Beach: A Cultural Analysis

“Being WEIRD: How Culture Shapes the Mind,” by Ethan Watters, is a compelling article that challenges the reader’s perception on culture and cognition. Instead of cognition affecting culture, our culture affects our cognition. It’s interesting to conceptualize, and it makes one have to introspect their culture, beliefs, attitudes, and actions. Why do we do behave the way that we do? Are our thoughts our own? How much of us is influenced by our environment? This effect of culture can be rooted in our childhoods. We are taught societal norms and how to view, categorize, and perceive the world through the lens of the environment surrounding us. A prime example of this comes from the games we played growing up.

Have you thought of someone’s culture as weird? Have you thought that you are completely different from them? If so, what prompts us to make that assumption. Culture is a very good reason for this. So, to what extent does one’s culture inform the way one views others and the world? Culture informs a person on the way others are and the world.

A place that I enjoy going to is the beach. It is seen as a place of relaxation because it is normally quiet and peaceful. To look around you and see the beauty of mother of nature at it`s finest. The majorit of people you ask will say that it is one of their favorite vacation destination. Not only for the beauty and relaxation but for the sheer entertainment. That is three reason I enjoy it as much as I do.

A major part of one’s identity involves a system of morals and beliefs which are too influenced though one’s culture and experiences in life. The

Culture plays a unique role in an individual’s development. Culture is the combination of values, beliefs, and practices of a particular group. Culture gives us some of the most important factors necessary in life such as our morals, values, and more importantly the way we view the world around us. Culturally, I view myself as a 20 year old Hispanic male, of middle socio-economic status, who has heterosexual preferences, with a strong background in the Catholic religion. Some of my first lessons as a child were all cultural, from getting dressed, how and what I ate, how I address my parents and family members, and so on. Although all of these features

Culture is a set of shared ideologies upheld by a community, and how those beliefs and values influence the way a community interacts with and adapts to the outside world. When explored further, culture can be broken down into subunits referred to as identity markers (e.g. social class, race, sexual orientation) that define an individual person’s character. Some markers are regarded as little more than simple facts, “he is in the middle class, she is black, he is gay.” While others are socially constructed, serving a greater purpose in the lives of those who they identify, forming a hierarchy of value (Harewood 2016 pg. 41). One can take great pride in their identity markers, utilizing them to drive their life in a direction deemed fitting

The area for the anthropological culture scene observation was Canova Beach, located in Indian Harbor Beach, Florida. The observation was conducted starting at 0930 hrs. and lasted for twenty-five minutes, until 0955 hrs., on Saturday, October 10, 2015. Indian Harbor Beach is located in Brevard County on the east coast of the state. Prior to the observing of a cultural scene, it is immensely important to understand what the anthropological concept of culture is. In 1871, The English anthropologist, Sir Edward Burnett Tylor created the first formal anthropological definition of culture: “Culture or Civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”(Vandenbroek 2014, para.2).

Bornstein (2012), said that “every culture is characterized, and distinguished from other cultures, by deep rooted and widely acknowledged ideas about how one needs to feel, think, and act as a functioning member of the culture”. Through research we have been able to understand how different cultures possess different beliefs and engage in different behaviors that may be the normative in their particular culture, but are not necessarily deemed the normative in others. Because culture is something that is held sacred to many,

Dover Beach intrigued me as soon as I read the title. I have a great love of beaches, so I feel a connection with the speaker as he or she stands on the cliffs of Dover, looking out at the sea and reflecting on life. Arnold successfully captures the mystical beauty of the ocean as it echoes human existence and the struggles of life. The moods of the speaker throughout the poem change dramatically as do the moods of the sea. The irregular, unordered rhyme is representative of these inharmonious moods and struggles. In this case, the speaker seems to be struggling with the relationship with his or her partner.

Cultural paradigms make up a person’s identity, beliefs, values, and behavior. The paradigms tell us how human existence works, what is possible and impossible, what the rules are, and how things are done, shaping an individual’s reality. People are emotionally committed to their paradigms and give up or change them with great difficulty (Diller, 2015). “It is learned as part of the natural process of growing up in a family and community and from participating in societal institutions” (Diller, 2015, p. 93).

For the purposes of this piece, culture is defined as “the full range of human patterned experience” as described by Cole (1996) cited in Gla ̆veanu & Jovchelovitch (2017, p.113). This chapter also provides a description of the importance culture plays in psychological research.

Why do we search for something greater than our existence itself? What makes us crave the unknown, the unexplored? Since the beginning of time, humanity as a whole has always tried to better itself, to perfect the art of civilization. The Beach is a prime example of human kind's quest for the perfect society, our own Utopia. In our minds, a Utopia is the "perfect" community, where no flaws are established, no problems occur. Yet, human kind typically will always destroy itself, no matter how perfect their community seemingly is. Deterioration of these makeshift communities is inevitable. This is exactly what happened to the community at the Beach. Their discreet society was single handedly destroyed by one man, named Richard.

This essay will outline how in today’s society, culture influences our personal identity, our actions, and media. Culture is a primary factor in our lives but it is also how we respond to the culture and identity we are exposed too.

Culture plays a paramount role in our lives. “It is what shapes who we are and how we view the world” (Thorp & Sanchez, 1998, p. 3). Culture includes things

Throughout the history of life, man has tried to determine one of many questions: What is it that determines people’s identity? Is it their culture; their ancestry; or even their childhood? The answers that continue to be sought today remain not quite answered, undetermined by fact. However, throughout the history of humankind, writers and philosophers have made their own decisions on this essential question. Hidden beneath plot and characters subtly lies the perceived core concepts that drive everyone to make the decisions that they do. For most, the answer would simply be ‘culture,’ because it is simply what is around us at all times – but the answer is far more complex. Texts such as “Everyday Use,” Two Kinds, and “Two Ways to Belong in America” prove that while culture has the power to affect people’s views of the world, it is their characters and choices that hold the greatest effect.