Culture and Class

Ello!

This week in class we talked about social class and about culture. We defined culture as your beliefs, art, tradition, etc. culture is something that you are born into and is more stable or lasting throughout your life. Class on the other hand is a social economic status.  What class you are in can be determined by many things. Some that we discussed include:

-          Money

-          Recreational Activities

-          Lifestyle

-          Location

-          Education

-          Appearance/ Grooming

-          Place of work

Your class and culture have everything to do with how your family works, acts, and even shows affection. There are hardships brought on by riches and by poverty. The change of culture from one generation to another has a huge impact on how families communicate.

The huge thing that we talked about this week is are all cultures equally valid? This is a really hard thing to talk about. We as humans don’t want to offend anyone. We don’t want to say that someone’s culture is wrong, and we shouldn’t . But does that make all of them equally right and effective.  I  don’t think so. My response to this question for my teacher was this:

“Okay so I was having issues with the word valid in this question. So I looked up the definition.

Valid:

1.) sound; just; well-founded

2.)producing the desired result; effective:

With that definition in mind I would say that all cultures are valid to some degree. Different cultures have different beliefs that result in a variety of outcomes. The marriage and family Book talked about how Asian American families focus on values like obedience and self-control; so most their children are obedient and have self-control. So they are “producing the desired result." But is this the correct result? Is there a correct result? This is where personal beliefs really start to come in. For us as Latter Day Saints, I would say, our desired result would be exaltation. We have been given commandments and guide lines in order to achieve this goal. Is Mormon culture then the most valid culture? My personal testimony would be an astounding yes, but it gives you some things to ponder. 

The talk on truth and tolerance by Elder Oaks (http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/-truth-and-tolerance-elder-dallin-h-oaks) really helped me in my pondering. The need for respect of others and their cultures was very evident throughout the talk. There is a level of understand that we must have for each other. Everyone on this earth is trying to figure out what is right and wrong or good and bad. We are blessed to have the truth; we should stand up for it and need to share it. However, we still must respect others and let them use their agency to find their way.  I think one of the quotes given in the talk kind of sums up what I am trying to say.