Self and Identity: Elective Outcome

Identity is the view we have of ourselves, and how we see ourselves in terms of the things around us. When one realizes that much of our identity comes from ideas in society, you can see the importance cultures have on the formation of one's identity. Our identities are in constant flux as our culture changes and grows. The self is a more private view, its how you feel inside about yourself rather than how you fit into your culture or social factors. There are different levels of perspective on how identity is formed.

 

There is much controversy over where the idea of self and identity comes from, nature versus nurture. The idea is that everyone is born with a blank slate, and the identity is built by ideas that come from your family and or society. The concept of identity differs from one culture to another, identity is expressed and interpreted, and it helps others understand you and identity helps you understand yourself. Our identities help us fit into our culture. Some believe that our identities our shaped by the society, and the characteristics we are given, ascribed characteristics. 

 

Your identity helps your experience of life, whether you are a man or a woman, young or old, black or white, or whatever is in between, that identity that you have, can shape how you view the world around you, and even how the world around you views you.  Some can experience their identity as a negative thing, because how they appear on the outside, but not be how they feel on the inside. There is a certain superficial level to identity, as compared to the idea of the self, which tends to be a more spiritual and personal concept. But it is certain, that culture plays a large role on how you view yourself and how your identity affects your experience. 

Egocentric, which our society is considered, and socio-centric, means that the notions of self are based on the culture and social relationship they hold. Egocentric means that they are in control of their own view of themselves, and it is not necessarily shaped by social context or relationships. 

 

One idea of the self and identity/ego, that I think is interesting, is a simplified Buddhist view. The Buddhist idea, in an extremely simplistic form, is that there is the ego and the self. Our ego is what drives us to act, we want to protect and satisfy our ego. But this leads to suffering, always striving to succeed. And through meditation a person can find your true self, the soul, etc. The worldly ego and identity is filled with emotional turmoil and conceals the true self. We are constantly trying to fulfill the roles of our identity, whether it be father, mother, daughter, student, teacher, etc. we can get caught up and loose sight of who we really are, our culture and society can cloud our life. 

When looking at different culture it is important to see how that culture affects a person's identity. Because it is through enculturation that we form our views about the roles we play in society.  For a female growing up in American society, what are the things that our culture tells us about females, and how does that shape how we think about ourselves. When we are little girls we are given barbie dolls and we are taught how to play house, to be kind and wear pink. That is how we are taught to define our identities as girls. Mothers teach their daughters rituals and habits to train them the play female roles in society, like learning to cook or clean how to garden and care for babies. These rituals are not taught to little boys, because that is not their identity. But when a little girl doesnt like pink or playing with dolls, or women that do not want to be mothers, they are looked upon as not feminine or there is something wrong with them. That affects their identity. That is an example of how our culture affects identity. Sometimes we can think our identity is one thing, and that can affect the actions we take in life. If a person thinks they are limited to one role in society they might be afraid to go beyond.

Globalization

Globalization, the world is becoming connected in more and more ways. Something that occurs in America, can directly affect a child in Bolivia. Words, ideas, people, diseases, products can travel around the globe, faster than anyone can imagine. Globalization can be seen in a positive and a negative light. A technologically advanced, first world country like the United States or Great Britain, can help a child in Africa of a disease they could die easily die of but can easily be cured of. Globalization is a process by which creates interdependence between people, governments and organization. An example of globalization is United States corporations dependency upon sweat shops and factories in other countries to produce cheap merchandise. This is a great downside of globalization.

I do not believe globalization is a good thing, but an inevitable process, as technology increases and ties between countries continue, especially economically, there is nothing you can do. Globalization is a double edged sword, it can create exploitation and bring countries into a world market. The most concerning aspect of globalization is the spread of culture, and especially western norms that is destroying culture and traditions in other countries. Can kill cultural diversity.

In globalization, anthropologist are most concerned on the impact that this interdependence and transfer of ideas has on people's everyday lives and how it changes norms and values. This is something that is very interesting, especially Western ideas impact on the traditions of the Chinese and Japanese, and how our pop culture is dramatically affecting hte norms of this generation. Sexual promiscuity is rising in these cultures, which is totally against the norms and values of the culture. And the growing consumerism of  these cultures, is of concern. Even western countries like Germany, are experiencing a surge of Americanism in their culture, especially the degeredation of their language with American words, such as "bloggen" and "backpack" and this is a real concern for the Germans who want to protect their language. This is a result of globalization and the prolonged and constant contact between cultures, whether it is economies, travellers, and internet interaction, cultures are seeing signs of homogenization, or a blend of cultures into one. When this begins to happen, it means a great loss of culture and traditions

"Underdeveloped" (in western terms) and indigenous civilizations are put in a bad situation by globalization, because of the fact their traditions, way of production do not fit into the capitalist mode of production or economy and they are left out and greatly dissadvantage. They are left out of the system and they cannot keep up, then they suffer greatly. Globalization threatens their ability to sustain their own economies. Their land and resources often become valued to companies from first world countries, and that lead to greater exploitation. Also the expansion of population and the acceleration of the growth of civilization has a huge impact on our environment. Climate change, air and water pollution, over fishing, over farming, deforestation are all issues that we will have to deal with and remedy because of globalization. Many factories are built in countries where there are no environmental protection and they can pollute without government regulations.

Anthropologists must used ethnography to study the affect of globalization on cultural practices. How globalization affects our lives, individually is more relative to anthropology rather than on a global scale. Anthropology takes that massive globalization that spans the whole world, and breaks it down and studies it on a local and small scale to truly understand it impacts. Globalization can be a scary thing, it makes our world smaller. To me it is a crazy idea that the food i eat everyday comes from other countries, it takes away from local communities, globalization takes the power out of our hands. Our clothes are made by poor people in other countries that are greatly affected by me and you. Someone we will never even meet are affected by the small things we do, and that is the result of our ever shrinking planet.