Evaluating Societies Culture by Norms, Values, and Laws Essay

Almost every society participates in a unique culture that cannot be accurately judged without acquiring viewpoints from the individual’s in it. While reading the article India’s Sacred Cow by Marvin Harris (1978) I was able to gain insight about the Hindu people and their reasons for â€Å"worshipping† the â€Å"sacred cows† (Harris, 1978). According to the textbook Sociology Thirteenth Edition by Richard T. Schaefer, â€Å"through cultural realism, or the sincere attempt to understand an individual’s culture from his or her perspective, we might obtain information on how to better ourselves and our society† (Schaefer, 2012). At first, many factors of Hindu culture seemed a little arbitrary compared to American cultures, but after I gained information regarding Hindu religious beliefs, I was able to understand, and somewhat relate with, the â€Å"values†, â€Å"norms†, and â€Å"laws†, that make up the culture of Hindu p eople. According to Schaeffer (2012), â€Å"values are conceptions of what we consider good, desirable, proper, or bad, undesirable and improper in a culture†; I believe that no value is correct or incorrect because not everyone has the same opinion on what’s â€Å"good† or bad† (Schaeffer, 2012). In a Hindu culture worshipping cows is considered proper and most likely desirable. This would most likely be labeled as abnormal and undesirable in most American cultures, because people in America usually do not depend on cows for their society’s well-being. According to Harris(1978), â€Å"the Hindi people depend on the cow with their lives, if they did not have the cow, then they would not have means to produce oxen to transport them from place to place and to plow the fields so they can have food (Harris,1978). This differs greatly from most American societ... ...even bizarre human cultures may appear, they can be understood at least in part.† He (1978) further supports this statement by claiming that â€Å"India’s sacred cow is in fact quite a rational cultural adaptation, because the cow is so extraordinarily useful† (Harris, 1978). Before judging a culture on a seemingly odd belief, think about it in context of the other individual, it may not be odd to them because it may be their norm, it may have value, or it may be the law. If every person can relate with the views of others there will be a more harmonious existence for all societies and their cultures. Works Cited Schaefer, R. T. (2012). Culture. Sociology: a brief introduction (13th ed., pp. 53-65). New York: McGraw-Hill. Harris Marvin.(1978). India’s sacred cow. Retrieved from http://www.sociology101.net/readings/Indias-sacred-cow.pdf