Cultural Meaning Essay

The meaning humans give to actions, concepts and behaviours is dependent on the cultural milieu and is conditioned to a great extent by the underlying meaning systems, values and frames of meaning he/she inherites from the society in general. Socialization plays a direct role in that process. Education, effects of peers and the intellectual atmosphere all contribute to what is called cultural meaning or systems of meaning. Cultural meaning conditions our perception and determines the way we process external perceptions. In this sense, what Gregory Bateson calls â€Å"an ecology of mind† is at work here. The mind acts in an ecology of preceding concepts, comments and semantic networks operating in a particular field and in society as well. Through these networks meaning is produced within a particular person, system, or culture. This meaning then frames and motivates the actions of individuals and groups. â€Å"Events are not just there and happen, but they have a meaning and happen because of that meaning,† wrote Clifford Geertz. Meaning is also historically formed. For example; body image varies across cultures and is shaped by the specific meaning given to it by a culture. There is a time dimension involved in this same process, too. Western societies tend to value slim and fit bodies in terms of representation in popular culture. Whereas, body images of other cultures are very different in most cases. Some Pacific island people prefer fatness both as a sign of wealth and of esthetic superiority. But with the advent of globalization and the expansion of western cultural codes through TV and other media, these same people have come to question their body images. Western culture’s meaning system expanded its sphere of influence in that case. In fact, a mild fatness was accepted as a desirable physical trait in western history, too. Much of what is classified under popular culture is subject to meaning systems and the accompanying perceptions about them. A society’s selective perceptions and evaluations favor a certain behavior, a mode of thought and even such ephemeral things as fashion fads. Famous anthropologist Clifford Geertz suggests that an analysis of culture must also cope with the category of meaning. â€Å"The culture concept to which I adhere . denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited concepts expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life. † As is understod from this definition, meaning is an inseparable component of culture and it directly shapes our perceptions and understanding. Alternative meaning systems combine to give a culture its core values. As a cultural phenomenon, gift giving may be evaluated from that pespective looking at different cultures and their subjective meaning systems attributed to this practice. As can be deduced from David R. Counts’ article , some cultures see the act of gift giving in a radically different way. Reciprocity brings about a gift giving approach that is essentially different from ours. The people of New Guinea think gift giving must include a symmetry in that you also have to respond to the act of gift giving by giving something in return for the one you received. It is a kind of implied bargain, or shopping through barter more to say. In the lack of formal rules and practices of trade, the natives created their own concept of reciprocal gift giving as a means of doing trade. From a western point of view, the meanings ascribed to gift giving are very different, though. But New Guineans have refined this form of gift giving through centuries and created this particular meaning system. Western culture sees gift giving as away from commercial thoughts. Though reciprocity is emphasized again, the hints of mutual give-and-take are shunned carefully lest monetary concerns come between. Western culture’s refusal of this kind of gift giving and its derisory look at the issue are witnessed through some sayings and idioms. The term â€Å"Indian giver† is one such example. A network of meanings developed through centuries of experience emerges as cultural meaning. It becomes a culture’s core over time and forms the basis also of other attitudes. Western culture makes one think there are indeed too many bananas, whereas in New Guinea there can not be too many bananas at all. Another cultural phenomenon seen through the different lenses of various cultures is leadership. Leadership is also loaded with cultural meanings and values. In general, eastern cultures are said to put much emphasis on social harmony and collective action. Respect to elders, family ties are given importance in these cultures. Leaders in these cultures are expected to be humble, caring and considerate thinking about the well-being of their followers. In this sense, they are seen as somewhat paternalistic figures. They are required to show mercy and understanding towards inferiors, to care for the problems of those they lead. Whereas, in western culture a competitive society is preferred and leaders are thought to be assertive, highly competitive and efficient decision makers. Humane considerations do not seem to play great role in this scheme. Efficiency and beneficial results matter more than paternalistic protection of subordinates. So, one who is accepted in the West as a good leader may be perceived as a ruthless go-getter obsessed with his egotistic views in the East. Cultural meaning acquired through immediate experience and classified into an unwritten code of ethics, appears as the determinant of perceptions about power and leadership. In contrast, a western look may detect an apathetic, lethargic society in the East viewing the style of leadership there as suffocating innovation and development. These two seemingly irreconcilable views about the same concept result from the respective meaning systems of the two cultures. Leaving aside the theoretical concerns over the validity of the broad-based concept culture, it is possible to derive conclusions after comparing differences between meaning systems of societies. Culture as a web of meaning systems is observed best in such comparisons. I would like to quote here a passage from Clifford Geertz who is among those attributing great singificance to culture as a system of meanings. † The concept of culture I espouse . . . is essentially a semiotic one. Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun, I take culture to be those webs, and the analysis of it to be therefore not an experiential science in search of law but an interpretive one in search of meaning. . . . Meaning, that elusive and ill-defined pseudoentity we were once more than content to leave philosophers and literary critics to fumble with, has now come back into the heart of our discipline. † New Guineans asserted their view on gift giving and that’s what struck westerners most as strange. In the other case of Fiji girls experiencing problems with their body image, western culture’s meaning system can be said to intrude upon the culture-and hence meaning system- of Fiji through the images brought by mass media. Culture is an ambient, all encompassing structure composed of interrelated and interdependent meaning systems. There are both implied and overt systems of meaning in a culture and they can be grasped through socialization. As I tried to show with respect to the phenomena of gift giving and leadership, specific meaning systems forming a culture condition our perceptions and how we evaluate certain phenomena. If I am not mistaken, Italian writer Umberto Eco penned a short story protagonist of which is a â€Å"savage† from a distant land who visits a â€Å"developed and civilized† country to observe the mores, customs and habits of the people living there. Of course the apparent irony points to the reversal of the usual relationship between â€Å"savages and the civilized†; it has always been the civilized who observed and analyzed savages but that time roles were exchanged. The savage travels across the lands of the civilized people and, as can be expected in this case, gets surprised much. For the first time, the usually observed, passive one turns a critical gaze toward the usually active observer. It is such a striking idea that the story caught me surprised. I think the irony here explains once again the essence of culture as a web of meanings. The savage walks through streets of cities, analyzes people and their unintelligibly strange habits, behaviors and customs. He is faced with a maze of meanings totally out of reach of his understanding because he is the product of another set of meanings. He has difficulty with interpreting certain behaviors; some of them look funny and others as grotesquely irrational. I think Eco’s wonderful story has many implications for understanding culture and cultural phenomena. When faced with a different culture, all of us become as helpless and stricken as the savage. Devoid of cultural cues to interpret the events taking place around us, we try in these circumstances to find a usual meaning that enables us to grasp the world anew and have a sense of familiarity. We all live out our pesonal narratives in this search for meaning in a maze of seemingly opaque networks of meaning.

Cultural Differences Study of China, Nigeria and Brazil Essay

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Womens participation levels in sport and physical activity and how it is affected - Literature review Example This paper intends to discuss the participation of women in sports and physical activities. Reasons for why it is affected will also be provided (Alexander 2006, p 24). Recent studies and statistics have proven that the number of women participating in sports and physical activities is low as compared to that of men. Participation is the process of being involved physically in an activity, or being a person who takes part in an activity physically. In a study done, in Australia, on women and men to see the level of their participation in sports and physical activities, the results showed that out of the total population, only 38.7% of the women participated in sports, while 65% of the men participated in sports. However, studies show that today, as compared to the previous years more women are participating in sports (Festle 2007, p 32). There are various reasons why women did not participate in sports in the previous years, for example, lack of time. Women were expected to remain home and take care of their children and home (Festle 2007, 16). For example, a woman would wake up in the morning, prepare her husband for work and start taking care of house chores and the children. These activities denied the women time to spare to do things they enjoy, like sports. Another reason why women did not participate in sports or physical activities was because of the expectations the society had put on them. Women did not take part in sports since it was seen as an activity that only men should participate in, but not women. A woman seen taking part in these activities was seen as a disgrace to the family and society at large, since it was considered masculine (Sportsscotland 2008, p 29). Lack of income was another excuse given for women not participating in sports. Women were not allowed to go out and work; men were expected to work and provide for their families; thus, it was rare for a woman to have money to spend (Joli,

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Maynard Constructs A School Web Page Case Study

Maynard Constructs A School Web Page - Case Study Example administration can develop new websites and technologically relevant platform for the communication with the participant community and the stakeholders under flexible and friendly circumstances. The effective and full implementation of this approach will ultimately lead to the improvement of the administration of the institution and the improvement of the general performance of the respective institution. The case gives an in depth blend of how the approach combines tacit knowledge and a wealth of effective theoretical approach for the development of successful means of communication with entities both internal and external to the institution, means of building and maintaining stable relationship with the political and social capital and the best means of translating the above stated values into positive changes in the school set up and for the purpose of development and improvement(Kowalski, 2004). Through the exploration of the above themes the case looks into how the development of new and effective technologies can help in the success of an institution. The study has comprehensively factored in issues that affect the real world and ensured that for the development of a successful module in the institutions, the best practicable approach and technology has to be applied. In conclusion, the case has ensured that there is the need of harnessing technology to meet the needs of the public and the comprehensive factoring in of collection of data, public opinions and regular

Fine chemical production Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Fine chemical production - Essay Example Chemically, citral consists of a mixture of a pair of aldehydes (terpenoids) having similar molecular formula but different structures. The two compounds are considered to be double bond isomers with the E-isomer being referred to as citral â€Å"a† or geranial while Z-isomer is known as citral â€Å"b† or neral. Although citral naturally occurs in compounds such as lemon grass and can be isolated from these citral containing oils, it is only available in sizable quantities. For effective synthetic manufacture of citral on a large scale basis for industrial purposes, it is increasingly becoming important to have a synthetic method of fine production from simple, inexpensive but readily available commercial chemicals such as isoprene and bata-pinene among others. Citral is widely used in the manufacture of perfumes, lotions, creams, shampoos and flavourings. In addition, the chemical compound is also an important basis for synthesizing a variety of popular fragrance compounds such as geraniol, eugenal, ionones and citronellol as well as in making carotinoids used for both vitamin A and E. Being one of the most important acyclic monoterpenes due to its numerous industrial applications, citral has many synthetic routes some of which are currently being used in commercial production of the chemical. This paper presents a fine chemical production of Citral including its chemistry, synthetic route selection, thermodynamics, kinetics and wastes issues. The current selected synthetic route for the production of citral involves the use of isobutene and formaldehyde as the primary feeding stocks with nitric acid as the preferred choice of catalysts. Using this method, citral can effectively be produced by from the reaction between isobutene and formaldehyde molecules under high temperatures and pressure and using a catalyst. The resultant chemical is then subjected to numerous special

Comparison of The Crucible and After Liverpool Essay Example for Free

Comparison of The Crucible and After Liverpool Essay For this assignment I am going to be comparing two plays both of which I have studied and preformed. The first play, which I studied, was the crucible by Arthur Miller and After Liverpool by James Saunders. Each of the two plays are naturalistic but are set in two very different times. The Crucible is set in Salem Massachusetts in 1642 and After Liverpool is set in the 70s. The two are quite contrary in how they were set out first of all After Liverpool was made up of 23 small scenes some only having a few lines some having quite a few but most of them were short. The main things used in the setting for each scene are very basic. The scene was made up of a coffee table, a few chairs and a sofa. It os so basic as everyone has these things and this type of thing could happen to anyone of us at any time. This produces the effect that relationships are similar and that in this performance the only thing that maters is the relationship between the actors whereas on the other hand The Crucible is quite different. This is made up of four long acts. This uses lots of sophisticated props for example detailed furniture and crockery. This is all needed to set the time in which the crucible is set. Whereas in After Liverpool the setting is not irrelevant but is not as important. After Liverpool was made up of two characters of not much significance and a series of duologues bar one. After Liverpool is about the lack of communication that can develop over time. The short scenes in this piece are somewhat symbolic to the nature of relationships today. The speed and the fact that long term relationships are not as common. Also most of them are based on sexual attraction, which is now an important thing when looking for a partner. The crucible has many different characters and each of the characters are described and are of quite significance. Compared to After Liverpool where there is no description of the characters. There is no description of characters as it is irrelevant of who you are in this piece as all people are involved or could be involved in a relationship. The crucible is based on a true story and some of the characters were real people. The crucible is an allegory and was written as Arthur Miller wanted to express his views but couldnt so he uses The Crucible as an allegory to do so. Miller wanted to express his views about the McCarthy communist hunts in America. What he was saying was that if America is so great and believes in freedom why is it that you were killed or exiled for believing in a contrary government to Americas own. Also The Crucibles main theme was mass hysteria and the community being ruled by the church and religion. After Liverpool also uses symbolism in the apples by this is mean is that the apple is representing the forbidden apple from the story of Adam and Eve. Both of theses plays are similar as both are about gaining power in a relationship in the crucible Abigail gains power over John Proctor leading to his death. After Liverpool this is about relationships and communication between couples. It is preformed entirely in chronological order with no flash backs unlike The Crucible tells you about past events. In After Liverpool each scene is wholly about the couples relationship and the communication or lack of the couples lack any past and never refer to the future. The Crucible is very detailed in its explanation of characters, which gives you an idea when performing of how to play each character. In After Liverpool there is no indication and it is entirely down to the person performing the piece. So it is an indication of how the performer sees the scene happening and maybe an indication on how they view relationships. The fact After Liverpool is written like this is also symbolic in that everyone can be in a relationship that is why the characters are labelled M and W. The reason they are labelled M and W is that it can represent anyone, which is rue as anyone can be in a relationship. The scenes did not have to be in any order this is also symbolic that the relationships in the play do not get anywhere they always end up asking the same questions. They had no specific chronological order as everything was happening in the present. Having looked at both plays it has given me an insight of two very effective ways of portraying relationships both of them very different from each other. I preferred performing After Liverpool as I could use my own drama skills to play each character, which I think is a lot better, and I enjoyed it more. Also I found it easier to understand, as it used more modern language, which was easier to learn.