Culture Case

The image "fish/fishes" above shows the different culture between Asian and Western. The differences between Asian and Western cultures can be quite broad in many aspects. Anyone can see the big differences in art, music, history, religion, but the differences go beyond these big domains they come to one simple thing: How they think and how the others think. Researchers investigate how the self and culture continually create each other. People are shaped by culture as they engage with these patterns of meanings and practices, ways of doing everyday life. They also shape the culture in the course of behaving, in the course of talking to other people, in the course of acting, in the course of making products and putting them into the world. Human nature and the ways of being human, ways of being a person, the ways of having a mind are tied to the patterning of those social worlds that you are a part of. This process is called shaping and being shaped mutual constitution. We can see it clearly in another example about families of the two cultures. It's very different. Family is extremely important in Asian cultures with much importance being placed on the elderly members of the family. The elderly are much revered in Asian society and it needs to be said that we don't show the same respect to the elderly in Western culture. You will find generations living together, creating their own little networks that care for and after one another. Money and earnings are pooled together for the betterment of the whole family, not just the individual like in Western. Decisions are made as a family, taking into account family values and support. In the Asian culture, individual family members are interdependent. Family pride is of utmost importance in Asia. Children strive hard to please their parents and bring respect and admiration to the family name. They do this by hard work in the home through chores and service and by strict attention to their education. In a whole, the Western cultures tend to be more individualist while the Asian cultures focus more on the group as a whole. A Westerner asks, "What's in it for me," the Asian asks, "How will my actions affect the group. Will my action bring honor or shame to my family, community, or country?"

Thus, there are many differences between Asian and Western cultures that we can learn a lot from each other. These differences should not be used as a dividing line between the two cultures, they can be used for dialog and hopefully will lead to greater understanding and partnership between them.