Finding out information about society and goals has always been an interesting subject to me. Our book informs us that our culture can affect us on what goals people “should” pursue. They gave an example of how Americans believe “hard work pays off”, and that this cultural norm is different from others. The American cultural norm was compared to the Hindu norm that God gives them what he wants them to receive instead of working even harder as many middle class Americans would. This subject leads me to think of how subculture highly affects one’s perception of achievable goals. For example, many years ago someone could ask a minority if they would or think there would be a president who resembled them. The majority answer would be no. So the American culture or societies sub race culture told them that they can attempt to become a president, but rater attempt something else. Having President Obama in office proves that we cannot always be subject to cultural norms and the goals associated with it. We should not let our culture hinder society from achieving any goal they can imagine!
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Great examples Dom! I had a similar example brought up by the African-American comedian Chris Rock. He said that when he was growing up he only saw two possibilities for careers: janitor or entertainer. He felt like black people werent able to be successful in business or politics and therefore were only able to be 'less than' most people or an entertainer. He then said that he wishes that he was a child now because we have President Barack Obama and young black (and other minority) children know that you can be anything! It is sad that culture can hinder people, especially children who know nothing else. I believe it is important to be open minded when exploring cultures other than our own.
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