Cultures and Relationship Theories

 Hey guys!!! I'm back with another update. But this time, I want to start by asking you guys some questions. I feel like I haven't gotten to ask about you. How are you? Is everything going well? Are you staying hydrated? Are you eating three meals a day? Have you been getting eight hours of sleep each night? How has your social life been? If you said yes to any of these, well, I'm glad one of us is doing good. If you said no, it's ok because I'm with you. Hahahaha! Now as Li Shang from the movie Mulan would say "Let's get down to business". We have just started unit 2 of class and have talked about new theories. So, let's just get into it (yuh)!!

One of the first things we went over in this unit was different theories about relationships and how we think they are created. The first theorist we talked about was Gadamer and how other theories compare to his. His first theory we talked about basically said that the relationships we make are natural and we do not have to try very hard to connect. Then, we compare it to Habermas' theory, which said it is really hard to connect with others and form relationships. We have to try and fit our interest with the other person's interest. We finally talked about Derrida's theory. He explains that no relationship is real and any connection we make is fake and made up. It is all an illusion.

When we were first going through these theories, I was conflicted on where I would put my friendships. I was deciding whether I would place them in Habermas' theory or Gadamer's. But after I talked it through with some friends and my teacher, I realized that a majority of my friendships have been because we clicked with each other. We would always have at least one thing in common with each other, and when we continued to talk to each other, we found that we had a lot more things in common. With each of my friendships, it felt like it did not take any effort to become close. I think I went back and forth between Habermas and Gadamer because it took some time for me to start talking with them. Because I was so shy and awkward around them for the first time, it felt like I did not have anything in common with them. But in reality, if I would have made conversation sooner, we would have been friends faster.

The next lesson we discussed in class was the four different types of cultural practices. The four different types of cultural practices are archaic, residual, dominant, and emergent. Archaic cultures are historical forms that no longer serve any recognized cultural functions. Residual cultures are things that were a big part of the human experience, but are overshadowed by the dominant culture. The dominant culture is whatever the big thing or the popular thing is at the moment. The final type of cultural practice is emergent culture. Emergent culture is what people predict is going to become the next dominant culture. It's pretty big right now, but it will become even bigger as time passes.

There are many different types of examples for these cultural practices. An example of archaic culture could be the language and phrases that were used long ago that are no longer used and considered cool. An example of residual culture is vinyl records. Vinyl's were extremely popular when they were first introduced, but as time moved on and different methods for listening to music were made, they slowly started to go away. More recently, vinyl has been making a comeback. More people are buying vinyl. Dominant culture is something everybody pretty much knows or knows of, whether they realize it or not. One of the most dominant things in our culture right now is TikTok. It has been the birthplace of many influencers and trends and has shaped our lives significantly. Finding an example for an emergent culture was a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be. But I finally found something that I think is emergent, that is crossing over into being dominant. Wordle is a word game that is sweeping the nation. It feels like everybody is playing it, but many became confused when people on Twitter started posting black, yellow, and green squares to show that they played that day's Wordle.

So that's what I've learned so far in this unit, and it has been very interesting. I think I liked learning about the theories of relationship building the best. We're currently in the middle of the unit, so I will have one more post for you. Well, that's all for now and I will see you next post.