How Society and Culture Affect Friendship Essay

How society and Culture affect Friends and Social Activities The ‘social’ is an important concept to know to understand this topic. It is the totality of explanations describing how people interact and make meanings of their experiences. Culture, as should be known, is Shared, transmitted, learned, adaptive etc. Different cultures promote different relationships and can either hinder or encourage certain activities among its people. Friends that people make will differ based on their cultural views and belief. Example: Jamaica’s motto â€Å"Out of Many, One people† This implicates unity within our culture. Regardless of colour, religious belief or ethnicity people make friends and partake in the pretty much the same activities. Going to the movies, going to dances, parties, clubs, bars etc. While  In a country like Trinidad with segregated culture, you have people of different races separate and apart from each other. Religious backgrounds (whether Hindu or Christian) can form who you choose to be your friend and some activities are labelled generally white, or generally black, or generally Indian rather than having equilibrium between all races. Society – This is known sociologically as a group of people related to each other through persistent relations (usually sharing the same geographical location) Society has norms which is expected behaviour of each individual, thus it is an important factor in your activities and friend choice. It must be societally acceptable else you may be labelled deviant. Your general upbringing and status/class usually shapes who you make friends with. Example: People from ‘Uptown’ tend to make friends with those of a similar background, or financial status as them. Similarly people of limited means stick together and form friendships. However there are some exceptions, especially in more open society of today where there are friendships formed across classes due to similarity in personality or social activities. Society is more likely to expect that people from higher classes would partake in activities like theatre and go to exclusive parties. It is seen where today, especially in Jamaica, regardless of status, social activities are open to any and everyone.