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The US: An Open Society?

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The solution is a discussion of the US as an Open System Society.

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The solution is a 1,442 APA-format essay that explains and discusses what makes the US an Open society from an anthropological and sociological viewpoint discussing variables and elements like culture, social class as well as religion and ethnicity. References are listed. A word version is attached for easy printing.

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The US Society: An Open System

In the natural sciences, experiments and studies take comfort in the fact that whatever field of study and specialization it is, every variable can be accounted for. Scientists (biologists, chemists, physicist, mathematicians, etc.) in the natural sciences are always 'removed' from their subjects of study, putting forth theories and hypothesis from said fields of study comforted by the fact that any experiment done can be recreated and revalidated via induction or deduction as long as all procedures be followed at exactly the same conditions. This is what they call a closed system - a system where all variables can be identified and accounted for ensuring that their effects and properties are measured and analysed according to their effect on the final results. Unlike natural scientists, social scientists (including anthropologists) are subject to an open system. Why is this? The social world is an open system - not all variables can be accounted for in a social scientific study. Plus, the social scientist is never removed from his subject of study being part of his subject of study - the social scientist after all is a human being, part of a family, a social group and a culture. His socialization, his preferences, his experience and culture will serve to influence his own views of his subject of study making all results of a social scientific study subject to interpretation and question. What then makes a social scientific study 'scientific'? The scientific method, as long as it is applied in framing a research or inquiry makes it scientific as results can be validated or retested following specific methods of study - quantitative or qualitative. In the case of anthropology, qualitative studies like immersive ethnography for example seeks for patterns in a studied culture by capturing and recording as much details about a subject as possible. The messier the details, the better the study is. If an anthropologist for example studies a 'foreign tribe' and said anthropologist is educated in the West with his own cultural ...

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