For many people it is predetermined as to what class they will be a part of, and ultimately what position they will hold in life and society in general. In many societies class position is central to understanding an individual’s cultural perspective. From the examples discussed in this essay I will prove that ones upbringing, social class and education predominantly decides the path they will follow in their careers and the relationships, which they pursue. Their class determines the way in which they live their lives. The cultural perspectives of the people featured in Tom Dunks book It’s A Working Mans Town: Male Working Class Culture as well as the readings from this anthropology 200 course display how ones class position leads to their individual perspective on culture. The idea of class position is very well illustrated in the seminar readings for the weeks of February 2 and February 9.
The idea of class equaling cultural perspectives is apparent in the article From Jibaro to Crack Dealer: Confronting the Restructuring of Capitalism in El Barrio from the February 2nd and 9th readings. In this article the less educated lower class man has a negative outlook on society and on him
. . .
They (the lower class of Zambians) are unaware of what the true cultural norms of western societies are. Another example that best exemplifies their interrelatedness between cultural perspectives and class position would be the instance in which Dunk discusses the vandalism of a baseball diamond in their town. The upper class held the men in there given position in society by not giving them the same opportunities as those who grew up with privilege and money. They felt that anyone who will not accept the “obvious” explanation is either emotionally weak and not able to face reality, or lacking in intelligence. However in most cases it is those without the educations and jobs who are doing the name-calling and labeling.
Some of the ideas discussed in lecture are also present in Tom Dunks book. This idea/concept of false consciousness by Karl Marx could be a general theme for all of the articles discussed in this essay. Other young male traders wear women’s knit-skirts as headgear and what might have been women’s shorts”. They are just being told what is the cultural norm through the western influence provided by the European and North American clothing and magazines. In this example from the article the Zambian people do not even wear the used clothes that they purchased in a proper manner. In the area in which he lived, Puerto Rican Harlem, it was often a “non cool” thing to have a job that required and education and formal dress wear. ” But they said, “Nope,
nope, nope,” I left.
Approximate Word count =
1958
Approximate Pages =
8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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