The Yes and No's of Cultures

This week in Sociology we discussed material and nonmaterial culture and went into further depth of different kinds of gestures, languages, and norms within the realm of nonmaterial culture. We first discussed the differences between certain gestures between cultures, such as the idea that in the Indian culture, it is considered to be disrespectful to eat with your left hand, whereas in America, both hands are acceptable to use during a meal. We also discussed how cultures that share the same language have certain words that don't translate to anything in, say, English, and just have a meaning in its own language. We then discussed folkways, which are just little things that are perhaps seen as rude or disrespectful, but are not that big of a deal, such as having your elbows on the dinner table. A more, however, is a step further than folkway, and would be something that would possibly offend someone or disrupt the natural flow of a given society. A taboo, however, is nearly a forbidden thought or thing that should never be said or thought. An example of a taboo would be selling bacon in the Middle East, for their culture is very against production of pork, due to its sacredness to the religion(s) found in the Middle East. Culture is very intersting to me because it allows us to value different cultures and see how the world functions due to each individual culture affecting the world.
          When learning all of these types of non-material cultural ideas, I began to think about its relation to my own life. When we discussed the social norms that went along with the nonmaterial culture, I began to think of my experience with both culture shock, which was a term previously discussed, as well as a realization of the certain folkways and mores of people in different cultures. When I went to Italy a few years ago, my family and I went to a small, family-owned restaurant on the Almalfi Coast for lunch. The Italian tradition is to have multiple course of meals in one sitting, as well as different things in each course. So, for example, we got our appetizers, and there were five or six plates of different things that we passed around, and same went for the pastas, the meats, the deserts, etc. However, my younger brothers are very picky when it comes to eating, so they did not want to try any of the new food being offered to us(mozzarella/tomatoes, rabbit leg, lemoncello), which we usually are fine with when we have dinner in our own house. However, when the owners of the restaurant saw that they were not eating what they were bringing up, they seemed to get offended and asked if the food was cooked correctly. This is a good example of a social folkway, for the Italian restaurant-owners felt a sense of disrespect towards them by my brothers not eating waht they served us, showing how the social norm of the Italian culture would be to try everything that comes out. This experience of culture shock and seeing the different social norms in the given cultures gave me a better insight to other cultures around the world and allowed me to realize that cultures are so drastically different from one another, that one motion can offend someone, or not offend one, given the certain culture we would be put into.