The Sociocultural Perspective

I grew up in a community which was made up of a variety of people (not as diverse as Penn State of course) and in school, I was able to meet people from a variety of backgrounds, lifestyles, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds and beliefs. Because of such a diverse group of friends and peers, I believed that I was a pretty open minded person. However, my experience at Penn State and the new people I met here showed that I was not as open minded as I thought I was.

During my fall semester sophomore year, I moved into a new hall, new room and new floor mates. There was one particular floor mate whom I became close with and her name is Erin. She came directly from China and it was her second semester here. Even though we only just met each other, people thought that we had been friends for years by the second week of the semester. During that semester, not only did I meet a great friend, but I also went through this non – official cultural exchange. I took a Chinese 001 course and she would help me with the homework and I would help her with the English that she couldn’t understand in her classes and just in general. We spent time in each other’s room talking about the things we missed about home; she would talk about China and I would talk about Korea. Through these talks, I learned much about China. For example, there are huge differences between North China and South China: food, language and even the guys. South China prefers the spicier dished and the North has a little more “r” sound in some of the words. Talking with her also reminded me of my own Korean heritage. Korea and China are different countries but they share many of the same festivals, same cultural norms and overlap in many of the foods as well. She helped me remember what I had slowly forgotten over the eighteen years that I have lived in America. I also learned about the differences in American culture and Asian culture. She showed me that the things that I think are normal are not normal in everyone’s eyes: what I didn’t understand about China, China also didn’t understand about the States. She made me really see the cultural boundaries that I did not notice before and she helped me break that barrier. For example, in China and in Korea actually, it is normal to see little children and many women hold hands while walking. I didn’t know that. If I went to China, I would be just as confused as she was when she saw that people here didn’t hold hands here.

The sociocultural perspective is a mixture of social psychology and cultural psychology. As a result, this perspective takes into account the study of social groups, roles and social relationships as well as the study of cultural norms and expectations. This type of perspective allows the comparison of different types of people and the culture and social settings that they bring with them. This comparison teaches us as people to understand and embrace the differences that exist in this world. For anyone who looks at the world through the sociocultural perspective, a whole new world is understood and your understanding of the world is changed as well. It opened my eyes, let me learn about another’s culture, and reminded me about my own.

My parents, an engineer and a teacher, are very logical people. They form their opinions very sensibly and scientifically. Even though they are modern and progressive in nearly every regard, they have managed to hang on to some wild superstitions from their Indian background. My Mother does not mind the occasional mirror dropped inside the house or when a black cat happens to cross her path, but when it comes to the ancient Indian superstitions, she has been scared straight. Growing up in a traditional Indian family, she was always restricted by countless superstitions. She avoided whistling and sweeping the floor at night and getting her hair cut on a Saturday. She was not devoted to these rules and did not understand the meaning behind them. Like everyone else around her, she adhered to these guidelines simply because that was the way it had always been and someone, at some point early on, probably had perfectly practical reasons for creating these regulations.

When my Mom grew up and left home to be on her own, she also left behind most of these superstitions. She did not think of them again until an eerie three-week incident. She had bought three new outfits for upcoming events that happened to each be a week apart. The day after she wore her first outfit, it was burnt by the iron. The following week, her dress ripped when it got caught on a nail. The last dress was ruined a few days after she wore it because its color ran in the wash. She was initially puzzled by the episode but then it dawned on her; one must not wear new clothes on a Tuesday. She checked her calendar and all the events in fact took place on the offending day of the week. From that day forward, she stuck to the rule and passed it on to me.

This incident provides a sociocultural perspective. The sociocultural perspective focuses on the relationship between social behavior and culture. My mother carried her adhered to her cultural norms and values when she believed her clothes were destroyed by superstition. She found it more plausible that the cause of the incident was some unfounded gospel rather when it was more likely that she was just slightly careless with her belongings.