Enculturation_in_Our_Society

Society and Culture: Essay Explain how the process of enculturation influences personal and social development, your response should draw upon both your own experiences as well as cross-cultural studies from other societies. Human beings have common needs, but cultural solutions to satisfying these needs may vary: this can be shown as an example through two societies such as the Paravevo tribe in Papua New Guinea and our own western society. Through time all people, societies and cultures change; and the response to change will vary from one individual to another and one society to another. Ethnocentricity is displayed as different communities have altered thinking practices and social interactions which identify the enculturation development displayed in every society. In a uniform culture it is expected that patterns of interaction will be accepted and understood by almost everyone in that society. The people of Papua New Guinea are as diverse as their country. It is impossible to describe the lifestyle of one village and say it is all typical of all. When focusing on the Paravevo tribe it’s interpersonal and intercultural practices differentiates from that of Australia’s western society. Australia is composed of many smaller cultures, or subcultures, based not only on ethnic identity but also expressions of distinctive beliefs and lifestyles. This makes it difficult to identify cultural values which may be described as ‘Australian’. Even though we should be aware of the many subcultures in Australia, there are some aspects of everyday life in Australia which may be broadly indentified as part of an ‘Australian way of life’ and has become the context for young people growing up in this country. Traditions and rituals which become the basis for any social system are really just the formalisation of events which occur to many people within that society on a regular basis. In tribal societies and in particular tribal non-literate societies, ceremony and rituals have always played a much more important role than in modern industrial societies like our own. Ceremony and ritual help to bind the community together as well as provide the means for passing on values. A person’s role and status within society is determined by the successful completion of the necessary rites of passage and religious roles. For tribal societies particularly ones were male and female roles are clearly defined like in the Paravevo tribe, rites of passage may also be a means of ensuring solidarity between males and females within their own groups. For example men in the Paravevo tribe believed that a man’s life was mainly with other men. They went hunting together, and fighting together, or else they prepared themselves for either activity. An initiation process was taught at a young age when a male family member taught you how to “first kill a bird, than next to kill a man”. This involved learning how to hide, learning to stand absolutely still and shooting at a target. At boy’s initiation ceremonies at the age of seven young boys had to go through courage and endurance tests, this involved being severely beaten and fire bands waved around a boy’s face to prove bravery. The differentiation between women and men in the tribe was quite obvious, women were not allowed to “bore than two children” after two children women would have to eat a severely dangerous weed that would destroy the womb. Only the girls learnt the art of knitting string bandages for broken bones and after birth of a baby the mother was confined to the hut for a month. Despite the cultural diversity in Australia there are some generally recognised life markers in the process of growing up. This involved registration of a child’s birth, compulsory attendance at school, voting, marriage, drivers licence and the twenty-first birthday party. Women in Australian society still fight for equality in education and the workplace. The process of socialisation, or acquiring the values of one society, helps us to accept the norm of social behaviour and other aspects of social control that exist within that society, it is in fact the way that we gain an identity for ourselves. In the Paravevo tribe many different rituals and traditions are recognised as the social norm of their society. For example belief in the supernatural has always played a powerful role in the Paravevo tribe. In the minds of the people inanimate objects such as plants, trees, mountains and rivers often have miraculous powers, in the Paravevo tribe specifically people worship the woman named ‘Namora’ who married her own son once becoming pregnant by a fish from the river, the tribes people praise the son ‘Maruka’ each time they are in danger, it is quite common to sacrifice some portions of a pig to the river as origin of the spirit. Today 2.9 million Papua New Guineans claim to be Christian, but their early traditional beliefs continue to be important to them as well. Religious beliefs in Australia set a framework of expected behaviour, within that framework there are four main socialising agents, the family, the media, the school/workplace, and the peer group. The main religious beliefs in the Australia cannot be identified; Australia’s cultural diversity can range from Christianity to Buddhism. The change in identity is not based on just religious beliefs alone but the influence of intercultural practices. The process of enculturation occurs in both the Paravevo and Australian society because influences like the workplace, school, government. Media, traditions and beliefs have been able to affect our lives; most persons in society will ultimately accept societal norms and rules because by living within a society we are able to gain the associated benefits. As human beings we all share the experience of living in a complex and sometimes difficult world. We all share similar patterns of growth from babyhood, to childhood, adolescence and adulthood. In the process of growing we interact with our environment as well as interacting with other persons. This creates our life experience. Our interpretation of these life experiences will vary from our cultural back ground, our societal background, our own personality, the time period and the environment in which we find ourselves. This can give us ideas about life and the people in the world around us.