members are used as a single unite. The self-help strategy at the family level ensures the community survives while fostering relation among family members (28). The strategy highlights the importance of unity along the family setting. According to the author, the unity and risk sharing are an adaptive strategy adapted by people lining in the Flats to overcome poverty and survive the harsh environments.

The risk-sharing concept created by friends. These friends exchange basic goods and ensure fair distribution of basic commodities (33). The author acknowledges the close ties among the society members. This relation ensures that people develop a tendency of exchanging goods. The sharing culture ensures that the society enjoys commodities that are within the environment and hence limit the effect of poverty within this setting. The model ensures people within the Flat setting deal with social and economical challenges through sharing.

The sharing aspect limits the amount of cash required to possess material elements. The culture ensures those who have surplus of given commodities share with others in the spirit of togetherness and social balance. The author highlights the tactics deployed members of the social setting as based on extended family settings. The adaptive strategies highlighted by the author tend to ignore the social alignments and the contemporary issues facing the society. The strategy may work in the short run but fail to cope with poverty among these members.

The society is complex in that opportunities are not presented equally. In this sense, society may ignore the fact and share commodities based on the current needs. In the end, some members within the setting may be considered parasite hence breaking the unity created by the culture of sharing. The concept highlights how the adaptive strategy could not work in the end.In conclusion, society expects a strategy that will ensure they survive hardships in life. The strategies highlighted by Stack indicate the tendency of the society to bridge the gap between fortunate individual and those negatively affected by the social composition.

The unit along these communities could be essential however, strategies to limit the impact of a certain social disparities may work for a specific period beyond which comprehensive plans and other stregies need to be in place to conquer the social complexities. Work citedStack, Carol. All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. New York: Basic Books, 1974. Print