Anthropological Culture Essay

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American culture.

One of the most curious aspects of American culture to residents of other industrialized democracies is the American attitude towards freedom, as currently expressed in the healthcare debate. Americans have articulated a great deal of hostility about being 'forced' to buy health insurance, despite the fact that 1. National and state government-run programs already exist in the form of Medicare and Medicaid and 2. Healthcare is a necessity. Bankruptcies due to health-related issues are nonexistent in nations such as Great Britain and Canada, where participation in the national system of health insurance is mandatory, yet in America there is a tendency to view that 'what you get is what you deserve,' and those who fall behind in their healthcare bills are somehow exhibiting moral failings regarding their ability to budget or to find work that provides health insurance.

Given that self-employed businesspeople often lack health insurance, while the very poor do have some form of healthcare through Medicaid, such attitudes are contradictory as well as misguided. In America, however, there is a strong tradition of mistrusting government intervention of any kind, and a belief that the government that governs best, governs least. This has generated a great deal of animosity towards healthcare regulation, despite highly-publicized incidents of insurance companies treating patients poorly and denying needed care.

There are social and financial healthcare costs born by the entire population over the long-term that are rooted people not receiving care and Americans waiting until they are critically ill and must be treated in an intensive and expensive fashion. But these are not factored into the view that 'choosing' not to have healthcare is a 'right' and a freedom.

Q2. Define the different characteristics of etic vs. emic OR qualitative vs. quantitative research (choose one).

Simply put, 'etic' and 'emic' definitions relate to 'outsider' and 'insider' definitions of culture. "The etic perspective...relies upon the extrinsic concepts and categories that have meaning for scientific observers... The validation of etic knowledge thus becomes a matter of logical and empirical analysis -- in particular, the logical analysis of whether the construct meets the standards of falsifiability, comprehensiveness, and logical consistency, and then the empirical analysis of whether or not the concept has been falsified and/or replicated" (Lett 2012).

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Etic constructs arise from the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, and other intellectual perspectives of persons observing a particular culture and attempting to judge or analyze it in a way that is meaningful in the context of an academic discipline. In contrast, "emic constructs are accounts, descriptions, and analyses expressed in terms of the conceptual schemes and categories that are regarded as meaningful and appropriate by the members of the culture under study. An emic construct is correctly termed 'emic' if and only if it is in accord with the perceptions and understandings deemed appropriate by the insider's culture" (Lett 2012)

Q3. Describe what constitutes a belief system using the vocabulary you learned.

"Belief is motivation by reliance on an assigned version of reality or an assigned version of what might be imagined" (Belief systems and social perception structures, 2012, Leading Edge International Research Group). Belief systems are not rooted in empiricism; rather they are assumptions about the world that have been learned through a combination of anecdotal and cultural inputs. They are not substantiated with scientific evidence; instead they are rooted in a sense of truth that is based upon custom, folklore, and instinct.

Belief systems are cultural collections or 'treasure troves.' They may be formal, like a religious creed, or they may be informal. The beliefs may not be consistent in the sense that they do not obey formal logic, but they do have a rationale behind them that the individual articulating the belief system believes he or she can understand, instinctually and/or intellectual. The observance of the beliefs may not be fully realized in action, but the beliefs are ideals that members of the culture uphold and aspire to as 'correct.' Belief systems help members of a culture make a common meaning out of their world.

Q4. Describe what constitutes a ritual using the vocabulary you….....

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