Us v. Them
Okay, I said a long time ago that I might post about this, and so here it is. It’s not 100% complete, but it’s a framework. It’s taken from a larger post, which is why it feels a little fragmentary.
I’d argue that humanity gravitates toward acculturation, which I’d redefine as the process of forming a functional cultural aggregate from many individuals, which has its own strictures and guidelines that it places over all members to create a framework of social laws through which the society functions. (You can even see this tendency opperate in the leadership void formed by age-grouping children, first in girls in middle school and then later in boys, too. There are a few distinct, powerful mini-cultures that emerge that very, very carefully identify themselves through dress and behavior, that compete with and dislike one another, and that operate to the mutual benefit of its members at some level or another.)
“Undeveloped” societies tend to have extremely strict and often very elaborate behavioral rules, and rules are the fundamental aspect of acculturation. Our modern idea of freedom and privacy is simply incomprehensible to societies like that because the rules of the culture provide the similarities through which a people group identify and ally themselves. The level of “governmental” interference (or rather the interference of society as a whole in the way an individual lives) is incredibly profound in such a culture, beyond anything that can possibly be experienced in a modern society. But every culture has an extensive list of social rules, including modern ones, and understanding our own, which might otherwise go unrecognized, is one motivation for studying other cultures. Our culture respects private property. Our culture believes in individual responsibility. The predominate culture believes in “tolerance”, though the word has many meanings. We shake the hands of people we meet. We smile or wave in greeting to those we know and expect one in return. We eat dessert after our meal, not before. We wash our hands before we eat. The list goes on into the thousands. Whether or not breaking a rule is punishable through our written legal system, breaking any social law has some kind of consequences, whether it’s being thought uncouth or rude or odd or just a little quirky or even being fined or jailed–or beaten up, if you do it in the wrong side of town to the wrong person! The reason is that there are certain expectations of behavior that together make interactions between people in our culture run smoothly. These expectation must, by their very existence, infringe upon our freedom to do completely as we please without any consequences. But the vast majority of people bow to them without a thought because of the ease of interaction that they allow by providing a common cultural ground. (For my brother, who’s autistic, many social rules are a source of unending frustration because, really, many make no innate sense.)
I hope to see her tomorrow instead.
I’m too busy and DH is going on a 10-WEEK business trip, so it’s just not practical. Sorry to miss you!
