• Émile Durkheim

    An act cannot be defined by the end sought by the actor, for an identical system of behaviour may be adjustable to too many different ends without altering its nature....

  • Karl Marx

    Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please....

  • Zygmunt Bauman .

    “The task for sociology is to come to the help of the individual. We have to be in service of freedom. It is something we have lost sight of.”

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

How culture drives behavior?
Culture drive behavior because as he said in the video when you travel to another country, for example, you live in Europe like he and then you travel to a country like Nicaragua, the people in Europe  did not talk with each other, they are not social if they don’t know you, but in a country like Nicaragua or even in Latinoamérica we are social people if we don’t know each other and they stay by me we constantly talk with each other, for that reason I’m sure that the culture drives totally our behavior, another example is when you travel to the EEUU and you drop off they did not help you, they only see you and that it, and in Latinoamérica, almost all the Latin people help, and that is a really big difference !

How has culture influenced your behavior?
Culture really influence our behavior, like he said conform is not a good way to do it because be conformist is not something that you have to apply in love, because even if you are Latin, American or even another nationalist you always will need something of other people that you do not even know, and be conformist is only be you and think that all you do is good but instead you think that you are really wrong, because you are not always good, also complain is not a good way to be, because is you complain about you or about yourself and is not good because you live in a bubble  as he said that is not helpful and healthy,  and Also if you adapt the way to be, is really helpfully because is really good been a person that can adapt her/his self to other cultures and that’s really good to be, for example, if  you are multicultural you can live your life good and not complains about nothing!

how culture drives behavior?


Multiculturalism is the existence of multiple cultural traditions within a single country. 
When someone moves to a different country or is just visiting experiences cultural shock.there can be many different emotions when going through culture shock such as frustrated, irritable, anxious, isolated and even helpless because everything seems so out of hand and not possible. some things persons can do is try to adapt, give it a chance, and embrace the opportunity of learning about a new culture and the positive impact it may have on your life. 
As we saw in the video there are three main points.

confront: when you confront you believe that your behaviors are the right behaviors
.

complain: when you complain you can isolate yourself into a little social bubble living with separation from society. 

conform: when you accept the new country then you can truly benefit from diversity.

According to a Forbes study, workforce diversity and inclusion is KEY for innovation and business growth.  
innovation

business growth










According to McKinsey, companies with diverse executive boards enjoy significantly higher earning and return on equality.
Diverse boards

Higher Earnings








According to Harvard, diverse networks promote creativity.

Diverse Network

Creativity









How culture drives behavior

    Culture is used as a lens to view the outside world. Things like personal space are a big cultural factor that varies from continent to continent. Some countries are used to having big personal spaces, but some latin countries have very small personal space. From these behaviors can come out misunderstandings between cultures, even when it is out of respect. An example used by the nordic man was how nordic bus stops can only support 2 people due to their big personal spaces. This is how culture is in Norway, but if a religious person were to attempt to sit down between the 2 nords one might get up. This is due to their colossal personal space and might be misunderstood as hate towards the religious person, when in reality it is out of respect and discomfort. The normal reactions to cultural integration are to confront, comfort or complain.
There are 3 ways you can respond to another culture, you can either: 
  • Complain: to isolate yourself with other similar people, forming bubbles
  • Conform: adapt into or absorb the culture into yourself
  • Confront: to compare own culture with other, with your own as the "correct" one
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I have the behavior of an asian person, being kind of shy with a big personal space. This behavior is born from my asian household, being educated into this type of person at home. One of these behaviors can be explained just from the presence of a brother. An older brother will seem like authority or someone superior, who might take care of the little brother leading the little one to be dependent on him and shy with others. My growing environment was in a latin american society for about my whole life. The latin american community is one of close relationships, of knowing a friend and later knowing the friend's house or parents. This relationships of friendship can last and do not rely on age or status to work, This is how it is with some good people I know and I have conformed to this cutural aspect, which is not exclusive to latin america. Image result for culture"
Another adapted cultural aspect from a korean I posses is the behavior against physical contact. I respect the personal space of most people and might only intrude if it were a close friend, which is a trait adapted more from the latin community. There are times of comfort when I am isolated physically, but there are also moments of desire for close contact. 
In general, I have mostly conformed by taking some aspects of the latin culture into my inherited korean culture.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Kermesse 2019
사진 설명이 없습니다.

My experience in the Kermesse

For the first time, I went to the Kermesse since I was in charge of a game which was the play station for an hour. When I had arrived at school and had free time, I walked and saw all the activities that they offered. The school was really crowded and it was full of activities, starting from little things such as polishing nails to big things such as mechanic bulls and more. It seemed that everyone was enjoying and having a great time with their friends, family members choosing their favorite activities. If we relate this Kermesse with the sociological lenses, first, of course, we would have the functionalism lens. As people went to a place where they could exchange money into tickets to buy foods and participate in the activities the school offered, here existed the functionalism because all the aspects such as people, places (activities) served a function to make one big event which was Kermesse in this case, giving a great opportunity to people for having a great time.
How culture drives behavior?
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Culture always affects how people act and think; basically influencing the behavior of a person. And if we noticed, most of the people in all the world use cultural glasses which is the action of viewing the world and reacting towards it based on the culture each individual belongs to. We have the following situation as an example, that was mentioned in the video we've seen in the class. A man from Canada had traveled with his foreign friend to a region of Spain, where he got the opportunity to visit a place where they made sparkling wine. During the tour, the guide explained with a great passion to the visitants and she suddenly stopped. The reason was because of the expression of a man's friend. The guide had thought, his friend was not interested in what she was saying because his reaction and his face didn't seem to be. Since she (guide)  get the facial expression she used to and was viewing this situation through her own cultural glasses, she had interpreted the fact that he had a certain (neutral) face in a negative manner. As we saw in the example, people live wearing those cultural glasses because they have been raised, surrounded by all the factors such as values, beliefs, expressions, etc which would surely affect an individual's behavior and thoughts.

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Three ways we can relate to the culture: 

1) Confront: Believing that their own behaviors are the right behaviors.  
2) Complain: Isolating themselves into social bubbles of foreigners in society
3) Conform: Adapting their own way to behave, so it fits on the society they are. 

My experience: 

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To start, even though I was born in Costa Rica and lived my whole life in a foreign country, I think and view the world as Koreans do. Since I was born until to this moment, at my home I just talked in Korean with my family and all the things that surround such as the church, tv programs, food, friends, books, posters, academies are actually related to Korea. We still practice its culture such as taking off the shoes, eating with chopsticks, greeting adults bowing and respecting them, etc. Due to this reason, even though I'm living in Latin American countries, most of the time I wear cultural glasses and view the situations that occur based on what I've learned from my parents, which is basically Korean thought. For example, sometimes when I am in school and see that one person is disrespecting an adult, like replying to what are they saying instead of accepting the error, I can not understand due to my culture, where it is very polite.
Also, I've gone through all those three aspects (confront, complain, conform) since I moved from one country and another more than others (three times). First, when I was living in Costa Rica, even though I was born there, I always felt like a foreigner so I used to complain. When I was in school, I isolate myself in society and made my own wall whenever someone would come to talk to me. But then, I moved to Peru where my personality and behavior started to change. I thought that if I continued to be like in CostaRica and I wouldn't change, then I would be alone. So, I started to conform. Trying to adapt their own way to behave, so later I could fit on the society. While I was living there, I understood the way of behavior of the Peruvians and I also followed them to be part of that society. Later, when I had grown up more, I moved to Nicaragua and tried to practice the same thing I had practiced in Peru but suddenly I also started with the confront. Believed my own behavior was the right behavior, so I had problems at the beginning, which it took me time to adapt. However, now that time had passed I am practicing conform to this new country also, in order, I could enjoy my life in this country.

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How culture drives behavior?


 There are many types of cultures, there are cultures that have different languages, different gastronomies, different dances, no-one have the same culture, every single culture have a little but little change that makes different of the other. Behavior is the thing that one of us are. many of cultures has people who are nice in behavior. behavior is the thing that we make as good citizens. A good citizen has a high level of behavior, culture has influence in that point of behavior, but the first responsable of behavior are people. The culture are only an influence. If the culture are nice, when people has the costume to be nice citizens, citizens that always respect other, people who be empathic with other, people like that personality. That types of people have a good type of culture, and they culture can drives the behavior as goodness posible. The culture drives behavior when the culture made the citizens, obviously we are like culture is. We made us like culture makes with our society. Let me tell you an example, If my family has the costume of every day that we wakes up, we said good morning and share some feelings that always do. That action makes a good behavior, good behavior make good decisions, and the cycle be continue. The culture is the principle of us. If the country have a nice culture, we are good citizens.  Culture drives us as we like, if you don't like something in your culture you can skip it and be different, but not all citizens gonna do the change that you did already, so if you really need to change something wrong in your culture, you need to promote it and make that the other people started to do what you propuse to do and make the change as the culture needed. The reality of the things is that people follow what people do and what culture do as a daily current activities that is when cultures drives us. 


How Does 

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Drive Behaviors?




Related imageCulture is something that greatly varies around the world. It can range from different language, customs and even how people interact with each other. Culture can determine how people act. This is because when a person has grown in a certain environment where the majority of people act a certain way, it sticks to them. Take as an example two countries far apart from each other, Nicaragua and France. If you go to Nicaragua and ask for directions, people would be very eager to help, and if you are a foreigner who can't speak spanish very well, it most likely that people would start asking "Quién habla ingles? (who speaks English)?"  and they may even be eager to take you to the place you need to go.This is because people here are very friendly and open, so foreigns get surprised at how people act here. But if you go to France, asking for directions while being a foreigner is a hazard. Fresh people speak English, but people will answer you in French or simply shake their heads no when asking them in English. I have a French teacher that went to France and was wandering around for a while asking for directions because people where not eager to help. Culture can also drive people to be more individual or to have strong relationships. For example, a person that grew in a culture that really values individuality (like the U.S) will prefer to make things by himself, like buying drinks for himself rather than for the whole group. A person who grew in a culture that values relationships and amability(like Canada), would be eager to purchase drinks for the whole group in that situation.This differences in culture around the world are why individuals don't share the same behaviors or ways of thinking. The fact that not everyone acts the same is good to boost up creativity and to solve problems, but it can also cause confusion between two people that have different cultures. People may end up thinking the other person dislikes them, but in fact the reason another person acts in a strange way is because his culture has just taught him different attitudes.




There are different ways that a person can react when being exposed to a different culture:


  • Confront: A person does not accept a different culture 
  • Complain:A person isolates himself from the different culture and does not adapt
  • Adapt: A person benefits from diversity



My own reaction to a different culture


Image result for usa flag



Image result for usa cultureImage result for florida highwaysImage result for dolphin mall floridaWhen I traveled to the United States I was exposed to a different lifestyle.  The pace that people have over there is completely different from here. We would travel very long distances unlike in Nicaragua where everything is close. Another thing was that every time I watched the T.V it would be full of adds with very little screen time for the actual show or movie.  Another thing was that people like to get things done very quickly there, so they value time a lot and put a lot of importance in punctuality. Another thing was the people.  Some people would look at you from over the shoulder. I noticed that the foreigners we met in the U.S  where the people that treated us with most kindness unlike some of the natives. But I also noticed that attendants from shops or restaurants where really dedicated to their work (they also expected you to tip, or they would get offended). I feel like over there people are really hard working due to the competitive conditions they live in, which are certainly harder conditions than here.  The big malls, the long distances, the people... it was hard to adapt to that. At first I confronted that culture, I was not really used to that lifestyle and everything seemed weird to me, but in the end I enjoyed the change. It was not hard to get used to the distances and in the end I was able to try a lot of things out. Like trying different foods, visiting an aquarium and interacting with other people.  So in my experience, it was a good opportunity to learn about other cultures and I took advantaged of it.



HOW CULTURE DRIVES BEHAVIOR?

Culture can change a person's behavior. Many people grow up in an environment fit to their culture and most grow up used to that environment, which can cause some misunderstanding or problems when they start meeting with different cultures. 
Culture can change culture either positively or negatively. Positively because a person's culture may be very righteous or it's main concerns may be to act kindly, and this could help with their behavior towards others. Negatively because a person may meet with someone whose culture's values a opposite or against their own's, and this could make them have a lot of conflict between them.
Another way culture could affect behavior is through misunderstandings.


Personally, I complain a lot about other cultures. There was this one time where I was visiting a friend of my dad, along side my family. Since in Asian culture most children are taught to be silent when adults are talking. However, this isn't the case in many lain-american cultures, where everyone talks regardless of age. And so, the friend of my dad prompted me and my sister a lot to start a conversation, but we just started feeling awkward. Along side the fact that I'm extremely socially awkward and introverted I had a hard time and complained a lot.




Wednesday, October 16, 2019




Los Guatuzos Style 
Related imageImage result for los guatuzos nicaragua armando

The "Los Guatuzos" Wildlife Reserve has a territorial extension of 437.5 km² between the southern part of Lake Nicaragua and the swamps in the south of the San Juan River. From the administrative point of view, it belongs to the Municipality of San Carlos.

Dropping out of school and dropping out of basic education is one of the biggest problems in the area.
This same situation of isolation and abandonment on the part of the institutions is also reflected in the services of health, water, lighting, and a public toilet.

The conditions of poverty and extreme poverty experienced by people are scenarios that trigger not only economic and material but also social and human rights difficulties that affect the country and have a direct impact on families.

On the other hand, the deficiency of basic services aggravates the psychosocial and economic problems of the population, not giving them opportunities to change their situation of poverty, their low schooling and lack of competitive occupational skills to find decent jobs.


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Colegio Notre Dame, Nicaragua

Image result for mechanical bullThe 13 of October 2019, the Notre Dame school hosted it's Kermesse. Which offered different activities such as watching sport games, riding the mechanic bull, eating a variety of food (that ranged from pizza to national delicacies) and other things that where aimed for smaller kids like the trampolines. This was my first kermesses at this school. I had only seen a few things on the internet about the last kermesse this school had hosted, and my classmates don't seem to have enjoyed themselves too much in this one. But despite what everyone thinks, I don't believe it was bad, it was just aimed towards a younger audience. Honestly I just went to do my turn in a my post (video games) and then went out to eat something, but my brother did more things and enjoyed himself more, from what my mom told me. I feel like most games where aimed towards little kids, and that is why adolescents may have felt kind of bored at it like I did.  I could also identify some things that we have been discussing during sociology class. 





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One of which I identified was functionalism. There where people in each game and in each post that sold things, to wait for people that where there wanting to buy something. People would also make lines so there was no disorder. People where also required to buy tickets to do any activity. This tickets where also a symbol, because although they don't have any real value by themselves, they represent that the person who is handing them has already payed for whatever it is he wants to buy.







Tuesday, October 15, 2019

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The 2019 kermesse was possibly my first kermesse if my memory serves me right. The place was filled with strangers, parents and loud music. The first thing I did was check out where I was supposed to take a shift observing, but the format changed and I didn't have to go do so anymore. 
I then decided to leave the conference room to look around. All I saw was a football game being staged at the field, a streng meter, an inflatable water slide and the loud basketball court used as diner and dance stage for a lovely group, which I thoroughly enjoyed. 

If seen from the sociological lenses, we can see functionalism and conflict theory. Functionalism is far more obvious, with having the providers for entertainment, participants and servers as one group to please the visiting group of adults, children and youngsters. The conflict theory could be applied to some of the vendors near the entrance, bringing their stock to sell to the people and the conflict being people not wanting to buy due to lack of need or costs. 
 
Kermesse ND 2019

In my opinion this kermesse was very boring and there was nothing to do. There were only games for little kids and they didnt think about teens or parents. They didnt seld beers or sodas  and people were looking for that.



What I think of the Kermesse

In the kermesse, our game was VR and PlayStation 4. The majority of the games in the kermesse was for children. I think the kermesse wasn't as fun as last year's because the games were mainly for children. There were soccer games going on between schools and also volleyball games. The volleyball games were very exciting but we still won. The students of different schools were hanging out with the people of their school. There were also many people that were waiting in line to get food, the ones who get there first can get their food sooner. People had to pay money to play games or for food and drinks. There were food and drinks so people in the kermesse could get some if they were hungry or thirsty. There was conflict theory going on since people that get first to the lines can get their food or drinks faster, get to play the games first, etc. Also, volleyball games and soccer games because of people that are better at the sport can get more points and get the ball more.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

 Culture Shock 



What is culture shock?

Is when someone has a feeling of disorientation experienced by someone when they are suddenly subjected to an unfamiliar culture,  way of life or set of attitudes.


My experience of a culture shock in Costa Rica 




When I was 5 years old I traveled with with my family to Costa Rica and I was surprised by two things apart from the kindness of the people and how they care for the nature and environment of their country.







My first experience with cultural shock in Costa Rica began when we ran into traffic with my family,  it took an hour and half from the airport to my grandparent's  house. It was a boring and desperate experience.








My second experience with cultural shock in Costa Rica began when with my family we went to the supermarket and at the time of paying I realized that I could not pay with the same money from Nicaragua and the Costa Rica money had a higher value in its nomination.










Material culture:


▪︎   Money in Costa Rica has higher value in its nomination.











Non-material culture:


▪︎   The kindness of the citizens



















The first time that I get in shock, cultural shock it was on April, 2017. The trip of the culture shock is from china. The first interesting thing that I looked was the religion, people belief Buddha. This religion was very opened, this people accept every type of people. People make philosophy of the history and evolution of humanism, this religion take care for the human behavior. The Buddha's religion is the major world religion. So, people go to the temples that I putted in the sample photo, inside the room, that is called temple, the people who come in duck their heads and put their hands on their shoulders, then go to a recliner bench and kneel, where they do some kind of yoga and put both hands on the floor.
While they do the exercises that are similar to those of yoga, they remain meditating, purifying their soul and recognizing their mistakes and looking for how to be better and better. So when I saw that, for me it was something super weird but at the same time interesting. What most caught my attention is the time they devote to their religious meditation. 





Culture Shock

What is Culture Shock? 
It's the process someone goes through when they go to a place that is different from their place of origin.

Examples
Image result for usa miami free way
One culture shock that I notice when I went to the U.S is how the streets are more organized and how people there drove. The U.S streets avenues, boulevards, courts, and parkways are often numbered, the city planning and layout are more organized. When I was there I noticed the cars going at a fast speed and they had a rail for the ones that drive fasters, this makes it more organized. I also notice that there are bigger buildings and that the streets were cleaner, people usually don't through trash in the streets.
I also notice that people are nicer, friendly and more polite. I notice they say "please" and "thank you" a lot. Every time I went into a store or a restaurant the employees will smile at you and greet you with enthusiasm this makes you feel that you are in a nicer environment. (a non-material element for this example is the values they have)People also don't judge the way you dress, you are more freely do dress however you want.

Material and Nonmaterial Culture Elements

Material culture refers to the physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use to define their culture. Non-material culture refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, including beliefs, values, rules, norms, morals, language, organizations, and institutions. 





Derix rocha
Mr. Nestor alvarez

cultural shock about the experience of my dad in china

My dad was surprised to see the fruit stands alone and the person who grabbed a fruit paid without being the owner present making money in the basket that is placed next to the business, in the afternoon the owners came to take their money.

The way to punish a thief in the city like Beiging, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, is by cutting off his hand or with very high money fines. The rigidity leads to the formation of large groups of criminals such as the mafia that operates in other countries, theft must be imprisoned for a form of conscience and not for resentment.


Image result for los puestos de fruta en china

Culture Shock

Image result for culture shock definition sociologyWhat is culture shock?

Culture shock is the feeling of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people experience when visiting, doing business in, or living in a society that is different from their own. Culture shock can arise from an individual's unfamiliarity with local customs, language, and acceptable behavior.

My Experiences with Culture Shock

I don't have much experiences with culture shock due to me not being the most travelling person around. I have been in one region for most of my life so small groups are what really astonish me.
 
Image result for culture shockOne experience was with the group of my own race, the koreans. The situatino was one in which there were people that were previosuly known and had just returned from the cool modern South Korea. Mostly it was the girls that had changed extremely. Some of them had some makeovers and trendier clothes brought to the church which is a little off putting with modern fashion. The more disturbing part could have been the korean trend of acting all cute which was not only seen with them sometimes, but a recent encounter of a travelling korean artist being all "cute" and making every word a bit cuter was kind of off puting and weird to me. 
Another experience with culture shock would be the less resourceful people I met during church missions. I met some unfrotunate adults that had medical conditions that changed their whole lives and other people that have hardened bodies due to the endless physical labor they need to fulfill in order to put food on the table. From this experience I have realized how lucky I am to be born with a silver spoon, only needing to worry about education and having devices to help me along the way. 
Image result for culture shockOne last culture shock was the use of shoes in most households. As a korean, taking off shoes before going through a house is the norm for everyone, for the filth gathered is to stay outside and not bring into private spaces where cleanliness is appreciated.


Non-Material

Ideas and type of mindset a culture has. One being the korean trend of being cutesy and the nicaraguan mindset of manlier men and a burlesque comedic sense. 

Material

The objects of daily use unique to the culture. Physical objexts that could include special accesories, clothing, etc.

Ethnocentric View

Taking my latin korean mindset to view this cultural characteristics to grade them according to me is ethnocentrism.

1. The trend of cutesy behavior is just way too weird, especially when the boys are kind of doing it. Me growing in latin countries females are not the type to be much cutesy in their behavior, but a bit more tough.
2. The lower resource life is one that I have not lived in. The idea of working as a minor has never crossed my mind because of the lack of necessity. 

Culture Shock

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What is culture shock? 

Is when someone has the feeling of disorientation due to the experience of an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set attitudes. 

My experience of a culture shock in Peru:

I lived in Peru for more than 6 years, where people were nice, the culture and tradition were special and unique. But at the same time, there were some things that I couldn't understand and was kind of shocking since it wasn't normal for me. 

Image result for peru flag 

First, when I was living in Peru, something that shocked me was parents, hitting their children with a belt. Even though this action didn't occur in every Peruvian family, it was something normal for them; they didn't see that as something strange. Many of my friends from school were hit with the belt by their parents, saying it was a way to educate them and they could have a better attitude. Usually, they were scolded when they had low grades, bad behavior, weren't honest or didn't do something as their parents wanted.  

Image result for belt hit

The second culture shock was when I saw many people on the bus throwing trashes. In Peru, one of the most common modes of transportation is the bus and I got shocked as I noticed that many of the passengers who were on a public bus opened the window and threw all the trashes on the ground as if it was a garbage can. No one didn't care about those actions and they just saw it like it was something ordinary. They threw different kinds of things, such as food including fruit seeds, fruit peels, empty snack bags, tissues, plastic bottles, juice cans, straws, etc. And they were even some people, spitting. Due to these actions of people, the main streets and roads are always with trashes and are dirty.

Related image Image result for peru calles sucias

Non-material: 
Attitudes and ideas of the people:
- How they didn't care when others threw trashes on the ground.
- Some parents hitting their children and viewing this as if was something normal.

Material:
- The most common mode of transportation: public bus

Why this is a cultural shock?  Looking at it through ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of other cultures, judging it from the point of view of their own culture.

Image result for scoldThe first one of parents hitting their kids with a belt was a culture shock because in Korea and Nicaragua it isn't something normal. Most of the parents, usually when they get mad or want to scold their children, they just give punishment or say it with words, but they don't educate them physically. However, there some exceptions.
Image result for clean streets

The second one of throwing trashes was also a culture shock because in the countries where I lived such as Korea and Costa Rica was totally different. Each country, maintained it really clean, trying to avoid pollutions and people following basic rules to have an organized country.