A cross-cultural qualitative study of Babies

Today, we watched the 2010 documentary, Babies.  Here is the guide that I handed out.


Building off our last lesson, we saw that:

• Culture is made up of material and non-material culture.
• The components of non-material culture include: norms, language, symbols and values.
• These components shape individuals in ways they don’t notice, especially their opportunities and obstacles (life chances).
• Cultural components that remain steady over time can create stability and continuity within a culture.

As you watch the documentary Babies, use your sociological imagination to think about how individuals might be shaped by the culture they are born into. To explore this, we will do a qualitative study of sorts by exploring the culture that babies are born into and how culture shapes a baby from the moment they are born. Fortunately, the data has been collected for us already. We will use the data gathered from the 2010 documentary Babies as an existing source to do a cross-cultural study of how babies are affected by their nurture.




About the documentary Babies (2010):
From the producer,

The adventure of a lifetime begins...Directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomas Balm`es, from an original idea by producer Alain Chabat, Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world - from birth to first steps. The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in the United States, in San Francisco.  Re-defining the nonfiction art form, Babies joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all. 

The movie is rated PG, however, there are scenes of babies breastfeeding. If you have an issue with this, please let me know.
Babies and their birth country:
Ponijao Namibia
Bayarjargal Mongolia
Mari Japan
Hattie United States

As you watch, look for:
Cultural universals (cultural components found all over the world). If all humans exhibit these, they might be considered human nature.

Cultural differences. What are the ways that these babies are influenced differently by their culture (socialization)? These differences if they are external and socially constructed by society, they are considered human nurture.