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What are influences of culture in society
What are the influences of culture on society
What are the influences of culture on society
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Comparing the cultural dimensions of the United States with Guatemala’s the two biggest contrasting dimensions are power distance and uncertainty avoidance. The other dimension that has some kind of lesser comparison contrasting is individualism. Guatemalan’s score high when it pertains to power distance, which means that their individual’s societies are not equal as compared to the United States. Guatemala score high depicts a society that believes that iniquities amongst people are simple the way of life. The score addresses the cultural power by groups or individuals at a given time mandating the way of life. The power dimension reflects on their low score in individualism, which is explained by power related basis of groups or individuals. …show more content…
In a society where people believe that inequalities amongst people is the way of life and all the power is generated by groups of individuals depending on the situation confronted by the country it would be hard to mobilize any type of operation due the shifting power ones they current power holder is defeated. Their uncertainty avoidance dimension or the way their society deals with facts of their future. The ability to counter re-act of deal with a leader or society that does not know what their future holds makes every situation a more complex way of dealing. To mitigate any Key Leader Engagement tension between this two divers cultural societies I would use their cultural dimension of individualism to counter act those dimension in contrast such as power distance and uncertainty avoidance. Individualism within the Guatemala’s cultural dimension score depicts that their society prefers to be part of a leadership group and will work more as collective cultural group. Combining both scores of power distance and individualism means that within theirs society groups are their strong
The Popol Vuh is a collection of historical mythos of the K’iche’ Maya, a group that still lives in the Guatemalan highlands. Popol Vuh translates as either, “Book of Council” or in proper K’iche’ “Book of Events” or “Book of the People”, and tells the creation mythos of the K’iche’ peoples, an epic tale of Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, along with a series of genealogies.
I was born in Guatemala in a city called, called Guatemala City. Life in Guatemala is hard which is why my parents brought me into the United States when I was eight months old. Some of the things that makes life in Guatemala hard is the violence. However, Guatemala has plenty of hard working men, women, and children who usually get forced to begin working as soon as they are able to walk. However, unlike many other countries, Guatemala has a huge crime rate. I care about the innocent hard working people that live in Guatemala and receive letters, threatening to be killed if they do not pay a certain amount of money at a certain amount of time.
From the time of its colonization at the hands of Spanish Conquistadors in the early 1500’s, Guatemala has suffered under the oppression of dictator after dictator. These dictators, who ruled only with the support of the military and only in their own interests, created a form of serfdom; by 1944, two percent of the people owned 70 percent of the usable land.
Guatemala’s culture is a unique product of Native American ways and a strong Spanish colonial heritage. About half of Guatemala’s population is mestizo (known in Guatemala as ladino), people of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. Ladino culture is dominant in urban areas, and is heavily influenced by European and North American trends. Unlike many Latin American countries, Guatemala still has a large indigenous population, the Maya, which has retained a distinct identity. Deeply rooted in the rural highlands of Guatemala, many indigenous people speak a Mayan language, follow traditional religious and village customs, and continue a rich tradition in textiles and other crafts. The two cultures have made Guatemala a complex society that is deeply divided between rich and poor. This division has produced much of the tension and violence that have marked Guatemala’s history (Guatemalan Culture and History).
The Mayan Genocide was a result of a civil war concerning communism and democracy between corrupt leaders and the people of Guatemala. The Guatemalan army carried out the genocide under the self-proclaimed name “killing machines”. According to the article Genocide in Guatemala “the army destroyed 626 villages, killed or “disappeared” more than 200,000 people and displaced an additional 1.5 million, while more than 150,000 were driven to seek refuge in Mexico”. The army murdered and tortured without regard to age or gender, men, women, and children all alike. In an attempt to end the conflict Peace Accords were signed, in spite of the fact that there was little change. Directly following the Mayan genocides, Guatemala faced physical and emotional
Guatemala is located in Central America and is south of Mexico. It is home to volcanos and Mayan ruins. Guatemala has strong Mayan and Spanish influence. The Spanish left their mark with their own beliefs and traditions. The Mayan people are a big part of Guatemala and therefore also reflect Guatemalan culture. More than half of the Guatemalan population have indigenous roots. There are many traditions and remedies that are practiced by the people of Guatemala. This paper will discuss Guatemalan customs and beliefs on health and medicine.
What do you think of when you hear the name Honduras? A warm, tropical country? A culture filled country? The music, the food, the dances? “White” Hispanics on an area?... In my experience, the last thing that comes to mind when someone hears the name Honduras, is the association of dark-skinned, african- american descendants who speak spanish as well as have their own language, food, dances, and way of living, known as garifunas. Garifuna people are a mixed race whose descendants are from West Africa, Central Africa, the Caribbean, and the Arawak tribe who live along the coast of Central American countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Nicaragua. According to the article, “Garifuna,” “their phenotype reveals their African heritage,
I always live as a Guatemalan for the last 15 years, it was hard when I had to move from my country to another that was very different than mine and find out that in this new country is a different languages and different cultures. Maybe for the first time that I was walking to the school, I feel like I was in Guatemala people with the same skin color as me, but when I heard them talked I heard a new word, different accents and I realized that everything was chance.
Josephine parents are from Central America and therefore is her culture. In her culture the head of the family decides solely on the meals menu. The head of the family, the father, has to be heeded and since they try as much to conserve their culture, they will prefer having their traditional foods to others. The traditional food of the Latin Americans is mostly fried and therefore, most of Josephine’s food will have a lot of fats. Guatemala’s cuisine is depended on their religion and the Maya cuisine is responsible for the largest share of their traditional foods. The key ingredients involved are corn, chilis and beans. On her mother’s side (from Honduras), their most popular dish is baleada which represents their gastronomy. The meal has flour tortilla folded and filled with refried beans and Parmesan cheese or sour cream. Sometimes they may decide to add roast meat or scrambled eggs. The mothers are responsible for cooking the family’s meal which is mostly their traditional food. Both the Guatemala and Hondurans enjoy freedom of worship with Christianity their main religion. They are very friendly people and open in
When I was a toddler, I had blonde hair, blue eyes and white skin, and still presently do. My parents are Guatemalan, however they fit the stereotype of a Guatemalan, small, a bit chunky, and tan. My siblings also carry the same genes as my parents, but yet I stand out like the moon in a night sky. But just like the moon, the public looks at me different. Growing up in a hispanic community and having a Latino family I gained numerous titles for my abnormality. “Canche” is the George Clooney of my nicknames, it means white boy.
The next communication gap concerns with the individualism- collectivism dimension, which is the degree an individual is integrated into groups in a society (Hofstede, 2001). Individualistic cultures like the U.S put a strong emphasis on individual autonomy and independence, whereas collectivist cultures like Vietnam believe in belonging, obligation
In the New York Times article, A Wrong Turn for Guatemalan Democracy, Guatemala’s political situation is regarded as a declining state where Congress has most control over corruption, leaving little room for their new president, Jimmy Morales, to consolidate the country’s politics. A democracy is a form of government that reflects the wants and needs of the people through political action. The people of Guatemala are viewed by the author of the article, Anita Isaacs, as the only option to reform the country’s corruption since Mr. Morales has only 11 out of the 158 members of Congress in his political party and the United Nations ceases to assist in aiding the corruption. [Isaacs, A Wrong Turn]. Guatemalan Democracy may be unstable due to the
One noticeable cultural difference between the society pictured in this chapter and our American society seems to be a collectivist ideology. In America we value the individual and place emphasis on distinction from the group. This causes a strong sense of competition, and leads people to take actions that would benefit themselves in spite of negative effects that may trickle to other members of the community. The culture pictured in our reading, however, seems to place greater value on family and community goals rather than the needs or wants of specific individuals.
The power distance in Singapore is 74 where in Canada it is 39, power distance shows the equality of people in society or culture and the distribution of power (Hofstede Centre, 2016). In Singapore, the distribution of power is not equal everyone is not treated same but in Canada the power is mostly distributed equally. Another metrics in the model is individualism vs collectivism, from the graph above we can see the Singapore is more in collectivism whereas Canada is more in individualism (Hofstede Centre, 2016). Uncertainty avoidance affects a human behavior or a culture in large hugely. In uncertainty avoidance Singapore’s score is 8. In Singapore people abide too many rules not because they have need for structure but because of high Power distance (Hofstede Centre, 2016).
First, in Power Distance the USA scored 40 in comparison to Saudi Arabia's score of 95. Second, in Individualism, the USA ranked at 91 while Saudi Arabia is at 25. Third, the Masculinity rating for the USA is 62, and similarly in Saudi Arabia the rating is 60. Fourth, the Uncertainty Avoidance for USA is 46, while Saudi Arabia scored much higher in this category at 80. Regarding the fifth dimension of Long-Term Orientation, USA scored 26 with Saudi Arabia at 36. Lastly, in the sixth and final category of Indulgence, USA has a score of 68 in comparison to Saudi Arabia at 52. These scores translate into specific inferences for each country's cultural characteristics. Saudi Arabia scores high relative to the USA in regards to Power Distance, highlighting their country's emphasis on hierarchical order in which individual subordination is accepted and unchallenged. This is very different from the American ideals of equal rights in all societal aspects. For Individualism, the rank is reversed with the USA scoring much higher than Saudi Arabia. Individualism is popular in our culture, with independence highly valued and members tend to be responsible only for themselves and their direct family. Saudi Arabia is considered a collectivist society where loyalty and long-term relationships are held in high-regard with collective responsibility for group members. Both countries have nearly identical scores in the dimension of Masculinity. This exhibits the driving cultural forces of competition and achievement with success held in high regard over other values. With Uncertainty Avoidance, the countries are once again polarized. With the USA's relatively low score, the culture exhibits acceptance for new ideas with an emphasis on innovation and toleration. On the opposite end of