【Flyer杀G作文组】1月18日Issue208

wagner1985UID: 2838595

ISSUE   NO.208

"The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people."



For a long time, dress, act or lifestyles in some times have been regarded as the important variables which have been researched by many humanism scholars, cultural anthropologists, philosophers etc. Some schools try to find out the functions of different customs and habits so as to understand the certain culture of a nation. Clearly, researching the way people look dress and act is not far from this steam of methodology. Are these factors the most important aspects which could reveal the thought and attitudes and interests? Probably not.

Not all the appearances and behavioral phenonmenons are related to the thought of a nation at a time. After all, before the Age of Colonization and World Trade, most of the nations in the world could only make use of the resources which they have. So what they dress is no more than what they could weave. In other words, actually, they are not the peoples in the nowadays who have so many options that “fashion” have become part of the life. And they have no more thought when facing the scarcity.
The same problem can be found in analyzing the behavior of people. In the time which the productivity of humankind was at very low level, perhaps most of the social members have no more activities than laboring. How could we imagine a slave-owned society, the majority of the member have the liberty to think themselves or make their own choice on dresses or actions? The deed of people may largely reflect the will of the one or several rulers. In these cases, the appearance and behavior is by no means a wonderful indicator of the society’s ideas and values.
Nor can we neglect the appearance and behavior in a certain time can be influenced by many factors, besides the ideas and values, for example, now. We are living in a time of globalization which brought us into the whirl of the variety of enjoyments. Lifestyles (definitely contains the dress and behavior) have become more similar in general. The fashion designers around the world could share their inspiration with the help of the Internet. Realizing the fashion of other side of the world is no longer a difficult task. Therefore, if we stand in the street of Beijing, we may not distinguish the difference between what people dressed here or in Tokyo or in New York. But do they really have no difference in thought? Of course, they have. In Brazil, teenagers may wear Nike and still go to Catholic Church every week. Still, every nation has their own deep-rooted believes and ideology. And in turn, the appearance and behavior may reflect more.
The appearance and behavior may be a good indicator of the ideas and values. But to thoroughly understand society, we cannot only rely on these points. After all, what these factors reflect become complicated and we have to learn more from other sides.