Firefighter Subculture

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Pages: 7

Firefighters Subculture People have the tendency to confuse the terms culture and subculture because they believe that these two have the same meaning, but in reality they are different from each other. According to Schaeffer (2002), culture can be define as the “totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior. It includes the ideas, values, customs, and artifacts of groups of people” (p. 51). Meanwhile, subculture can be describes as a smaller group that diverges from a larger society due to, their “specific identification[s]” that differentiates them from society’s mainstream (Keirns 2013:67). In other words, a society may have many people who share common culture, but depending with who an individual …show more content…
This paper will focus on how the firefighters have become a subculture by discussing on their history, common misconception, daily task, and how they serve their community. So, in order to explain what differentiates a firefighter from other social institutions and how they contribute to their society it is vital for one to comprehend their beginnings.
THE ORIGIN OF FIREFIRGHTERS
Firefighters have one of the most important jobs in the world due to the risk behind their duty. In order to understand why an individual will volunteer or choose to be a firefighter as a profession, we will discuss on the origin of this occupation. In addition, we will also focus on how it was created and evolved throughout centuries. According to the article “Firefighting in America: Some of the pioneers” by Swichtenberg (2003), the first paid fire department in the Unites States was founded in Cincinnati 1853, but the history of firefighters does not start there. In 1648, the first systematized fire service in the U.S. was established in New Amsterdam, later on known as New York, and it was composed by four fire wardens who were appointed by Director-General Peter
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When the word “Firefighter” is said one will usually picture an individual whose only duty is to extinguish a fire, but that is merely one of many of the duties that a firefighter must accomplish. In reality, firefighters do more than just putting out fires and making noise when they pass through streets with their enormous red truck. Besides saving the lives of citizens within their community and protecting their city from any dangers they also educate people on how to prevent or confront any emergency.
Daily task of a