Cultural Differences In American Culture

Cultures across the globe have societal and cultural rules to promote politeness, to maintain social order, and to have a cultural identity. In the United States, societal rules vary greatly with location and nationality, but one societal rule that most people follow is a handshake. Handshakes have been a cultural ritual for a large part of human history, and is used across the world. The typical handshake is used as a greeting, but it has a variety of uses and is used in many social contexts. Some basic examples include a formal business greeting, a common hello for friends, or a sign of agreement between two parties. So for the past three days, I decided to break a cultural rule and try to not shake anyone’s hand. The reason why I chose
I think this constant concern for image is driven by our school’s culture. I feel that at a small school, an individual’s actions are magnified and spread through a smaller social network. After performing this study, I found that people where inquiring about the study even if they weren’t involved. Friends of friends would come up to me at social events and ask how my study was going as a conversation starter. Of course I wasn’t offended or bothered by people asking about my anthropology class, but it made me worry that people are talking about things that I don’t want them talking about. This study made me find out that I’m a self conscious person that likes the approval of my peers around me. But I’m not sure if being self conscious is a good or bad thing. On one hand caring about your self image helps me make the right cultural and societal choices. If I follow the societal rules diligently, then other people will give me more respect. But on the other hand, worrying about what other people think makes me make my decisions and actions based on what other people want. If I want to have a positive social image, I have to occasionally sacrifice what I truly want in order to make other people happy. What I found fascinating is how such a small action can have an impact on my mood for the day. While I was working on this project, I didn’t feel like my natural self. It was hard to concentrate on other things because peers gesture for handshakes so often that I had to constantly think about the social consequences of not shaking their hand. Although this was insightful, I found the whole experience very