ABSTRACT
The comparative method of analysis fosters critical thinking skills by expanding our definitions of normality. The essence of culture has to do with transmitting a lifestyle from one generation to the next generation through a process of socialization. The range of cultural diversity seems nearly infinite, but the United Nations (UN) estimates the number of distinct cultures at 10,000 and warns that many are being marginalized or eliminated in the rush toward modernization, as “many countries try to artificially fuse different ethnic groups into one cohesive nation by submerging cultural differences.” Robust forces enmesh members of a culture to the point where they consider their ways of handling life’s tasks as normality itself. Forms of symbolic communication other than language represent another element of culture, from popular film images, to traffic signs, to the lyrics of popular music. Sociology and anthropology both examine society’s social structure and culture’s social content.
