The Anti ­ Vaccination Movement - 1487 Words

During the course of this paper, I hope to demonstrate my grasp on applied anthropology (changing human behavior through the usage and understanding of anthropological concepts and ideas)(textbook pg 38), and value free philosophy (the aversion of personal viewpoints interjected)(page 44) to argue in the favor of criminal charges for citizens that do not choose to vaccinate, a subject of medical anthropology as it concerns culture and its effect on health, (page 12). I will be operating from the specialized role of an impact assessor, who measures the effect of a particular policy or program on people and the consequences of that policy as it affects those people and those around them, (page 40). As the impact assessor, I will be†¦show more content†¦As we can see from this infographic, (3), there is a demonstrable effect of the movement. This would classify as an innovation (page 23) that has reached the extent of global diffusion. The particular method of diffusion (the sp reading from one culture, idea, or behavior pattern to another) that anti ­vaccination would take is selectivity (whenever cultures clash and parts of culture aren’t transferred by the exchange), (page 319). This would be best demonstrated to describe the branching of the paths away from knowledge of the situation. If we accept the functionalist theories asserted by Brown and Malinowski of universal functions (every part of a culture served an intended role), and functional unity (that a culture is an integrated whole composed of smaller parts)(page 65), and the outbreaks that we see in the infographic, (3), then it becomes apparent that the decision not to vaccinate could fit the definition of a dysfunction (which is an idea that causes stress or imbalance in the greater culture that it exists within, (page 66). If we take the theory of a â€Å"culture of poverty†, (page 339), that certain cultures are underdeveloped due to the passing of cultural tradition from one generation to the next. Belief systems are an inherently passed trait from one generation to the next as seen in Bandura’s study of social learning