American Culture

vs. Ghanaian
Culture
CULTURAL SOCIOLOGY
BY: ELENA CISNEROS

America

Ghana

Gender Roles
Women work outside of home, though
household and child responsibility is still
overwhelmingly the womens responsibility
Men do the real work, such as managerial
roles and firefighting
Women are paid 70 cents to every male dollar
Women do the majority of domestic chores and

nurturing jobs (nursing and teaching)

Women have same formal rights as men (vote,
own property, choose to marry or divorce)
Women dont receive the same social and
economic benefits
More likely to have a sense of
disempowerment and low self-image
Female occupations are valued less than
mens
More likely to live in poverty

Gender roles
o Women normally do domestic and child care roles
o Both genders work on farms
o Traditional craft production is divided by gender
Women make pottery and make food
Men weave, carve, and does metalwork
o Women have control over their own money
o They have their own economic and political powers since they
control their own money and property
Social groups
Royals
Maintain exclusive rights to fill the central offices of
the king and queen mother (for Akan)
Regularly marry commoners
Have umbrellas and staves
Exclusive right to wear kente cloth and consume
imported goods
Slaves
Used by the state for menial work, such as mining
No longer significant

America

Ghana

Marriage, family, kinship

o Marriage
Commonly performed in a church
Marriage in on the decline, statistically
Half of all adults are unmarried
Gay marriage is legal in all states
o Domestic units
Typical family is two parents and their children
Couples are expected to for their own household
separate from their biological families
Immigrant groups have been reported to rely on
extended family networks for support
Among African-American families, adult men are
often absent, so extended kin ties are crucial for
women raising children

Family
o Marriage
Elders arrange the marriages of their dependents
traditionally
People are not allowed to marry within their lineage
Grooms family pays a bride-price
Polygyny is allowed and shows the wealth and power of
the men for supporting more than one wife
Chiefs mark their status by marrying dozens of wives
Children are the most important focus of marriages and
men normally divorce an infertile wife
Divorce is easily obtained
Upon a husbands death, the wife is expected to marry his
brother who assumes responsibility for any children
o Domestic unit
Children remain with their mothers and residential units
(generations of brothers, sisters, and sisters children)
Each spouse remains with their family of origin after
marriage
Men are supposed to provide support funds and the
women cook for their husbands
Nuclear families are becoming more numerous
Sibling bonds are strong

America

o Inheritance
We trace our ancestry/inheritance through maternal and
paternal lines
Surnames are normally adopted through the paternal lines
Women usually adopt the husbands last name upon
marriage
o Kin groups
Ideal family: parents and 2-3 children
Americans distinguish between blood and marriage
relatives
Blood relatives are considered more important
Nuclear family ties are closer than ties among
extended family
Biological kinship in highly important in our
culture
Etiquette
o Loud and effusive to people from other countries
o Americans value emotional and bodily restraint
The permanent smile and unrelenting enthusiasm is
stereotypical of an American
Breast feeding, yawning, and passing gas ins considered
rude
It is impolite to talk about money and age

Ghana

Inheritance
Preference of siblings over children for heirs
and a distinction between family and
individual property
In most cases, property is divided among
wives, children, and matrilineal family
members
Private property can be given through a will
Kin
Localized, corporate lineage groups
A groups owns a block of farmland equally
Etiquette
Place great emphasis on politeness,
hospitality, and formality
Upon meeting, you must ask about each
others health and families after shaking
hands
Visitors must greet and shake hands with
each family member
Friends of the same age and gender hold
hands while walking
Great respect is attached to age and social
status
A young person addresses a senior as father
or mother
It is rude to offer or take an object with the

America

Ghana

Rituals
o World series, super bowl, Disneyland,
Hollywood, grace-land
Death
o Wear black and speak in hushed tones
o Graveyards are solemn and quiet places
Extra
o Leading producer and exporter of scientific
knowledge and technology
Medicine, energy, chemicals, weapons,
technology
o 12% are African Americans
o Majority of crimes are committed by white
males, but people still associate crime with

Hispanic and African- American males

Adae Ceremony
Prayers are made to the ancestors through the medium of carved stools
that they owned in their lifetimes, these are kept in a family stool house
and brought out every 6 weeks when libations are poured and animals
are sacrificed
o Odwira festival
First fruits of the harvest are given to the abosom (priests and
priestesses) and the royal ancestors

Death
o One of the most important events in society marked by elaborate funeral
observances that involve the whole community
o People were traditionally buried beneath the floors of their houses, but this
custom is now practiced only by traditional rulers
o They believe that the soul joins their ancestors in the afterworld and will be
eventually reborn into the same lineage

Extra
o Holidays- New years day, Independence day (March 6), Workers day (May
1), Republic day (July 1), and revolution day (December 31)
o Medical facilities are scarce and predominantly located in large towns and
cities
o Customary treatments for disease focus on supernatural causes and medicinal
plants
o Priests/ priestesses deal with illness through prayer, sacrifice, and herbal
cures

Ethnocentrism
Tendency to look at the world from the perspective of ones own ethnic
culture
Its natural to have pride in their culture, but it is a problem when one
views other cultures as different and inferior
o Belief that ones race or ethnic groups is the most important and that some or
all aspects of its culture is superior to those of other groups

Ex: when people feel culture shock

Ex: in the US, foreigners and immigrants have been referred to as aliens,
and when they dont hold legal status within the country, they are referred
to as illegal aliens

American Exceptionalism
American Exceptionalism
o Refers to the belief that the United States is the hope for humanity based on its unique origins, national credo,
historical evolution, and distinctive political and religious institutions
o Believers validate it by stating that there are many ways the US clearly differs from the European world
when it emerged
US is unique in the way that it was founded on a set of republican ideals, rather than ruling elite, heritage, or ethnicity

o Causes
Puritan ideology had the largest influence on English colonist in the world
Puritan belief system was a cross between strict predestination and a loose protestant theory of Divine
Providence
They believed that God chose them to lead the other nations on earth
American Revolution
First to state that America is more than just a European extension, that they had unlimited potential and that it
had outgrown Europe

LGBT Rights
AMERICA
Ruled unconstitutional for states to
ban same-sex marriages, same-sex
couples can adopt
We have anti-discrimination laws that
focus on medical facilities, housing,
employment
Hate crime laws- cries committed on
the basis of a persons race,
disability, color, religion, sexual
orientation, and gender-identity
We have all-gender/no-gender
bathrooms that benefit trans
genders, families, and nursing
mothers

GHANA
Same-sex sexual activity among
males is illegal
Unsure if it is illegal amongst females

Same-sex couples cant adopt

Police beat and punish people who
are found to be gay
They banned an LGBT rights
conference
In 2011. Paul Aidoo (western region
minister) ordered all gay people in
the west part of the country to be
rounded up and arrested. He also told
landlords and tenants to inform
people they suspect to be gay

Diversity
AMERICA
223.6 million White people (72%)
African-American: 38.9 million (13%)
14.7 million Asian (around 5%)
2.9 million American Indian or
Alaskan native (0.9%)
Hawaiian and Pacific Islander 0.5
million (0.2%)
More than one race 9 million (3%)
16 percent Hispanic or Latino

GHANA
o Akan 47.5%
o Mole- Dagbon 16.6%
o Ewe 13.9%, Ga-Dangme 7.4%
o Gurma 5.7%
o Guang 3.7%,
o Grusi 2.5%
o Mande% 1.2
o Other 1.4%

Subculture- Akan
Basics
Cluster of people living in southern and central Ghana and in the southeastern ivory
coast
They form a series of distinct kingdoms and a common language, Twi
5-6 million
Kingdoms
Akyem, akwamu, akuapem, and Kwahu, Anyi (15 kingdoms), asante, attie (4), Baule (7), and brong

History
Conflicts since the 1800s with colonial powers; such as the Dutch, Portuguese,
Danish, French, and the English
Threats from the Islamic people of the Saharan fringe over monopolies in trade
They have many cultural similarities with the Fon, Edo, and Yoruba

Akan

Economy
o Forest dwellers
o They collect
Yams, cocoyam, sweet potatoes, plantains, and trees
Gold
Livestock
Trade is a main part of their life
Weave cotton and silk
Make wood carvings
Family
o All Akan groups recognize matrilineal descent
o Clan , basic group, is made up of 8 people
o Made up of lineages and are grouped together based on power and wealth
o Although they recognize matrilineal descent, men still have most authority within the clan
o Divorce is easy and can be initiated by men or women