Human Nature

It is part of human nature to wonder, to seek to explain the forces that dictate our own behavior and that of others. For someone to truly understand all of the factors that silently dictate their own choices, they need to look at the environment where they were raised. They need to look at the place they currently live and the people they hang out with. They need to look at the music they listen to and the clothes they wear. Why do they do the things they do? Why do they spend time with the people they choose to spend time with?

People understand that they are different than other people. We expect that families from different areas are going to have different political views than us. We expect that people from other countries will worship different gods than we do. In America, we have a shared American identity, but we also have a ton of diversity within it. There are thousands of subcultures within the continental United States. You can subdivide Minnesota into Minneapolis, into North Minneapolis, into Hmong families that live in North Minneapolis, and probably even farther.

A family of Chinese people would likely serve different foods at dinner than a Swedish family. But what kinds of foods would a family of Swedish and Chinese people eat? Cultures in America are quickly merging and creating all new cultures. Culture is ever-expanding, but constant. Culture is a difficult idea to nail down. Every single person has their own unique cultural experiences that shape them into the person that they have become.

Humans have a desire to understand; a psychological need to understand the world around us. If it weren’t for that curiosity, our scientific advancement would be nowhere near where it is today. We want to be able to structure a system to make sense of this crazy, complicated world all around us. We want to be able to make a case study of behavior, as Becker did with marijuana use, and decide if the behavior is a social construction or something that their genetic makeup predetermines that they will do. We attempt to answer the question: did he have a choice to become a pot user, or was he born to be a pot user? Was she born to be fat or was she raised to be fat? Culture raises some really interesting nature vs. nurture questions. As humans, we seek to understand which to blame. Do we feel sorry for the fat people because they didn’t have a choice, or do we look down at them because they are lazy?