differences in kinship and descent across the world. In the U.S., bilateral descent is common, and kinship is rather unimportant, as are descent lines. In other societies, descent determines how you will live your life, what you will inherit and from whom, who you may marry, and how you will live after marriage. Many of these societies use dependence training as their driving force behind these cultural structures. It is often taught in these cultures that the good of the many outweigh the good of the one, and therefore living in large families, or working for one’s in-laws is accepted. This also helps these societies to maximize the potential work output of its people, and make life easier for everyone. John MurphyAnthropologyEssay ThreeBefore taking this class, I often thought that our advanced society was the standard in which to measure all other societies from, but after reviewing the material in this course, it is impossible to make such a comparison. Many of the people in a culture similar to the U.S. would probably find most of the cultures we have studied to be “slow”, strange, or undesirable. In fact, it seems that many of the societies actually prefer to live the way they do and accept it as normal. “Normal” is a relative term, and it is difficult to establish evidence to label a culture or its characteristics abnormal. What may seem to work here often would be disastrous to other cultures.Our society stresses individuality and competition, to be the best you can be for yourself first. This works well for the structure of life that has developed in this country. I value my independence and privacy, something that has stemmed from living in this society. Trying to be the best often has rewards, whether prestigious or monetary, and is a good survival technique for a “doggy-dog” society. You have to stand out to get ahead.Individuals living in a food-foraging or farming soc...
