10/26/17; Lesson 07: Response to “Culture and Psychology”

Professor Ivers tells us in his video “Culture and Psychology” that he hopes it will make his students think. His lecture and other information I read on the topic made me think about how people are shaped by their culture and how their culture is shaped by them. Cultural psychology is the study of how psychological and behavioral tendencies are rooted in and embodied in culture.

In Romania, there was a culturally-created shame that caused a low self-esteem. It still exists but in a lesser degree than before. Probably because most people pursue higher education regardless of their talents and, now, it is difficult to find somebody skilled to do things like those mentioned below. I refer to persons who engage in vocational education: carpenters, plumbers, electricians, mechanic (repairing cars), seamstresses, cook, etc. 

I always considered those persons as gifted, talented persons. It requires talent and hard work to be a good seamstress or cook or to embrace any other vocational career. At personal relationship level, those persons were appreciated because they helped with solving so much needed issues, but the society in general did not show appreciation for them. Also their salaries were very low. The situation changed step by step in the last 27 years. Now, many of them have their own businesses with two or more employees.

Another culturally-created shame causing a low self-esteem is being a housewife, a mother raising children and taking care of her and her husband’s children. Such persons do not have too many rights. If a marriage lasts 30 years, the house in which family lives belongs to husband, and they divorce after those 30 years, the mother finds herself without a shelter. This is why most women in Romania have a job. They want to avoid to get older and to have no pension in difficult times. Some legal steps began to be made towards doing justice to those mothers but there is still a long way to that.

In fact, attitude towards women is discriminatory. According to statistics, women’s wages are 15% lesser than men’s wages. It is more difficult for women, except they are 60/90/60, I refer to their appearance, to find well-paid jobs or just jobs.

It is important for students to understand that we all are equal, that we have gifts and skills that make us unique, that we have to show respect to each other.

Also as a mother and grandmother I tried to instill those concepts in my son and grandchildren.