A Look at the Arabic Lifestyle essays

A Look at the Arabic Lifestyle essays Arabic life, in many ways, may seem unorthodox to the average American. But what may seem abnormal to us as Americans are perfectly normal for a member of an Arabic society? This has to do mainly with a culture's social structure. Social structure is the way people have been brought up to do things in everyday life and determines what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior in their society or culture. Through reading this piece on the Arabic world, I now have a basic understanding of their way of life. As we know, to be human is to be social and without social activity, the world would be a very boring and lonely place to inhabit. As Americans, studies have shown that we are very private people. When this privacy is invaded, we become angry or uncomfortable with the situation. In an Arabic society, privacy in public places or the comfort of their home is foreign; in fact, they hate to be alone and will often express this through strong physical contact or invading one's private space. In the States, we are taught to always keep a proper distance between ourselves and others and to avoid physical contact because it is impolite. Naturally, I found these actions to be very strange. But as I read on, I began to understand why they act in this manner. Unlike in American families, where a family member from time to time desires his or her privacy, in Arabic families, there is no such thing as physical privacy. If a member of their family wants privacy, they just stop talking, indicatin g that they want to be alone with their thoughts, or does not want to be intruded upon. In my opinion, this method would never work in an American household, especially in my family. If a member of my family stopped speaking for one reason or another, it would imply that they were angry at another member. So I can see how this can cause conflict if applied to American culture. Another aspect of Arabic life that caught my attention was their behavior in...