The role of parents is to care for the children and I also think that it is now becoming their duty to entertain their children. It is also not solely the role of the father to make money but is now very common for both parents to have to bring home the bacon. I think the older children of the family are partially responsible for caring for the younger children. Children have some duties, such as making their bed or doing dishes but aren't expected to do heavy duty farm work in most cases. Grandparents are babysitters and are supposed to spoil their grandchildren to no end.
Children are expected to go off to college as soon as they graduate or if not to college at least to get their own place or start paying their parents rent. It's seen as part of becoming an adult and learning their own responsibilities. I remember in my family my one brother wanted to move back home after graduating from college to save money but my parents would not allow it because they wanted him to learn to make his own money.
People in our culture are expected to date within the same socioeconomic status. It would be out of the ordinary for a woman from a rich family to date a poor man. The education levels also need to be similar and the level of attractiveness also needs to be fairly equal. People often comment on how "she's too good for him," or vice versa. A model isn't going to be seen dating a "starving artist."
Marriage proposals in our culture are always done the same. The man first has to ask the woman's father for her hand in marriage, and when he says yes the man buys a ring, which is supposed to cost 3 months of his salary. He then takes his girlfriend out to eat, on vacation, to a sporting event, or whatever event they enjoy doing together and he gets down on one knee and asks her to marry him. If she says yes he puts the ring on her ring finger and they're engaged.
A typical wedding consists of a short ceremony in a church and is conducted by an ordained minister. After the ceremony everyone heads to some event hall and waits to eat while the bridal party takes hundreds of photos. The bridal party then marches in to some song and then the party is started. The food is served and the best man and maid of honor give their speeches. Everyone clings the glasses to make the new bride and groom kiss. After the food is taken away the cake is cut and the bride and groom shove cake into each others faces. About this time is when the DJ starts playing music and the alcohol begins flowing. Once a few people are brave enough to venture to the dance floor everyone starts to relax and enjoy themselves and continue to get really drunk.
Divorce is seen as being fairly acceptable and recently has become something to celebrate. I've seen television shows discussing the topic of throwing a great divorce party. Many people view divorce as the only way to fix a relationship and to regain happiness. Not everyone views divorce in this way. Many Christians still see it as something that should be avoided if at all possible.
Each divorce situation can be very different, but typically the belongings are split in half and the children spend one week with mom and the next week with dad. If for some reason one parent seems unfit to take care of the children, preference is usually given to the mother.
Homosexuality is acceptable to many people, especially in larger cities. In certain areas gay marriage has been legalized, but is still being debated in many areas. In rural areas it is more frowned upon but still accepted by enough people that no one can harm them.
Women in our culture are supposed to be loving and caring and are expected to take care of the children for the most part. Young girls are supposed to play with barbies and wear pink and boys are supposed to wrestle and wear blue. Men are supposed to work hard, make money, and not cry. I do think women are more sensitive to others emotions and therefore can be more supportive emotionally. I sometimes wish men were more sensitive to emotions, but not to the point that it's all they talk about. There definitely needs to be differences among men and women and I like when men are tough and hard-working. I don't think it is solely the role of the woman to take care of the kids and the man's role to enforce rules and punishments. I think marriage is more about compromise and agreeing on how to raise the children. I think it should be acceptable for girls to play with trucks and for boys to play with dolls. I know many people don't like it but I think people would be more confident if they were allowed to do what they really want to do.
Question: Are all of these social norms a cumulation of things that have been brought from other countries or are they learned behaviors from television and what our parents expect of us?
Hmm ... kind of a tough question for me. I believe that a lot of what we do and the people we are or have come to be have to do with behaviors learned from tv or parents. We know our parents limits, so our behavior will have a lot to do with what is expected of us and things we know we can and can't get away with. Television also plays a role, growing up you watch all these tv shows as a child and you come to think that is the way you can or should be so your behavior could also very much be impacted by tv!
ReplyDeleteI think that the social norms of today have long since diverged from those brought over from other countries. TV and parents play a bigger role in setting these social norms. The more we are exposed to on TV the more desensitized we become to things that are against social norms. This causes us to be more accepting of things.
ReplyDeleteI think your question falls under the headlines of the Nature vs Nurture debate. I personally think that our societal norms are a culmination of how we are raised and how the outside world has impacted us, such as the influences of different cultures or the influences of media in our own society. For instance, I learned from my dad that men are supposed to act tough in every circumstance, but television doesn't always (it does most of the time, but not always) portray the need to do so. But I have learned from television that "love" is a possible solution to a relationship even though adults in my family have never seemed happily married. So I think the reasons for our societal beliefs goes both ways--Nature and Nurture.
ReplyDeleteI think that most of them start out to be what is passed down through the family, but then as they get older alot of it is corrupted and changed by the media.
ReplyDeleteI think that most of the social norms are learned from our parents and what they teach us was learned from their parents and so on. Are parents are usually very clear on what they expect from us and in most cases we fallow this and do things that they would approve of in respect for them. So much of our behaviors and decisions are outcomes of what they have taught us.
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