Are people a product of their environment?

Question

People spend so much energy hating on people from the "ghetto" for being drug dealers, gang bangers, thieves, etc. People look down on people who work at sleezy stipclubs or prostitute themselves. Poor people hate rich people for being stuck up, and rich people look down on poor people for not being able to make anything out of themselves as they did. But is it that people, in the general, not always, but in the general, are a product of enviroment. If a kid grows up in a ruff part of the inner city and becomes a drug dealer, is it because he is bad or because its all he knows and he's trying to make it in the world? Or is that all a lie? There are stories of kids comming from nothing and becoming something...taking the higher road and not giving in too what seems to be their destined fate. If a childs enviroment is better, would they generally become a better adult? And do people really take that into consideration when they are judging all these "parasites on society" so harsh

Answer 1

you know what, that is a very good question. i don't know for sure, but i think people can change there destiny but are too afraid to do it. most people are conformists and try to be just like everybody they know, they are pressured to become a snotty rich guy, or a drug dealer, or whatever. i think a child's school is the only thing that can influence their development into a better adult, because of the conformist factor. people will always try to be like their friends, who the befriend is who they will become.

Answer 2

I agree with you partially. If an underpriviliged child becomes a drug dealer, it is partly because he started out behind everyone else. But he also made that choice himself. There are welathy kids who, though they start off better, still push harder than everyone else, proving they should be where they are. If he had tried harder it would have been possible for him to not end up being a drug dealer, but he didn't. Sure there are the kids who do try and it just doesn't work out, and those are the truly sad cases.
There are rich kids who think because they are rich they don't have to try. They go to school and fail everything, but end up in the AP and AA classes because Daddy has a big wallet. But the kids who do that are the kids who use that money to throw wild parties, to get drunk and high. Even if they don't quite end up where they deserve to be, they come pretty close.

Answer 3

Human beings are shaped and influenced by far more then just environment,while it is true,that many are influenced the wrong way due to their environment,so much else relies upon the other external and internal dialogues that person was raised upon.Some people have a way to escape the outside world and not become a product of it,while others lack such coping skills.Peer pressure,parental influences,and the type of educational and or religious training is also important.Children with a poor educational environment,low self esteem and poor parental supervision are more likely to grow up mal-adjusted then someone from an upper class home with lots of discipline,but there are exceptions to that as well.I do not think its possible to pinpoint.

Answer 4

I would say that your environment can affect your development. Does that mean that it is all? Of course not. To say that the environment was the only factor would mean that we could classify criminals by their geographic point of origin. People can work to achieve more, but often times the factors of their environment do not coagulate in a way that gives them the means to move beyond their situation. Those that can help, should. But it is incumbent on the individuals themselves to find a means to begin the road.
Most folks who find themselves in the kind of 'ghetto' setting, do not attempt to move out by bettering themselves, and working hard to change. They instead try to find the easy path, which is most often crime of one sort or another.
Even if they did not choose to become a criminal, they end up with a depressed outlook on life and simply quit trying, or they demand that society provide them with the means to ladder up. Thus they become a burden in multiple ways, by never really working to rise, they simply take handouts and drain society.
While the attitudes that most people have towards these people can be legitimate, it is equally important that they strive to over come their prejudice, and adopt a higher standard.

Answer 5

Mostly. Genetics provides a sort of uncrossable 'boundary' of development within which our environment (upbringing, society, personal experiences, etc.) does the fine tuning. So, environment is probably one of the biggest factors in why a person ends up being who they are.

One thing you have to take into consideration, however, is the fact that the environment sometimes sends conflicting messages. Two people growing up in the same neighborhood may be (for one reason or another) more receptive to different messages, leading one to go to college and the other to rob banks. Although environment is important, it is certainly not a fatalistic determinant of behavior.

Answer 6

Most people are the product of their enviroment.
No child grew up and said: "When I grow up I want to strap on a bomb and blow people up"
In an effort to survive in a harsh world we do what we have to do to survive. I see many kids make something of themselves when given a chance. Others never get that chance and end up in jail. Hungry, cold, alone they steal to get something to eat.
they are not really bad they are just poor.

Answer 7

People are not products of the environment, if only for the simple fact that it would require circular reasoning. for instance, if people are the product of the environment, who is the environment? Other people. People are what makes an environment safe (at least in America) and happy.

Answer 8

confident. We impression our environment to a definite volume, so we produce what's around us, in a constrained way. We additionally decide for a thank you to react to what the ambience around us sends our way. So it impacts us, in how we act with it and react with it.

Answer 9

it workd both ways.... but the main thing that we need to do is stop judging period.... where do we get off like its our place to judge anyone? we dont know all of peoples circumstances ... what kind of family enviroment they come from none of tht.. but we always put our two cents in dont we

Answer 10

To a small degree they are but it's mostly choice. everyone has a choice to do something with their lives.