Culture vs. Science

This week I was struck most by this idea that cultural values override scientifically proven facts. Not necessarily all of the time, but in a nation with incredible access to scientific data that may clearly prescribe a certain behavior as "better"than what is culturally prescribed, culture still seems to beat out science more often than not.

For example, infant care in America: traditionally, infants sleep separately from adults, are fed on a schedule (not necessarily when they are hungry or want to be fed), and are formula fed instead of breastfed. Many Americans consider public breastfeeding, in particular, to be taboo. In order to avoid public breastfeeding, mothers oftentimes supplement with formula when in public or completely forgo the mammalian tradition of breastfeeding by using only formula. As Elizabeth D. Whitaker describes in her writing on Ancient Bodies, Modern Customs, and Our Health, "Common infant feeding practices in Western societies, such as timed, widely spaced meals, early weaning, pacifier use, and isolated infant sleep with few or no nighttime feedings, are very new and rare in human history, and do not reflect 'natural' needs or optimal behaviors, as is commonly presumed." Many of these culturally accepted practices are derived from the American obsession with independence. We think that "indulging" a young infant when she cries may cause her to become overly dependent on her parents or caretaker. However, imposing our individualistic values on an infant is unrealistic at best and potentially abusive at worst. Whitaker describes the benefits of traditional practices like on-demand feeding, constant physical contact between mother and infant, co-sleeping with infants, and breastfeeding's superiority to formula feeding, all of which also happen to align with scientifically prescribed childcare strategies. Contrary to American beliefs, which revolve around how to properly instill a sense of independence in children, infant well-being is closely tied to infant-parent proximity and having near-constant access to breastfeeding.

After reading about how Western society's infant-care practices are relatively incongruent with what has historically and scientifically been proven to work best, I have (somewhat frustratingly) found that cultural practices rule, no matter how much other evidence might suggest that our cultural practices are wrong (or maybe just not ideal). It is hard to break the cultural cycle that perpetuates our value of independence and our societal taboos on natural practices like breastfeeding. I don't know if there will ever be a time when scientific facts are valued equally to culture and tradition, but it would certainly be an interesting time to live in.