The Motives of Enculturation - Essay Example

The Motives of Enculturation Introduction The aspect of adopting a culture different the family’s culture is common in the modern world. Notably, there exist millions of cultures in the world, and with globalization, individuals have adopted changes in both technology and interaction grounds an aspect commonly referred to as civilization. However, it’s evidently noticeable that civilization process involves a series of enculturation. This paper seeks to explain the motives of enculturation, how the process takes place and the reason behind choosing only a few aspects to adopt or retain while eliminating others. In a more precise manner, the paper will also outline the family ties that influence an individual’s process of enculturation, possibly in accelerating, slowing, or shaping it to follow a certain path. Markedly, upon interviewing two individuals from different cultures; a Guatemala and Tibetan, it’s evident that enculturation, measured by the career values and choices made are directly influenced by family cultures. Interviewee’s background information The first interviewee was a Tibetan registered nurse, working in a public hospital. For confidentially purposes, the interviewees’ fine details including the hospital’s name are withheld. Being born in the late 1979 his parents were typical Tibetans who lived in the southern parts of USA. He was brought up in a rural set-up, lived in the discrimination era and hence spent most of his childhood time with Asian natives. Currently, the interviewee acknowledged that, he lives in a completely different environment, amidst blacks, Asians, Latin natives and whites, both at work place and neighborhood: hence his own culture has become less important. The second interviewee was a Guatemalan woman, working in a cereal production farm. The lady in question was ambitious, social and maintained a cheerful face all through the interview time, responding to the questions precisely and splendidly. Contrary to her cultural obligation, the lady confirmed that she was a senior agricultural officer in the firm she worked for. Similar to the Tibetan guy, the lady was also brought up in suburb areas, was in her mid-thirties, almost turning 35, with her parents being traditionally encompassed. She was a graduate, the only girl in a family of three, and illiterate parents. Interview results Both respondents appeared to be positive about the interview. They cheerfully responded to the questions as it was a platform to confess the advantages that accrued from their enculturation process. Noticeably, both respondents belong to generation X, born from the boomers but in a remote environment. The first respondent was a Tibetan, who confessed that his father was more of Tibetan monk. Although he still maintains his religious belief, his spiritual thinking has seriously been altered by the interaction of other races. Being a monk, his parents pay tribute to poverty and dedication to worship. Their success in life wasn’t measured by social status advancement but rather by how many resources they dedicated to worship. He acknowledged that this note of religious addiction was possible for his moral behavior. In his early education, his father taught him of being loyal to the community at large not excluding strangers. In ambition to fulfill his father’s desires the respondent chose to join the nursing profession. Secondly, to the Tibetan nurse, medicine was not only a profession taught in school but also a traditional practice. Tibetan traditional doctors used plants and minerals and incorporated Buddhism doctrines to administer cure to patients. The respondent acknowledged his parents believe in these doctors capability, explaining how sometimes they despised the modern hospitals that operated outside religious doctrines. The existence of the two types of medical specialized provoked him to study nursing, since he believed healing was more of psychological rather than biological. To quote him “in my childhood, dad used to prefer traditional doctors and prayers in case of illness, they cured him and other Tibetans. The whites contradicted the idea through advocating for public hospitals. To me the latter could heal me but not my dad”. Jokingly the man added that the nurse dress, resembled the Tibetans traditional clothing in exclusion of the color, and thus since medicine was not in the list of his career choices, nursing became a perfect choice. According to him, career choice is a personal decision, but should reflect the community’s. As matter of fact, the nurse has detestation on capitalism ideology. He is grateful operating as a nurse, an occupation that is not only different form his parents but also contradicts their belief. For that reason, he expects to have no control over his children’s career choice, but maintains that whatever they choose, ought to better the community as well as improving their social standings. The Guatemalan lady, admitted to contain a lot of her historical culture traits, despite appearing as very decent and social. To start with, her parents happen to be peasant farmers. During her teenage age, peasant farming was associated with poverty and she had to maintain her parent’s reputation. “My parents were successful peasant farmers, but in my generation the word success and peasant farming were opponents,” she replied on why she opted to change her career. Notably, she still operated in agriculture and acknowledged that time demanded advancement and that she did. Similar to the Tibetan, this lady was born in a remote region but grew in an environment mixed with different races and culture. Dressed in decent trouser suit and speaking fluently in English, the lady argument that she was herself a typical Guatemalan lady was contradicting. According to her, her enculturation process began after the invention of protestant Pentecostalism in Guatemala that contradicted some catholic doctrines. Upon migrating from the suburbs, she met different people and cultures. These two occurrences provoked her to define good deeds according to morals rather than cultural norms. Remarkably, to her any career that improves personal welfare is morally right, but she has a feeling that politics is a weird game adding zero value to economic welfare. Her career choice was motivated by her community’s chief occupation, but built in to incorporate technological advancement. Respondent’s Comparison and Conclusion Both respondents belonged to generation X and thus faced almost similar environmental conditions. However, their cultural backgrounds differed and hence the difference in career choices. Notably, the nurse did not include agricultural officer in his occupation rejection list. Neither did the lady consider nursing a wrong occupation. This implied that the two respondents had accepted diversity and specialization. Moreover, it evident that every culture has diverse career choices from which individuals chooses from. The Tibetans, had doctors, artists, religious monks, among many others while the Guatemalans survived by farming, alongside other occupations such as music and art. Career choice is greatly influenced by family background. Both respondents made choices that were related to their parent’s occupation. As noted from the respondents; the invention of technology and global development makes, individuals tend to question the traditional norms and thus the onset of enculturation process. Outstandingly, there is no particular culture marked as the best. The new generation collects norms from the existing cultures, analyses them on a moral perspective and adopts the best fits discarding the baseless ones. It’s this critique that evokes some people into developing interest into certain education fields. The Tibetan nurse opposed the traditional medicinal practices, but still lacked evidence why they were effective. The lady on the other hand saw a change in environment that never gave room for peasant farming. In efforts to change their community’s wellbeing, the two characters landed into their career. They both acknowledge that career development, enculturation, and the cultural norms to maintain remains a personal decision based on individual ambition. For that reason, none hopes to have control over future generations. The only difference noted in the enculturation process relates to the differences in cultural backgrounds. Both have positive attitude towards their ethnic groups but advocate for a change to accommodate global development. The Tibetan man advocates for social welfare improvement. His parents were religious monks and believed that poverty and self-dedication to the Supreme Being makes one righteous. They never strove to extra earnings for themselves. Using this mentality, the Tibetan chooses to study nursing, and improve the psychological understanding of fellow tribesmen on modern medical treatment. Although he earns from the profession and can be rich, his enculturation process is motivated is more of a social responsibility. Peasant farmers on the other hand are capitalists, seeking for self-gain. The lady opts to be as successful in life as her parents. To succeed in the new environment, enculturation and thus she has no option. Notably, by becoming an agricultural officer she can still educate her society on the benefits of commercialized farming, but that does not form her primary reason. She confesses “my parents always encouraged me to work hard and better my future life.” References Lu, F. G., Sanders, K. M., Rho, Y. C., & Rho, N.-T. (2009). Handbook of Mental Health and Acculturation in Asian American Families: Families, Acculturation and Resilience. Dordrecht: Springer. Questionnaire The purpose of this interview is to examine your career values and choices you have made, and to understand how you see those choices in relation to the people you are or have been closest to: your family. I would like to take a few minutes to think about your responses in advance. If you wish to bring prepared responses to the interview, that is fine. May I record your responses? 1. Name and year, era or generation you were born. Where were you born and what can you tell me about the impact of local history/events that may have influenced your life choices? 2. How did your parents “make a living” & what did they teach you about work, or how did they influence you in your own career decisions? How would you evaluate their culture, and how did their culture, &the way they learnt it, affect what they gave to you? 3. In your employment history, how did you resolve the dilemma of the kind(s) of work you always admired /aspired to, & the economic realities you found? Which kinds of work are ideal, in your view, and why? Which kinds of work are unacceptable to you? Why? Do you have any career or professional moves you made which you regret (I always wanted to be a ____, but…?) What is good work? Bad work? Enjoyable work? Drudgery? 4. In what ways would you wish to continue the family “tradition” in which you were born? How do you want your own marriage/ family to vary from your family of birth? What is an “ideal” family? What is the trouble with families today, & why can’t we fix our “family problems”? 5. What is your attitude toward your own ethnic background, & how has that influenced your whole work/family arrangement? Which aspects of your ethnic heritage do you feel it is necessary or desirable to reveal or conceal? How much has your parent’s ethnic heritage determined the outcome of their lives? How does that contrast with your own situation? 6. In what ways do you want your children’s (or future generation’s) lives to be better than yours (ours)? What can/ should they learn from you? Read More