The Social Construction of Cultural Identities - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1257 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2019/04/10 Category Culture Essay Level High school Tags: Cultural Identity Essay Did you like this example? The idea of social construction has many effects on individuals cultural identity. How one presents their identity comes from their cultural values and beliefs. However, some individuals develop their attitudes and values from their social surroundings and not from ancestry or background. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Social Construction of Cultural Identities" essay for you Create order It is just when one thinks about the social convictions and practices of and compare to someone elses then it becomes apparent that there are contrasts and that these distinctions are of a social sort. The Ex-Colored Man had to do a lot with social status and how each culture is different in different parts of the world. The narrator, which is also the main character, shares his experiences with the different social settings he is surrounded by. He also explains on how he tried to fit in with everyone after finding out he is black and not white. His story also explains how social class can impact the way you are treated and how your status places you in a certain occupation. Seeing how every area is different, some poor and some wealthy can change your perspective on certain cultures. For example, and here I caught my first sight of colored people in large numbers ¦. they filled the shops and thronged the sidewalks and lined the curb. I asked my companion if all colored people in Atlanta lived in the streets(29). With this it shows how one social setting can change what you think about on that certain culture. Because he saw all these colored people homeless he thought that all colored people lived like this. Compared to when he went to Jacksonville he noticed all these different classes and how some were rich and some were poor. For example when he explained the higher class of colored people, The third class is composed of the independent workmen and tradesmen, and of the well-to-do and educated colored people ¦..(40). He was very shocked to see all these different classes because where he grew up it was mainly white people and he wasnt exposed to that many colored people so he didnt exactly know how to react except to be shocked. After finding out he isnt w hite that changed his whole perspective on things. When he found he was black he was very emotional since all his life he identified as white but he learned to slowly except it and saw the changes in his relationships with other people. For example, Since I have grown older I have often gone back and tried to analyse the change that came into my life after that fateful day in school ¦..I had learned what their status was, and now I learned that theirs was mine. I had no particular like or dislike for these black and brown boys and girls. After finding out that he was black he felt a closer bond to the colored kids, he tried to fit in and sympathized with them. He started to feel a closer relationship with one of the colored kids Shiny. Growing up he saw how the black and whites were treated differently and how blacks were somewhat always looked down upon even if they were in the higher class. Throughout the book he started to look at America differently through the lens of his race which was black. But towards the end of the book he falls in love with a white woman and wants to get married to her. When he finally tells her his true race, she leaves him and that hurt him. Later on, she came back and decided to marry him and he decided to pass as white. In Racial Passing in American History lecture, Passing refers to efforts by African-Americans, many of mixed ancestry, and other racial minorities to pass as white. This training was a reaction to the negative outcomes related with being named a racial minority in the U.S.A few black people additionally go as whites to go around against marriage laws that precluded interracial relational unions especially among blacks and whites. There are many stories and movies that show the challenges people go through to fit in. From changing their names and to the way they dress. One good example is Hester Street, this movie shows great examples of how someone from another country came to America and had to change her identity to fit in more. Yankel who came to the United States three years before his wife was living in the Lower East Side of New York City primarily close Hester St. where the vast majority of the Russian Jews moved to. Studying the English language, Yankel had helped himself not exclusively to the American way of life yet additionally by attempting to be American himself, and by doing that he changed his name to Jake, and afterward expelled his facial hair. Jack before long discovers that Gitl and his child Yossele are for sure coming to America and he is very happy. In any case, when Gitl and Yossele arrive Jacks entire disposition changes on account of Gitl appearance, it isnt exactly as Americanized as his or the other lady that live in his area. Throughout the movie Gitl tries to change her appearance so Jake wouldnt treat her differently . Jake is already trying to help their son become American, but since he is young it is easier. But because Gitl is older it is hard for her to leave her own culture. A popular quote from the movie was said from their neighbour, Mrs. Kavarsky, You cannot pee up my back and make me think it is rain. This was said towards Jake, since Jake was trying to push the American culture on his wife and child, this quote says it doesnt matter how hard you try to be American you will always be a Russian Jew. Most immigrants do the most they can to become more western. Especially in the generation we live in today, people get judged for looking, dressing, or talking a certain way. Immigrants try to dress more western, some even leave their cultures to adapt a western one. In the lecture, Ethnic Adaptation, Representation, and the Construction of New Cultural Identities, it talked about how immigrants go from their native culture to an American one. For example, anglo-conformity or assimilation theory, or the anglo- conformist perspective. This view of ethnic adaptation argues that in order to succeed in American society, immigrants have to shed their own cultures. This meaning that the only way you can fit in is to leave your culture and adapt the American one. To conclude, there a lot of challenges people face when it comes to trying fit in with the rest of the society. People go as far as trying to identify I as a different race. Racial passing and assimilating into the western side of the world is something that will probably never go away. I personally know many people who have tried to change their whole appearance to look more American. For example, as a Muslim I wear a scarf for religious reason there are many Muslims girls out there who take off their scarf because they dont feel like they fit in and because people looked at them differently. The whole fitting in concept can cause a lot a lot conflict in ones life because people sometime leave their religion and cultures to become more western. Thankfully with social media people are starting to accept their cultures and now want to embrace it, but trying to be American will always be there.

Essay on Jose Saramagos Blindness - 1557 Words

When defining the word blindness, it can be interpreted in various ways. Either it can be explained as sightless, or it can be carefully deciphered as having a more complex in-depth analysis. In the novel Blindness, Jose Saramago depicts and demonstrates how in an instant your right to see can be taken in an instant. However, in this novel, blindness is metaphorically related to ‘seeing’ the truth beyond our own bias opinions. Saramago’s novel clearly illustrates themes that describe the importance of the awareness of others, in terms of feeling oppressed by fear, lack of trust, dehumanization, and segregation. He describes in full detail the importance of the government’s involvement in the lives of the blind victims, which allows†¦show more content†¦For instance, â€Å"Hispanic women are more likely to be dissatisfied if they feel they have been treated badly by providers and staff and if they do not trust doctors† (Guendelman, Wagner 118). If the patient does not feel a sense of hospitality and see a welcoming smile, it discourages the patient to visit the physician because they feel they are not getting the right medical attention, and tend to be sicker. In addition, â€Å"the sicker individual risk exposure to more insults, and this leads them to pull back from the health care system† (119). In a physician/ patient relationship there needs to be a balance between actually caring and giving your patients the attention and satisfaction that they deserve. Some physicians take advantage of their patient’s vulnerability of being sick by pushing them aside, and worrying more about the fastest way to make money. However, the physician then loses another patient because of greed. Saramago represents trust in a very similar manor, yet instead he describes a man who is suddenly overcome with a â€Å"white blindness† while stopped at a red light. He explains how an onlooker has offered to drive the blind man home, and takes advantage of the frantic man’s situation by stealing his car, â€Å"that good soul, has taken our car [†¦] He took advantage of your confusion and distressed andShow MoreRelatedCritique Of Blindness In Jose Saramagos Blindness1387 Words   |  6 Pages Critique of Blindness Human nature is defined by emotional expression, the desire to learn, individuality, and freedom of will. It enables people to make decisions on how they will conduct their daily interactions and, therefore, dictates how society will be run. Josà © Saramago’s novel, Blindness, tells the grim tale of a society devastated by a blindness epidemic known as the â€Å"white evil.† Without their sight, people are no longer able to act in a civilized manner and become aggressive towardsRead MorePlot and Literary Style Must Interact in an Effective Way838 Words   |  4 Pagestrying to communicate in the piece. Both â€Å"Blindness† by Josà © Saramago and â€Å"The New York Trilogy† by Paul Auster are novels in which the literary style used enhances the plot of the story. Similarly, the storyline justifies the reasons behind the use of that author’s particular style. Saramago’s style of writing reinforces the plot because it represents and explains the events and psychological struggles endured by each individual in the novel. In Blindness, the narrator does not reveal the characters’Read MoreSimilarities Between Film, The Crime of Father Amaro and the Book, The Relic1489 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Question1 Carlos Carreras 2002 motion picture The Crime of Father Amaro and Josà © Maria De Eà §a de Queirà ³s book The Relic both discuss topics related to religion and to the hypocrisy that some individuals need to adopt in order to be provided with social acceptance. Society in general is displayed as an environment where people need to employ false attitudes in order for them to appear worthy of their peers respect. Religion is seemingly one of the most important values in both works and itRead MoreAnalysis Of Blindness By Jose Saramago1100 Words   |  5 PagesHumans often desire order and stability, frequently attempting to hold power over the outcome of future events in their lives, despite the unpredictable nature of life itself. In the opening excerpt of the novel Blindness by Jose Saramago, the human instinct of power and control is explored through the disruption of traffic at an intersection by a man who has gone blind. Through the use of setting as well as sentence structure, Saramago provides the reader an insight into the futility of human attemptsRead MoreThe Road by Cormac McCarthy and Blindness by Jose Saramago Essay3315 Words   |  14 Pagesson face, in an attempt for survival, in a post-apocalyptic world. The man, the protagonist in the novel, hesitates to help any random strangers who he and his son encounter along their path. Meanwhile, Jose Saramago’s Nobel Prize-Winning novel, Blindness, deals with a mass epidemic of blindness infecting nearly everyone in an anonymous city. The doctor’s wife, who keeps her sight throughout the novel, can be identified as the protagonist. Her situation of being the only person with sight amongstRead MorePhilip Zimbardo’S Famous Quote Was Inspired From His Stanford1861 Words   |  8 Pageswho live there and they must continue with it as it is tradition although many would like to get rid of it. The last piece which won a nobel prize written in 1995 called â€Å"Blindness† original ly written in portuguese by Jose Saramago. The story is about a sudden blindness that strikes the city and becomes epidemic and the blindness is actually white not black. The two pieces of literature along with Zimbardo’s Stanford experiment help support the argument that humans will activate their animalistic

Data Security And Data Privacy Essay Example For Students

Data Security And Data Privacy Essay Data privacy refers to the sensitive information that individuals, organizations or other entities would not like to expose to the external world. For example, medical records can be one kind of privacy data. Privacy data usually contain sensitive information that is very important to its owner and should be processed carefully. Data privacy is not equal to data security. Data security ensures that data or information systems are protected from invalid operations, including unauthorized access, use, exposure, damage, modification, copy, deletion and so on. Data security can’t guarantee data privacy and vice versa. Figure 1 shows the relation between data security and data privacy. A represents the situation where data privacy is violated while data security is not. For example, an authorized user may expose sensitive information stored in the system by mistake. The exposure operation is authorized, i.e. data security is not violated. However, sensitive information stored in the system is exposed to the public, which indicates the violation of data privacy. On the contrary, C presents the situation where data privacy is not violated while data security is. One simple example is that an unauthorized user accesses and modifies the data. There is no information exposure/theft (i.e. data privacy violation). In case of B, both data security and data privacy are not violated. In this paper, we focus on data privacy instead of data security.Since data privacy is always associated with sensitive data (e.g. SSNs, bank accounts, medical records and so on), the violation of data privacy can cause very serious consequences like identity thefts. Therefore, privacy preservation is very necessary and important.Obviously, the purpose of privacy. . home address are included) in Massachusetts based on the values of gender, birthday and zip code, Sweeney successfully identified the medical records of most people. 9From the above discussion, traditional data privacy is exposed by direct disclosure and privacy preservation can be implemented via cryptography. In big data era, the way of privacy leakage is not only limited to directing disclosing, but also data inference and speculation. It is costly to apply cryptography on all data because of the huge volume of big data. Therefore, it is not hard to find that due to the special characteristics of big data, traditional privacy preservation methods can t be applied directly on big data. New technologies need to put forward. In addition, And when it comes to privacy preservation in big data, both unauthorized exposure and unwanted inference should be considered.