Evaluating Societies Culture by Norms, Values, and Laws Essay

Almost every society participates in a ludicrous stopping point that cannot be accurately judged without acquiring viewpoints from the separates in it. While reading the article Indias Sacred Cow by Marvin Harris (1978) I was able to gain insight about the Hindu stack and their reasons for worshipping the sacred cow (Harris, 1978). According to the textbook Sociology Thirteenth Edition by Richard T. Schaefer, through cultural realism, or the sincere attempt to understand an individuals culture from his or her perspective, we might obtain knowledge on how to better ourselves and our society (Schaefer, 2012). At first, many factors of Hindu culture seemed a little arbitrary comp atomic number 18d to American cultures, but after I gained information regarding Hindu religious beliefs, I was able to understand, and somewhat relate with, the value, norms, and laws, that make up the culture of Hindu people. According to Schaeffer (2012), values are conceptions of what we consider good , desirable, fit, or bad, undesirable and improper in a culture I believe that no value is correct or absurd because not everyone has the same opinion on whats 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 societys well-being. According to Harris(1978), the Hindi people depend on the cow with their lives, if they did not have the cow, then they would not have path to produce oxen to transport them from place to place and to plow the handle 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 Indias sacred cow is in fact quite a able cultural adaptation, because the cow is so extraor dinarily useful (Harris, 1978). Before judgement a culture on a seemingly odd belief, moot 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 provide be a more harmonious existence for all societies and their cultures. workings CitedSchaefer, R. T. (2012). Culture. Sociology a brief introduction (13th ed., pp. 53-65). New York McGraw-Hill.Harris Marvin.(1978). Indias sacred cow. Retrieved from http//www.sociology101.net/readings/Indias-sacred-cow.pdf