The Transmission of Culture

Paper Summary:

The paper identifies a definition of culture and examines how it is transmitted, generically speaking. The paper discusses the need to be nurtured and socially taught so that as we mature, we will meet the cultural guidelines in each developmental phase of our lives. The paper also talks about a sub-culture; a group within a society whose values and norms are different from that of the accepted dominant view. The paper utilizes the example of American society's rigid emphasis on gender roles to demonstrate how Americans transmit culture already from the time of birth.

From the Paper:

"Before one can understand how an aspect of our American culture came about, and how it is being translated today to nearly all members of our society, we must see how culture is transmitted. Before we can even do that, we need to understand what culture actually is; everyone has an idea of what culture is, but whether we know it or not, we associate the words "culture" with "American culture" and use the two interchangeably. We may think that "American culture" is "culture" because of the idea of ethnocentrism, the idea that one's own culture is the right culture, and all others should follow. However, more times than not, most open-minded and fair people that use "American culture" and "culture" interchangeably will do so without meaning to and will do so because their "American culture" is all they have ever known. Therefore, since that culture is the only one they have been exposed to, that is the only viewpoint on the world that they possess (Nanda and Warms 86)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Nanda, Serena and Warms, Richard L. Cultural Anthropology. Belmont: Thomson Learning, Inc., 2007

More papers on The Transmission of Culture:

• Essay # 33629 : "The Transmission of AIDS in Africa"
• Term Paper # 146964 : "The Spread of Greek Culture"
• Term Paper # 147035 : "The Means of Planning"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: