The American Cultural Configuration :: Sociology, Family, Religious Views

In the text, The American Cultural Configuration the authors express the desire of anthropologists to study their bear culture despite the difficulty that one faces attempting to subjectively crumple their own society. Holmes and Holmes (2002), use the adage not being able to see the forest through the trees (p. 5) to refer to how hard it is for someone to study something they soak up for the most part taken for granted. The Holmes article focuses predominately on paradoxes within our own culture, many of which we dont notice. In a paradox, two contradicting statements can appear to be true at the alike(p) time. This essay looks at two paradoxes comm exclusively found in everyday life the individual versus the family and religion. When you think about family, what is the first thing that comes to mind? If you only thought about your parents or close relatives then you may have been caught in an individual vs. family paradox. Nearly every culture considers family important, but many Americans have never even met all(a) of their cousins (Holmes & Holmes, 2002, p.19). We say we are family oriented, but not caring to meet all of our extended family seems to contradict that. Individual freedoms, accomplishments, and goals are all American ideals that push the idea of individualism. Whats important to note is that family or even the concept of family itself doesnt appear in any of those ideals. Holmes and Holmes (2002), observed that The family reunions of yesterday are right away rare, and when they occur they are often a source of stress. (p. 19) That quote solidifies one reason why family interaction today is its just too stressful, so we bend it. Where does marriage fit into our culture of individuals? Marriage itself may be less of a family unifying event than a way for two individuals to obtain person-to-person happiness the climbing divorce rate alone seems to suggest the devaluation of commitment in a relationship. Likewise, the Holmes and Holmes (2002) state marriage is in effect a lengthiness of courtship (p. 19) In my opinion, I would have to agree with the authors on family and marriage, considering the above-stated facts and trends. If we, as a nation, can place the individual so far above our own relatives, are we not creating a future of selfishness?Religious views are virtually unquantifiable on their own, but the effects of those views are very much measurable.