With every culture comes traditions, ideas, and beliefs that are their own. Tattoos play an important role in many cultures. Every culture has its own methods of tattooing, the types of tattoos they receive, and what the tattoos symbolize. It is clear that people from one culture will view tattoos from another culture differently than tattoos worn within their own culture. When comparing tattoos between Russian prison inmates and everyday North American tattoos, several similarities and differences can be seen.
North American and Russian prison tattoos are similar in many ways in regards to what motivates them to obtain them. One major similarity is that tattooing is a means of signifying identity. Inmates living in the Russian prison system as well as North Americans receive tattoos in order to be identified as a member of a certain group. Russian prison inmates can have coded tattoo designs such as cathedrals, stars, eyes, and skulls that serve as symbols, each with their own meaning, which nonmembers do not understand. These coded tattoos are used to form commitments and are a way to bond with people within the group. This reason also serves as a motivation for people in North America.
Another similarity when comparing these two cultures is that tattoos serve as memorials or represent a specific, important event in their life. For example, in North America, a person may obtain a tattoo of a lost loved one to honor their memory. If a tattoo of a rose is seen on a prison inmate this indicates that the inmate turned eighteen (a significant birth date too many) while incarcerated (“Russian prison tattoos”).
Other parallels that these two cultures share concerning tattoos are physical endurance, rebellion, and self-expression. It can be thought that the more tattoos a person has, the greater their physical endurance and ability to tolerate pain, thus communicating