Week 2 CheckPoint: Culture Shock4myharleySOC-120Culture ShockMeeting a strange culture can cause one to feel a significant degree of culture shock. This can even cause a person to feel anxiety or panic until he or she becomes accustomed to the culture to which he or she has been exposed. Such is the case with Anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon when he visits the Yanomamö people of South America. I have felt culture shock to a much lesser degree as I moved from a busy metropolitan area to a quiet rural area. No matter what type of culture one observes or becomes a part of, one must gain an understanding of the major components of that culture in order to avoid gestures or speech that ...view middle of the document...
In addition, the few roads that exist here as compared to Denver are extremely long and winding with houses sitting on large tracts of land. The number of mobile homes here is astounding as well, though no statistical information is available concerning this. The population of the Town of Spring Lake is barely over 8,000 (Wikipedia, 2008), but in the area where I live, the number is significantly less. Many of the people here are friendly, but I have found that many are also racist. This is something that I had not experienced in Denver. The racism is partially due to North Carolinas history of slavery. Learning about slavery in school is not the same as being in a state that practiced it, as many people still hold on to old prejudices, which is discomforting.Understanding the major components of culture is important when faced with a situation such as Mr. Chagnon experienced so that one does not feel isolated and lost, unsure of how to act. When one is unsure what gestures might be insulting to a native group, one...
