Cultural Patterns in Sydney, Australia
Cultural patterns are a system of social beliefs and values that work hand in hand to provide an intelligible perspective for observing the world. From the previous observations done in Sydney Australia, we can comfortably have a clear analysis and interpretation of the noticeable cultural patterns there. This report covers in-depth scrutiny on the ways of life amongst Australians and tends to answer the critical questions of why these individuals live in the manner that they do and also bring to light an understanding of the cultural phenomenon enjoyed by the society.
Diverse Cultural Patterns in Australia
From the field report conducted, I got to learn first-hand the diverse cultural patterns in Australia and I was lucky to attend several events that gave me a deeper form of understanding of their events. During my time in Australia, I had a keen eye for the different cultural patterns from the preferred Australian cuisines, their administrative structures to their ethnic groupings. My focus during this cultural field study was mainly centered around Sydney, the capital of Australia. This served me quite some valuable information since it is a capital city it houses almost all types (ethnically and class) of individuals and hence represent the country fairly in a nutshell.
Influences of the West on Australian Culture
To begin with, most of the cultural practices in and about Australia are overly influenced by the west and hence creating a consolidation of different cultural identities. Australia has within it, most of its population being migrants from the United Kingdom and despite the fact that they have been independent for quite a good number of years, there is a noticeable influence in their daily undertakings. In as much as they are criticized for clinging to other peoples' cultures, it is important to note that the natives of Australia, the Aborigines (Crowder, 2014).
Fusion Cuisine and National Insignias
The chefs based in Australia are globally acknowledged for their fine 'fusion cuisine' which involves a fine blend of European cooking traits and Asian spices and products. This is as a result of the great influence Europe has had on them for the reason that after colonization, almost all foods consumed except seafood were introduced by the Europeans (Dragovich, 2015). Currently, some of the foods consumed are acknowledged as national insignias, including milo, vegemite, damper, and Anzac biscuits. For instance, the Chinese noodle restaurant in China town where they serve a whole range of delicacies despite their label 'Chinese'. Almost all restaurants in Australia have on their menus, the 'Australian meals'.
Australian Symbols and National Consciousness
The Australian society has with it a number of symbolic acts beginning from the flag representation to other nitty-gritty. The various symbols on the flag and their national anthem have all been valuable in the establishment of a national consciousness especially from the changes in the national anthem from "God save the Queen" to "Advance Australia fair" in the bid to embrace their unique self and mitigate their colonial legacy. It is important to remember that most of their national activities are quite similar to those of their colonial masters, the Britons, and it is from them that they get all these influences from (Driscoll, 2017). Extremely rare animal and plant species are found in Australia, and it is where they cultivate their sense of eccentricity, especially from the kangaroos, Dingos, and Koalas, which are Australian symbols.
Australian Ethnicity and Language
Ethnicity around Australia is quite a complex web with a majority of the citizens Europeans at 60%, where a whopping 55% of the 60% being British (Scottish, English, or Irish). Regardless of these statistics, a larger population (34%) considers themselves part of the Australian ancestry, yet the real indigenous only cover 3% of the whole population. The native group originally spoke about three hundred languages with close to six hundred dialects; they also originated from five hundred tribes yet currently, most of the Australians speak English with another 66% of them not even speaking a second language. This was evident because almost all the people I spoke to on the streets are fluent English speakers and have no knowledge of a second language (Kenny, 2015).
Social Stratification and Class Divisions
The social stratification is quite evident, especially with the presence of three types of classes that include; the social, middle, and upper class where the upper class takes up around 5% and are the wealthiest. However, the diversity is less noticeable when one looks at the issue from the perspective of personal dressing and cars driven since the middle class from well-off backgrounds tend to mask their status with the clothing as well as the youth who tend to follow up with current trends, though one can get the best analysis by being keen on patterns of dialogue, eating patterns in entertainment events and arts, involvement in specific sports too may be valuable indicators of the social status (Kerin, 2014). This was evident around Sydney where one could differentiate the classes from the various events in different hotels I was in to.
Gender Roles and Division of Labor
Division of labor in relation to gender involves women being more engaged in the private space, which entails housework and mostly the unpaid jobs. The men, on the other hand, get involved in the public space with most of the paid jobs going their way (Lowish, 2016). Mostly women remain underrepresented in almost all spheres of life (political, social, religious, and economic spheres). This began way back during colonization by the Briton, and it has taken root from then till date, in as much as women keep fighting for a larger representation, by 1995, women representation in all government positions was around 20% (Malcolm, 2018).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the common denominator that has shaped Australia to its current form is the great influence from Britain, its colonizer. It is also important to note that Australia has tried tremendously to create a foundation based on their indigenous nature.
References
Crowder, G. (2014). Culture and diversity. Australian public policy, 133-150. doi:10.1332/policypress/9781447312673.003.0008
Dragovich, D. (2015). Desert: nature and culture. Australian Geographer, 46(1), 131-133. doi:10.1080/00049182.2014.986785
Driscoll, B. (2017). Contemporary Australian Literary Culture. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.013.153
Kenny, R. (2015). Inside Australian Culture: Legacies of Enlightenment Values. Australian Historical Studies, 46(3), 485-486. doi:10.1080/1031461x.2015.1078938
Kerin, R. (2014). Witnessing Australian Stories: History, Testimony and Memory in Contemporary Culture. Australian Historical Studies, 45(3), 469-469. doi:10.1080/1031461x.2014.946580
Lowish, S. (2016). Tiwi: art/history/culture. Journal of Australian Studies, 40(1), 122-123. doi:10.1080/14443058.2016.1127127
Malcolm, I. G. (2018). Australian Aboriginal English and Links With Culture. The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, 1-7. doi:10.1002/9781118784235.eelt0306
