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The Way Humans Think About the World Around Them Is the Result of the Cultural and Social Influences Upon Them

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Humans have a strong need to classify the world around them, this is influenced by the lack of understanding some people hold of the world and wish to make clearer, mainly through social and cultural issues, in this essay I will delve into these said issues and attempt to bring about an understanding and solidarity to the reasons behind these results for 'the way humans think about the world around them'.

Classification is a process that is done universally by all societies and cultures in which people give/find meaning to what they don't understand, although all societies and cultures inhabit this process not all classify the same as the other; most societies exhibit diversity through their cultural influences so the actions of one culture/society may seem strange or irrational to other group, E.g. (Azande) Witchcraft, Evans-Pritchard studied the Azande peoples are their view on society and their culture, he found that they explained various misfortunes though the cause of witchcraft, he saw this as irrational when measured against science; he couldn't see things from their perspectives and had a rose-tinted view when studying the Azande culture, however he failed to recognise the similarities between witchcraft and science; both these are belief systems (Cosmologies) they both have people putting faith in a (witch) doctor.
Cultural influences, even though most anthropologists try to give meaning to culture, are only abstract reality conducted though social constructs put in place to give humans; meanings, understanding and rank in the world, culture directs human behaviour in that people follow what they learn/ have been taught much more than the instinct given. Structural anthropologists such like Durkheim and Mauss believe in external structures; a belief that society makes people ready for the external world found outside our consciousness and creates the

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