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Societal Norms vs. Change People tend to stick to what they know, what has been normal and passed down to them from generations and apply these things to their own lives. Communities are simply afraid of change and afraid of the way it may affect their ways of living for the worst. Change will always affect different people and communities differently, whether it is positively or negatively. Following old traditions within small communities has both costs and benefits. The question is whether or not change could overcome both the benefits and costs of following old traditions within the community. According to Nancy Scheper-Hughes, an anthropologist and the author of The Anthropological Looking Glass, communities, such as small villages from Ireland like Ballybran, need to accept change to be able to learn the more modern ways of looking at situations. Scheper-Hughes critiques the Irish villager’s ways of living and, whether or not she actually noticed, compares this village to American way of living. Villages such as Ballybran may have a different way of living, but this does not necessarily mean it should be looked at as uncivilized or the wrong way, though change may have been a wise choice for the villagers, which Scheper-Hughes was trying to imply. Furthermore, Maxine Hong Kingston, the author of No Name Woman, emphasizes on the risks and effects of change when born into such a strict community such as a woman born into Chinese customs and their role within the family. Kingston provides background on the costs and benefits of change and whether change is ever worth it or paid off in the end. The big issue here, is whether or not the costs of changing societal norms is worth the changes of outlooks, attitudes and more that come along with it. Changing community traditions can never be such a bad idea, everyone and everything changes. The idea of making changes as a community seems to be a good way to interact with fellow citizens and also make fresh, new traditions that all can agree with. Though change is a good thing, just because certain communities and villages live different lifestyles apart from other communities, this never means that the community is living the wrong way. There are many benefits to be gained from initiating change within a community. People often need new things to look forward to and learn to feel accomplished. The upbringing of new customs and changes to traditions to better fit everyone’s new and more developed lifestyle is a way for this feeling of accomplishment to take over. No generation after generation will ever truly be the same compared to the last. To be able to have positive change, the community has to be able to accept the changes being made. Scheper-Hughes describes the struggles of just this when she explains how “the belief that rural Ireland is dying and its people are consequently infused with a spirit of anomie and despair” (584). The Ireland community is mourning over the fact that their traditions are being stripped away from them, changed. The big problem here is that there is no acceptance of these changes occurring. Change is not bad, you just have to be able to alter change the way you wish and accept the consequences. In the same way, Kingston indicates examples of the costs that come along with not changing traditions. The women in old China were never able to choose, this was the man’s job, or more like privilege. There was no life for women in old China, “to be a woman, to have a daughter in starvation time was a waste enough” (326). Women were considered a disgrace to their families because of reasons such as these. Did the China community still believe in this treatment of women? Was there never to be equality? Chinese women struggled. They continually worked on not breaking the silence of their Chinese societal norms. This was because the people of old China were afraid, afraid of the changes to come along with speaking out their opinions. This holding back cost women throughout China their whole lives, living in a bubble of secret and mishaps in which they will never be able to come clean with because of the societal norms in place. This is not the life to be living. Women deserve their own lives just as much as men do. The breakage of customs for the Chinese may just be the beginning of a fresher, accepting way of living for the communities. The people of China just need to be able to accept these changes, not be afraid of them. There are communities which prefer to stick with their own customs and accept their societal norms even if they realize that change would benefit them. There are not only benefits that come with change; there are many costs as well. Come communities realize these costs and prefer to not go about them, sticking with their old way and being comfortable knowing that what they are doing and how they are living is accepted. This choosing does not give the right for different communities to be judging. Scheper-Hughes, though maybe not quite realizing it, does just this while visiting Ireland in search for criteria on societal norms of a small village, Ballybran. Scheper-Hughes bashes this small community, putting their traditions and customs under the bus like they are dirt. The only apparent reason for this doing is that she did not grow up in Ireland; she has no real understanding of this community’s history or built in traditions. Doesn’t Ballybran “have the right to hold on to an image of [themselves] as ‘different’ to be sure, but as innocent and unblemished all the same” (577)? No one person can instill a change within a community without the community’s acceptance or help. Though Scheper-Hughes may have opened Ballybran’s eyes to the way the community was living through her opinions and her suggested changes, this does not mean that this village is wrong by the way they are living. Similarly, Robert Bellah, a sociologist and the author of Community, Commitment, and Individuality, critiques Ted Oster for the way in which he is living his life, through first language. Oster’s way of life has always worked for him, he has never needed to develop a second language to be able to further his way of living. Bellah senses that Oster is stuck, not in only one language but in his life as well. Bellah believes as though [Ted] had to invent a second language out of the failing fragments of his usual first language” (67). But from Oster’s short description of the way he feels, anyone would think that he loves his life and that his wife has been his rock throughout the better part of it. Bellah insists from this that not developing a second language limits people from doing all they are capable of. This is not true, Oster is happy in one language, he’s come this far and has no regrets. In the end, it is Oster’s life, and there is not one person who can or should make changes to his life, especially if the way he is living it is working for him. In no way should a community feel the need to make changes to societal norms if what they have been doing for years has always worked for them. For some communities, such as the Chinese, change may be a good thing. Change may help strengthen people’s bonds within a community and in general. It is never too late to insist or make a change, people just have to be willing to give up old customs and move forward with new ones. Scheper-Hughes suggests that “every culture has its own “normality threshold,” and [that] a society reveals itself perhaps most clearly in the phenomena it rejects, excludes, and confines” (595). This may be true. The worst may shine through things that communities are not doing instead of things they are approaching wrongly. This “normality threshold” may be put in place for a reason. A community can only take so much change before it isn’t the same anymore. In the end, every community, whether it is between different countries or different states, will all hold different societal norms and customs. Two will never be the same. Different communities need to accept that this is a fact and that different communities cannot and should not force their own beliefs into different communities with different understandings and culture. Though your societal norms seem normal and the right way to approach things, for different communities these societal norms will not be looked at the same. Some cultures, such as most in America, give their citizens freedom in which everyone in the country believes in. This is different from Chinese culture. In Chinese culture, a family is one, a community is one. You eat, drink, and sleep together. In this culture, “villagers [punish people] for acting as if [they can] have a private life, secret and apart from them” (331). This may seem unfriendly and cruel to different communities (such as ours), but it only seems this way because people in the United States have grown up with freedom and free speech. You can see that changes in customs have their costs and benefits. To be an outcast to family because of speaking your mind may have its benefits in the long run. But, just because people speak their minds, does not mean that they will ever change the societal norms of that community. To be able to succeed in making changes that benefit the whole community, there can be neither fear of change nor any rejections to the change. Change should never be considered frightening or wrong. People and communities should learn to accept change for what it is. Change is one way of strengthening citizen relationships and growing as a community. It should never be believed that change worsens communities, going against traditions or family customs. If a community should come together to change a certain way of doing something or alter a tradition because there is a better way, this should be looked at as growth and nothing less. They are growing as a community and putting forth effort to strengthen bonds to make something better, not worse. The benefits of change will always outweigh the costs that come with it. Accepting change within a community opens new doors for better understandings, better outcomes, and better ways of living. Though change may be better than none, it should always be kept in mind that some customs and some traditions are not wished to be altered. Some customs are felt by the community to be important to follow. Though these traditions may be different among communities, customs that are not changed should never be analyzed wrongly by communities with different beliefs. Each community should be respected and their customs and traditions respected as well.

Works Cited

Bellah, Robert et al., eds. “Community, Commitment, and Individuality.” Literacies. 2nd ed.
New York: Norton, 2001. 65-74. Print.

Kingston, Maxine Hong. “No Name Woman.” Literacies. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2001. 323 333. Print.

Scheper-Hughes, Nancy. “The Anthropological Looking Glass.” Literacies. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2001. 575-597. Print.