Ethnicity And Culture example essay topic

Our increased mobility has given us greater access to the world and the diverse people that inhabit it. With that mobility comes the shared responsibility to negotiate with people who may initially seem unfamiliar and learn to express the experience. The word "ethnicity" is used to describe a specific population's characteristics of fundamental aspects that all humans share. When applied loosely, ethnicity becomes a blanket term to define large populations, undermining the worth and the diversity within that group and emphasizing the differences between cultures. Yet those differences come down to matters of preference and socialization within each culture. The dominant themes that rule human nature persist in every society - wondering where we came from and why we exist, social mores to guide how we relate to people or situations, and primal motivations such as hunger, fear, and a need to be loved and accepted.

People communicate with language, have a sense of family structure, practice culinary habits, beliefs, and social values that evolved concurrent with the compounded revisions of a group's public space and collective perception of reality. Over time, ethnic groups have interacted and negotiated public realms similar to the method each separate population underwent to develop into its present framework. We continue to co-mingle cultures, borrowing tastes that suit our own self-definition and determination. The definition of what is "right" and what is valued varies from culture to culture, and from individual to individual. How we value differences affects our ability to embrace or reject entire cultures. When the knowledge that humans belong to one race becomes more widely known and accepted, our interpretation of other ethnic groups may change.

The differences between cultures may not be as pronounced as our similarities. America is a recognized melting pot, integrating immigrants and their children, folding generations into a wider network of compromised values where traditional culture is abandoned for a watered down commercial version that valued only what would sell. The mass media in the United States is a powerful socialization tool especially for young people, proving to be an overriding adversary of traditional cultural ideals. Subsequent generations raised with such a forceful media influence scrape meaning where they are able, often forming counter and sub-cultures in attempt to renew grounds for interpersonal connectivity.

They find significance in recycled icons of cultural relics, without the foundation for understanding or appreciating the history. Or create new relics and traditions out of what they have to work with. In an attempt to self-define upon superficial grounds, the value of niche identification, material goods, and commercial events cannot fill the void created by a lack in social capital and cultural accountability. People still seek meaning for their lives. With the advance of globalization and an inter-dependent worldwide market, consumerism threatens to homogenize culture into income brackets. Within a society based on media marketed goods, people are in danger of losing the meaning that traditions and values once provided.

The market and media influence the language spoken, family values, the foods consumed, what beliefs are held, what social morals are valued, and the goals people have. With the gradual loss of culture in America as a model for predicting worldwide homogenization of the globe over the next few generations, it is important to redefine what ethnicity and culture mean to us and prioritize the preservation of human diversity. The responsibility lies within each person,.