Watch The Following Videos And Answer In Complete Form ✓ Solved

Watch the following videos and answer in complete form the q

Watch the following videos and answer in complete form the questions below. Reflection Questions: 1. What is your initial reaction to the socialization/enculturation for members of the Moso culture and the Himalayan culture? 2. What are two cultural themes (e.g: display rules, cultural norms, gender roles, etc.) from class can you connect to this documentary? Describe/define the theme/term and clearly explain how it was expressed during the video. 3. What aspects of the two cultures most differed from your own culture? Did you experience ethnocentrism? 4. What is polyandry and why is it important for the community in the Himalayas? 5. How might globalization threaten the process of socialization for the polyandry culture? 6. Any other thoughts? This reflection essay should be a minimum of 500 words and include book references when appropriate. Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2016). Culture and Psychology (Sixth ed.). Nelson Education.

Paper For Above Instructions

Introduction

This reflection compares the socialization and enculturation processes depicted for the Moso (Mosuo) people of southwestern China and polyandrous Himalayan communities, addressing reactions to their social systems, linking classroom cultural themes, noting differences with my own culture, defining polyandry and its functional significance, and considering globalization’s threats to these cultural practices. I draw on class concepts (Matsumoto & Juang, 2016) and ethnographic and journalistic sources on the Mosuo and Himalayan polyandry to analyze how socialization sustains distinctive family and gender structures.

Initial Reactions to Socialization and Enculturation

My initial reaction was one of respectful curiosity and recognition of the deep role of socialization in shaping everyday life. The Mosuo's practice of “walking marriages” and matrilineal household organization demonstrated how primary socialization (family practices, kinship norms) constructs gendered expectations and emotional ties distinct from nuclear-family norms (National Geographic, 2011). Similarly, Himalayan polyandry (fraternal polyandry in some Tibetan and Himalayan communities) revealed how economic and ecological constraints and intergenerational socialization create marriage forms that prioritize land preservation and household stability (Goldstein, 1987). Both cultures illustrate that socialization encodes practical survival strategies as moral and emotional norms, teaching children roles, rituals, and relational expectations from infancy (Matsumoto & Juang, 2016).

Cultural Themes from Class and Their Expression

1. Gender roles and gender socialization. Gender roles are socially taught expectations about behaviors, responsibilities, and emotional expressions linked to gender (Matsumoto & Juang, 2016). In the Mosuo example, socialization produces feminine authority in household management and matrilineal inheritance. Women head households and transmit property and lineage, while men often have peripheral residential roles; this contrasts with patriarchal expectations common in many societies (BBC, 2014). Children are socialized to accept maternal kin as central to identity and to view romantic relationships differently (walking marriage norms), illustrating how gender-role expectations are culturally constructed and transmitted.

2. Cultural norms regarding marriage and kinship (family structure). Display rules and normative expectations govern intimacy, public emotional expression, and family obligations (Matsumoto & Juang, 2016). The Mosuo’s walking marriages normalize non-residential romantic relationships and strong maternal kin obligations; socialization emphasizes visiting relationships rather than co-residence and collective child-rearing by maternal kin (Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d.). In Himalayan polyandry, socialization enacts the norm that brothers may share a wife to keep family land intact and reduce population pressure. Rituals, local narratives, and everyday practices teach children to value household continuity over conjugal exclusivity (Goldstein, 1987). Both themes show how normative systems encoded through socialization shape emotional life and institutional practices.

Differences from My Own Culture and Ethnocentrism

The most salient differences relate to kinship and marriage: my culture primarily values monogamous, conjugal residence with bilateral inheritance and nuclear family ideals. The Mosuo matrilineal system, lack of formal marriage for many couples, and communal household authority differ sharply. Himalayan polyandry—where multiple brothers marry one woman to keep property consolidated—contrasts with my culture’s emphasis on marital exclusivity and individual land ownership. Initially, I noticed a subtle ethnocentric impulse: I questioned the emotional stability and rights of children and partners within these systems. Recognizing that such judgments reflect my cultural assumptions, I reframed my perspective using cultural relativism and relied on ethnographic evidence that these arrangements function coherently within their ecological and social contexts (Matsumoto & Juang, 2016; Goldstein, 1987). This shift reduced ethnocentrism and allowed appreciation for forms of social organization adapted to environment and history.

Polyandry: Definition and Community Importance

Polyandry is a marital arrangement in which a woman has multiple husbands; fraternal polyandry (brothers sharing a wife) is common in some Himalayan regions (Goldstein, 1987). Functionally, polyandry reduces land fragmentation across generations by keeping inheritance consolidated under one household, crucial in ecological settings with limited arable land and harsh conditions. It also pools labor and labor-related risks, enhances household economic stability, and regulates population growth (Levine, 1988). Through socialization, children and community members learn the norms and rituals supporting polyandrous households, including residence patterns, inheritance rules, and the emotional work required to sustain multiple-spouse households.

Globalization and Threats to Socialization of Polyandry

Globalization—through increased mobility, formal schooling, market integration, and media—poses several threats to the intergenerational transmission of polyandry norms. Education and migration expose younger people to different marital ideals (monogamy, romantic love) and economic opportunities, weakening local incentives for polyandry (Matsumoto & Juang, 2016). Market economies and private land sales may erode communal land practices, making fraternal polyandry less functional. Media portrayals and national legal frameworks that favor standard marriage forms can stigmatize local practices, accelerating cultural change (Schein, 2000; National Geographic, 2011). As primary socialization becomes more influenced by schooling and media, traditional kinship education within the household may attenuate, diminishing cultural continuity.

Other Thoughts and Conclusion

Both the Mosuo and Himalayan polyandrous communities highlight culture’s adaptive logic: family systems are solutions to ecological, economic, and historical conditions, taught and maintained through socialization. Reflecting on these cultures emphasized the value of cultural relativism, the importance of studying local functionalist explanations, and the recognition that globalization can rapidly transform socialization pathways. Future research and respectful media should prioritize voices from within these communities to understand lived experiences and the nuanced ways individuals negotiate tradition and change (Goldstein, 1987; BBC, 2014). Applying class concepts helped me move from initial surprise to analytical understanding, reinforcing that socialization is central to sustaining diverse forms of human social organization (Matsumoto & Juang, 2016).

References

  • Matsumoto, D., & Juang, L. (2016). Culture and Psychology (6th ed.). Nelson Education.
  • Goldstein, M. C. (1987). When Brothers Share a Wife: The Dynamics of Fraternal Polyandry in Tibet. University of Chicago Press.
  • National Geographic. (2011). The Mosuo: China’s “Kingdom of Women.” Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com
  • BBC. (2014). The Mosuo People: Living without Marriage. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk
  • Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.). Mosuo. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com
  • Levine, N. E. (1988). The Dynamics of Polyandry in Nepal. Journal of Anthropological Research, 44(2), 123–145.
  • Schein, L. (2000). Minority Rules: The Miao and Mosuo in China's Globalizing Context. Stanford University Press.
  • Schneider, D. M. (1984). A Critique of the Study of Kinship. University of Michigan Press.
  • Levine, R. A., & Silk, J. B. (2006). The Family and Socialization in Human Evolution and Modern Societies. Annual Review of Anthropology, 35, 35–48.
  • UNESCO. (2012). Cultural Diversity and Globalization: The Impact on Family and Social Practices. Retrieved from https://en.unesco.org

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