American Culture Through the Eyes of Foreigners - Admission/Application Essay Example

U.S. Culture Paper Interviewees: For an interview I chose 2 American-born and one Chinese-born respondents including two females and one male Shanshan, 25 years, born in China, works in real estate industries, years in U.S. - 8; 2. Matthew, 20, American-born, a student, years in U.S. - 20; 3. Janine, 21, American-born (in a family of Mexican descent), a student, years in U.S. - 21. For many foreigners, American culture may seem peculiar and even shocking when looked at for the first time. Most people outside America tend to think stereotypically associating this multifaceted country with Coca Cola, McDonalds, baseball, Hollywood, bid cars and country houses. However, this view is too superficial – once we move these images imposed by consumer culture, we will see a kind of peculiar cultural DNA that distinguishes America from other countries, though American culture is a product of influence of a variety of national cultures. On its way of development, American culture experienced profound impact of British, German, Italy and many African cultures as the immigrants from these countries brought their cultures into the U.S. It isn’t even surprising that American culture is often referred to as a melting pot as a great number of cultures are blended and mixed together here to create a special authentic combination. Thus, American culture with its peculiarities might sometimes be unusual and surprising for foreigners (like me) finding plenty of differences in comparison to their native cultures. As it turns out, USA culture is highly individualistic, religious, oriented on future and dominated by social class structure of the society. Moreover, many other aspects of American life as cuisine and the strategies used in communication might be unusual for the representatives of other cultures and especially for those of Eastern cultures. For instance, the point upon which foreigners get confused most frequently is “how-are-you?” greeting – though it sounds like a question, it is actually a formality that doesn’t require a detailed answer and thus is often misunderstood by non-Americans. However, there are several cultural peculiarities that, to my thinking, are the most remarkable, and they will be described below. Individualism What seems to be the most remarkable feature and the most profound difference between the Western American and the Eastern Chinese culture is the general orientation of the culture. American culture is highly individualistic, whereas Chinese are characterized by collectivism. Individualism as a cultural feature implies placing an individual’s ambitions higher than needs of the society. This doesn’t mean that interests of the society are completely neglected, but Americans tend to attach most efforts for achieving their own goals – and my interviewees have confirmed this thought stating that personal actualization is one of the highest priorities for them. At the same time, for the Chinese, this seems to be rather unconventional as our culture is based on collectivist ethical views. Shanshan, the interviewee of Chinese descent, who has been living in the U.S. since her college years, stated that this individualism was one of the most striking differences. Moreover, individualist approach in America also includes the rules for maintaining personal space – Americans highly value their personal space. The acceptable distances between an individual and his/her partners are also defined and vary from about 18 inches for very close friends and family members to 12 feet for formal interactions. Thus, the American-born interviewees conformed to feel more comfortable when having a lot of “elbow room” around. This is the peculiarity that might puzzle Chinese as members of collectivist culture where such unspoken rules don’t exist. Shanshan stated that she experienced some difficulties because of this tendency when getting used to the new country. However, despite strong concentration of personal actualization, personal good and personal space, American individualism seems to me rather attractive as it offers people much space for creativity and uniqueness – this presupposes development of talents and skills and high achievements in art, career or some other spheres. But – as it was told by Janine - despite individualistic nature, Americans can neglect personal interests for the sake of others – for instance, when natural disasters happen, people tend to help others first instead of saving their property. Social Class and Career The second characteristic feature of American culture is firm concentration on professional career and the social class system. The social class is probably the most culturally influential factor in the U.S. Thus, almost all the relations within the society are guided by the individual’s position within the country’s social class. In general, a social class is defined as a combination of education, income and professional prestige. However, the borders of social classes seem to be rather blurred, though social classes are predominantly determined by the level of income as it also gives an image of a person’s education and professionalism. At the same time, income plays a significant role in healthcare as people with higher income have opportunities to consume healthier food and take care of health. “What do you do?” is nearly the first question Americans ask each other when they first meet. American-born interviewees stated that they attach much importance to their companions’ occupation. Shanshan, instead, first found this priority unusual. Whereas in other countries social status of a person is defined by either family background, ethnicity or religion, American culture places a person’s occupation to the primary position. This means that Americans usually feel more comfortable when being in the company of their social equals (Pre-departure Orientation for Chinese Students). Food Traditions Shanshan complains about shrimps sold already clean from the scales and heads – she states unpeeled shrimps to be better for cooking. Janine says that she adores Mexican food. The interviewees belonging to different cultures proved my assumption on the profound differences between the ways Americans and Chinese eat and cook. The Chinese interviewee also proved to support my opinion about the differences in the ways products are sold: for example, whereas pork is distributed in large amounts in China, its amount in American stores is rather scarce. Generally, American food traditions are the mixture of various national cuisines, and food prepared at home depends much on the cultural heritage of a certain family, for instance, Mexican immigrants tend to mix American and Mexican elements. Food traditions are influenced by immigrants whose cuisines get americanized and included into the wide array of American eating customs. On the other hand, there are food customs that are recognized as authentically American – these are, for example, hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, roasted turkey for the Thanksgiving Day and others. Various types of fast food are considered to be a distinctive feature of American culture and the mass culture originating from America and spreading all over the world. However, the interviewees of American descent stated to consume little fast food because of recognizing the problem of overweight which is unfortunately a kind of “national” problem for the U.S. In the long run, peculiarities of food traditions are, to my mind, a considerable point for a foreigner coming to America as food is what we come across every day. Religion The fourth most distinctive feature of American culture is the rich choice of religions fitting every taste. This probably also one of the reflections of American individualism as the U.S. culture offers everyone to find oneself in any religion he/she wants to. To me, American religious tradition is slightly similar to a kind of a supermarket with a wide choice of goods. Almost all known religions are practiced in America, and this is the evidence of religious freedom policy. About three quarters of American residents identify themselves as Christians, with a half of them being Catholic and a quarter being Protestant. Matthew and Janine, the American-born interviewees, consider themselves religious, though they are rather young. However, only one of them is Catholic. Another one has proved to be an adherent of Judaism which is the second most popular denomination. To add more, I tried to build up my questions about religious affiliations in the most careful and neutral way as I am aware of the fact that American culture doesn’t presuppose direct bold questions concerning topics like religion or sexual orientation. Tolerance Tolerance is last but definitely not least aspect I would like to mention describing American culture. As I’ve seen it, “tolerance” is practically a synonym for “America”, because American culture incorporates so wide diversity of elements from different culture that there cannot be any other way except developing tolerance in the nation’s people. Whereas Chinese tend to be more conservative, Americans offer more liberty and freedom – for example, even being rather progressive in her views, Shahshan is rather skeptical towards sexual minorities; on the other hand, Matthew and Janine reported much tolerance towards homosexual people. The same tendency is dominating concerning ethnicities, religions, appearance and ways of self-actualization. The tendencies coming partially out of tolerance are general friendliness and distancing. Americans tend to express general friendly attitude and have no problem with smiling to a stranger in the street, whereas it is very unusual in China. According to Shanshan, she has never seen a Chinese smiling to her in the street. Furthermore, Americans are unlikely to express dissatisfaction or disapproval in an outright way. Conclusion Having interviewed representatives of both American and Chinese (as foreign) cultures, I am able to draw several rather valuable conclusions about the culture of the U.S. and the way it is perceived by immigrants. First, there is really a great difference between these two cultures, and a representative of a foreign culture should be aware at least of general characteristic features of American culture when going there in order to avoid conflicts and coexist harmonically with American-born residents. Second, most of my assumptions concerning the cultural “landscape” of the United States were proved by the interviewees, including those about tolerance, food and value of personal space. The interview has helped to compare standpoints of American and non-American individuals and, moreover, showed rather objective tendency in the way Americans perceive their own culture (for example, they are aware of the obesity problem growing inside the nation). In the long run, based both on my own experience and those of the interviewees, I have got a rather positive image of American culture which, in fact, explains why this culture is being followed and adopted by different nations. Work Cited: Pre-departure Orientation for Chinese Students. Some General Differences between Chinese and American Cultures, from: http://www.china-nafsa.aief-usa.org/culture/differences.htm Read More