Culture Shock We know the world through a shared understanding of what is real and "natural". This socially constructed reality is a taken-for-granted reality. When we are confronted with a radically different reality, it can be a shocking experience. Sociologists use the term culture shock to refer to the way socially constructed reality can impact our mental and physical states. An anthropologist by the name of Napoleon Chagnon traveled 3 days up the Orinoco River in …showed first 75 words of 678 total…

…showed last 75 words of 678 total…result of kinship and marriage patterns--they come from the largest kinship groups within the village. They can, by their personal wit, wisdom, and charisma, become autocrats but most of them are largely "greaters" among equals. They, too, must clear gardens, plant crops, collect wild foods, and hunt. They are simultaneously peacemakers and valiant warriors. Peacemaking often requires the threat or actual use of force, and most headmen have an acquired reputation for being waiteri: fierce.