Carl D Agostino's Cultural Influences

One can consistently argue that clothing plays a large role in a person’s everyday social interactions. In most societies, the way a person dresses themselves can tell a lot about them including, but not limited to, their race, religion, or socioeconomic status. In “Cultural Influences”, a cartoon by Carl D’Agostino, a group of men is depicted listening to their presumed leader proclaim that “too many of [them] are wearing Western clothes”. The men below are looking warily to the man in the “Western clothes” standing slightly away from them. The alienation that faces this Western man are a clear example of the divide between two cultures of different clothing. Through the symbolic interaction theory, one can argue that the reason the Middle

In modern Western societies, Islamic people are considered a minority, a group treated unequally and differently because of their cultural characteristics, and are seen as outsiders and sometimes outcasted for their differences (Benokraitis, 2016). The dominant culture in America is characterized by Anglo-Saxon Protestants and they are almost all wary of anyone seen in a Muslim headscarf. Interactionism would suggest that the symbol of Islamic clothing conjures up thoughts of terrorism and inequality toward women since the public is typically only fed these negative things about the religion: “meanings aren’t inherent but are created and modified through interaction with others,” (Benokraitis, 2016). Through this idea, Westerners are forced to associate a person in traditional Muslim attire with a negative ideology and be wary of

In this joke, a stereotype, or an oversimplified or exaggerated generalization about a group of people, is utilized to depict the Western man (Benokraitis, 2016). The American West is typically stereotyped as not-very- intelligent cowboy types. Middle Eastern people, contrastly, are historically very intelligent and have made many contributions to modern science. Another reason the men in the cartoon could be at odds is because the Middle Eastern men are abiding by social norm to accept this stereotype and assume that the Western man, in addition to being impious and reckless, is also unintelligent. Before ever even being spoken to, the man was probably stereotyped because of his clothing and immediately left out of the group of other