SOSC 1140 Midterm: Lee Essay

• School: York University
• Department: Social Science
• Course: SOSC 1140
• Professor: Cameron Johnston

Document Summary

2017-2018 sosc 1140 9. 0 self, culture, and society: critical perspectives. In her article individual autonomy and social structure , anthropologist dorothy lee discusses what she thinks is the key social problem in our (western) society; the conflict between social structure and individual autonomy. Individual autonomy is one"s freedom to make one"s own decisions without conforming to society and societal norms. Social structure refers to interactions between humans in society. Lee uses a number of societies such as the navaho. Indians, the wintu indians, the sikh society and the chinese culture to show how the principle of personal autonomy is supported by the cultural framework (lee, 5). These societies differ from our western society because these non-western societies promote full independence from the time a child is born. The key social problem that dorothy lee is discussing as mentioned above is the disagreement that takes place between a societies structure and a person"s independence.