Anthropology and Cultural Diversity (Essay Sample)

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Anthropology and Cultural Diversity
Anthropology is the scientific study that focuses on finding the origins and the biological characteristics, cultural and physical developments as well as religious and social beliefs and customs as practiced by different groups of mankind globally. It strives to understand the very essence of diversity in mankind in all aspects of the environment that mankind lives in. Culture is one of the main aspects that have been recorded to be very diverse in society. Culture, on the other hand, is the system of behaviors and beliefs that are attributed by a community or a group of people. Anthropology studies these cultures in order to define the differences and similarities between the different cultures in the world.
The essential elements of culture that do influence differences in the societies globally include:
1 Customs and traditions. The customs and traditions vary with the different groups of communities in the world. The rules of how to behave and what is acceptable as morally right or wrong in every community are very different. For example, in Asian countries the mode of greeting each other is done by bowing to each other and in the developed English-speaking countries greeting are done with firm handshakes. This provides a big barrier of differences because the behavior of one group of individuals can be offensive to another group of individuals (Vipink 4).
2 Language. There are diverse languages around the world, and English is the one main common language that can be understood in majority part of the developed and highly educated nations. Individuals who do not speak the same language do not share the same culture (Vipink 5). There is a significant difference here because an individual speaking one language will not be able to understand another person speaking another language.
3 Religion. It is a very diverse practice in the world as it is grouped into two main models of understanding, for example, monotheism and polytheism. There is an enormous difference here between those who only believe that there is only one God and those that worship multiple gods in their religions (Vipink 7). Their values and manner of worship conflict with one another.
The key elements of culture that influence similarities in society include:
1 Social organization. This has to do with the social structure of the family unit. In a family, there are children, husband and wife and then the latter part of the family includes the extended families that are uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparent and many more (Vipink 3). This creates a similarity as every community is built on the basic structure of the family unit.
2 Arts and literature. This is a major influence of similarities in societal cultures because it is never chosen but rather an innate ability of mankind. No matter what race, religion or level of education anyone can produce an epic piece of art or literature from their imagination (Vipink 6). Moreover, it surpasses the basic cultural beliefs system globally and reunited it profoundly exploring the potential of mankind in this world. This creates similarity as imagination can never be li...