One noticeable cultural difference between the society pictured in this chapter and our American society seems to be a collectivist ideology. In America we value the individual and place emphasis on distinction from the group. This causes a strong sense of competition, and leads people to take actions that would benefit themselves in spite of negative effects that may trickle to other members of the community. The culture pictured in our reading, however, seems to place greater value on family and community goals rather than the needs or wants of specific individuals. There are several examples of this in chapter 4. One of the first can be found in the opening paragraph. Mr. Liu had betrothed his daughter to P’u Sung-Ling and when rumors …show more content…
The negative experience of P’u Sung-Ling and his wife found on page 78 is a result of this cultural difference. In America we would think it very odd for several brothers and their wives to all reside in the same house along with mom and dad. However, in this culture we are reading about, it is normal and benefits the family as well as the community. This way of doing things seems to provide more protection as well as more stability in carrying out the duties required to run an estate. The entire family is dependent on each other. In America however, it may be seen as shameful to be dependent on the rest of your family. We encourage individual success and doing things on one’s own. Finally, I believe an example can be found in the law about killing “three persons in one family” (98). Why is this viewed as the most serious crime in the legal code? I believe it stems from the collectivist mindset. If one kills three persons from the same family they are doing more than committing murder, they are endangering the continuation of a family line or livelihood. From a collectivist mindset which views the family unit as more important than any one individual, this would be a very serious crime. And we see from this reading that it is the “most serious (crime) in the legal code” …show more content…
Both Collectivism and Individualism have their positive and negative points. Individualistic societies can leave people susceptible to loneliness. Collectivist societies can lead people to fear rejection in unhealthy ways. Placed in the perspective of the larger context of being an agrarian society, the many natural disasters that had happened, and the general lack of power in the government to protect, it seems very natural to me that collectivism would seem appropriate, with or without a confucian underlying worldview. As for lack of trust for officials, how could we judge that to be wrong or bad? I believe that we would all act in similar ways if we were living in the type of atmosphere described in this
From the beginning of Wang Lung’s marriage to O-lan, she saved him time, money, and effort without complaint. She offered wisdom when asked and was smart in the ways of the world. During the famine, when the family went south in search of food, O-lan taught her children how to beg for food, “dug the small green weeds, dandelions, and shepherds purse that thrust up feeble new leaves”(p. 128). She raised her children prudently. She knew how to bind her daughter’s feet, and she gave them a better childhood than she had had. O-lan knew that the land was the only consistent thing in her life, so she willingly helped Wang Lung as he bought more and more land. O-lan knew her place in the family was as a wife and mother. As a wife, she fe...
Since these traditions have become apparent through centuries they are customary and have a tendency to lack individualism, as the group among which a person lives is seen as more important over the individual. In many parts of the world today, you can examine such cultures and see the ways that individuals offer themselves to family and community life.
However, as an adult Lim Hue-lieng removed himself from the Lim household and created his own life separate from his family. Then only to become part of his father’s house once again, he agreed to marry Lim A-pou (Wolf 50). They had two children together, but their relationship was formal at best. He hardly spent time with his wife (Wolf 51). Instead, he formed a relationship with his mistress and second wife, Lim So-lan. In Lim Hue-lieng’s instance, the tradition, although upheld, was not respected since he spent more time with Lim So-lan. His marriage to his foster sister hardly interested him and did not affect his life as much as his marriage to Lim his second
In today’s society, Cultural diversity in the United States of America can be seen in all aspects of life, such as in the media, workplace, household, and schools. Cultural diversity is defined as the characteristic of diverse cultures, as contradicting to monoculture, as in a homogenization of cultures, affiliated to cultural decay. In this present stage America, most individuals inaccurately use phrases such as “American culture,” or “Western culture,” as if such common and standardized cultures exist. People, in general, neglect to acknowledge the presence of cultural diversity, and cultural differences within the American society.
In “Habits Of The Heart” Bellah et al write that “they attempt to follow Tocqueville and call it individualism”. This they say is the first language in which Americans tend to think about their lives, values independence and self-reliance above all else (Viii). Americans separate work, family and community, when in fact, these worlds must be combined. We are hiding in such "lifestyle enclaves," our isolated existence limits our ability to relate ourselves to a broader community. The virtue of community interaction lies in its ability to provide meaning to the frustrating mechanisms of politics and combat the "inevitable loneliness of the separate self" (Bellah et. al., 190).
Love marriages often collapse, that is a fact. Similarly, even the best-planned arranged marriages can also falter, turning into abysmal failures. Consequently, it is difficult not to conclude that Yu-i and Hsii Chih-mo were incompatible from the start. While the author portrays Hsii as passionate, she shows Yu-i as the contrary: a dutiful and practical Chinese wife, taught and trained under the Confucian precepts of obedience she chooses to forgo and live a life she could call her own. Similarly, being Chinese-American, Pang-Mei, the author and Yu-i’s grandniece, lives between two waters. She feels torn, just like her great-aunt, between the ideals she was raised on, and the modern western values. Under that perspective Bound Feet and Western Dress presents a juxtaposition between the figures of the two women where their apparent differences are in, in fact, likenesses that depict the lives of modern Chinese women, struggling to get rid of their, real and
However, this “ladder of success” was not as simple as it seemed. First of all, the class of both families will be a huge barrier. We are not even talking about freedom to love here, there is no such thing in late imperial China. Although we can’t say that love doesn’t exist even in such systems, such as Shen Fu and Chen Yun, but most marriages are not about love. Rather, it was about exchange of values. For example, when two families want to become business partners, the parents of the family will have their son and daughter married, so the two families will have closer bonding which made the business much easier. In this sense, we can see that the couple is simply a tool. In the same sense, the families which has not much “values” can only have marriages with the same class of families. Meaning for a women to climb up the ladder of success is not quite possible as the class of her family is a huge deciding factor for marriage in the
When you think about family, what is the first thing that comes to mind? If you only thought about your parents or close relatives, then you may have been caught in an “individual vs. family” paradox. Nearly every culture considers family important, but “many Americans have never even met all of their cousins” (Holmes & Holmes, 2002, p. 19). We say we are family oriented, but not caring to meet all of our extended family seems to contradict that. Individual freedoms, accomplishments, and goals are all American ideals that push the idea of individualism.
Cunningham, Lawrence S., and John J. . Reich. Culture and Values. 7th ed. Vol. 1. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2006. Print.
In addition to Ying-Ying St. Clair, Lindo Jong and An-Mei Hsu both have their bad marriages. After going through this, the last thing they want is for their daughters to have to face the same challenges. In the mothers’ eyes, the least they can do is lend some of their Chinese insight to aid their American daughters.
“Individualistic cultures, in the western-hemisphere, [such as the United States,] emphasize… personal identity and self-determination. Conformity is far less pervasive in individualistic societies because democratic choices and laissez-faire viewpoints are somewhat considered.”
In the journal,"The Impact of Chinese Cultures on a Marital Relationship", shows an example of a Chinese arranged marriage with negative impacts. The wife is treated as if she is a servant. "Treat me like a nanny."(Scharff 2). Her husband doesn't see her as a wife, he sees her as a worker. The wife needed to produce babies for the husband. "I needed to have a child for him."(Scharff 8). This marriage clearly represents how women were negatively
The next communication gap concerns with the individualism- collectivism dimension, which is the degree an individual is integrated into groups in a society (Hofstede, 2001). Individualistic cultures like the U.S put a strong emphasis on individual autonomy and independence, whereas collectivist cultures like Vietnam believe in belonging, obligation
In the diverse world in which we live, each country has its own identity and culture. In fact, a culture has its own languages, traditions, customs and social particularities. We can therefore assume that the relationships between individuals change from culture to culture because of cultural distinctions such as impressionism and individualism. Indeed, in a collectivist culture, individuals see themselves as a part of a group, while in an individualist culture individuals are independents from the community. Therefore explaining the differences between a collectivist and an individualist culture with the examples of the United States and the Ivory Coast can help any sociology class student to understand how
In the end, what we learn from this article is very realistic and logical. Furthermore, it is supported with real-life examples. Culture is ordinary, each individual has it, and it is both individual and common. It’s a result of both traditional values and an individual effort. Therefore, trying to fit it into certain sharp-edged models would be wrong.