Cultural Norms

A detailed Summary of Cultural Norms

Cultural Norms In Relation To States' Laws

An interesting point to ponder is the extent to which cultural norms and laws play a part in the formation of states. Are states merely that-cultural norms and laws and the effects of these two concepts? To fully understand this issue we must look at a study on the formation of states and then test this theory by looking into the gender issues of marital infidelity, labor, and how property laws differ according to gender in relation to different cultures.

According to Smith's book modern states, or states formed after the 1850s, are divided into two categories. One category is the Territorial Nation (mostly Western countries) and the other category is the Ethnic Nation (mostly Eastern coutries). The purpose and scope of this paper will focus on Smith's definition of the Territorial Nation. Smith defines the Territorial nation/state as a state that has geographically bounded areas, it has citizenship, and to keep the state functional it must have some sort of legality and a sense of common culture. The idea of having a geographically bounded area is self-explanatory in that it means that the state must have some sort of set boundaries that separate it from other nation/states a

nd that help to maintain the inclusions of the state's people. Citizenship, though, relates to the solidarity of the people in their political and social participation in the workings of the state. In conjunction to boundaries and citizenship a state must have laws and a common culture to ensure not only its formation but its success as well. According to Smith a true nation/state is a combiantion of common culture and laws. How much these two (culture and laws) interact is a question better answered by studying the gender issues of marital infidelity, labor and how property laws differ because of gender.

In Sylvia Arrom's article, "Changes in Mexican Family Law in the Nineteenth Century," even when women were given more legal claim over their property the reasoning behind it was not necessarily for more women's rights but for more financial freedom for the State and to represent the freedom from colonial rule (Arrom, 91). It is true that Mexican Civil codes gave single and widowed women more freedom but married women's rights still mirrored that of the Mapuche culture and the laws of colonialism. Similar to the women discused in When A Flower is Reborn, married women's property under Mexican Civil Law was still tied up with the husband and women still needed their husband's "permission for most of her legal acts (Arrom, 92)." Arrom's explanation for the fact that married women's rights remained the same before and after colonialism highlights the directs correlation between cultural norms and laws. Her explanation states that rights did not change for women "because the equality of husbands and wives was incompa

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Approximate Word count = 1101
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous