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

In the text, The American Cultural Configuration the authors express the desire of anthropologists to train their own culture despite the difficulty that one faces attempting to subjectively test their own society. Holmes and Holmes (2002), use the adage not being able to receive the forest through the trees (p. 5) to refer to how hard it is for someone to study something they admit largely taken for granted. The Holmes article focuses predominately on paradoxes within our own culture, many a(prenominal) of which we dont notice. In a paradox, two contradicting statements can have the appearance _or_ semblance to be adjust at the same time. This essay looks at two paradoxes commonly raise in exclusivelyday life the individual versus the family and religion. When you think about family, what is the starting thing that comes to mind? If you only thought about your p bents or pixilated 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 in all 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 take 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 now rare, and when they fade they are often a source of stress. (p. 19) That quote solidifies one undercoat why family interaction today is its just too stressful, so we bar it. Where does marriage fit into our culture of individuals? Marriage itself may be slight of a family unifying event than a way for two individuals to deem personal happiness the climbing divorce rate alone seems to adumbrate the devaluation of commitment in a relations hip. Likewise, the Holmes and Holmes (2002) state marriage is in moment a continuation of courtship (p. 19) In my opinion, I would have to consent 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(a) of selfishness?Religious views are virtually unquantifiable on their own, but the effects of those views are very much measurable.