A Sociological Comparison: „United States of America“ and „Deutschland“

1. A Sociological Comparison:„United States of America“ and„Deutschland“

2. What will you learn? • Cultural differences and stereotypes. • How people interact with each other? • What do people expect? • How a country perceives itself and other countries. • Important facts about USA and Germany. • Learn about two German sociologists. • See the three social perspectives:- Social Conflict- Structural Functional- Symbolic Interaction

3. In General • Of course it is always hard to generalize.Definitely there are true aspects to every culture and every stereotype has its true point. • In my presentation I will compare the differences between two strong but distinct societies „America“ and „Germany“. • Talking about „average“ is also more true regarding to „The Germans“.

4. Stereotypes

5. Facts

6. Two Important German Sociologists Karl Marx (1818-1883) Perspective: Conflict Communism Max Weber (1864-1920) Perspective: Conflict Capitalism • Critique of capitalism • Struggle between 2 social classes in control over „means of production“ • bourgeoisie • proletariat • Social status dependent on control over material resources and respect to legitimate authority • Group gain power through ability to organize to accomplish back by maximizing their available resourced

7. Social Conflict

8. Government USA Germany Representative Democracy The US uses the majority system throughout, meaning that voters get to decide between several candidates, and a candidate needs more than 50% of the votes in order to win Democracy Germany uses a mixture of proportional and majority systems in order to ensure that the proportion of parliamentary seats a party receives is exactly the same as the proportion of voters favoring that party (if that proportion is bigger than 5%) while also allowing for local representation. The German system gives more power to the parties, since they can decide which candidates to place on the list from which the parliamentarians will later be drawn.

9. Economy USA Germany Capitalist The individual performance drives the economy. Money rules the world!Rags to riches belief, anyone can become successful! Minimal government interference. Socialist The social market economy (German: “Soziale Marktwirtschaft”) The German mixed economic model relies on private enterprises and the government., regulation to establish fair competition, maintaining a balance between a high rate of economic growth, low inflation, low levels of unemployment, good working conditions, social welfare, and public services, by using state intervention.[

10. Social Conflict Views society as a constant struggle for power and resources “life is a competition for power + resources”

11. Social Conflict

12. Structural Functional

13. Freedom/Security Freedom Security For “The Americans“ it is very important to have freedom and feel free. A very good example is using the “right to bear arms” (to have a gun) mentioned in the constitution. For “The Germans“ to feel secure is the most important. If Americans see the police they feel safe, if German see police they know that s.th. happened.

14. Gesellschaft/Gemeinschaft USA Germany A community, often urban, that is larger and more impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values. The idea of „Gesellschaft“ is lived in the US. Individuals is #1! A close-knit community, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds unite members. The idea of „Gemeinschaft“ is lived in Germany. Group is #1! Germans are interested in the common „good“.

15. Bureaucracya component of format organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency. USA Germany very user-friendly (easy tax-forms) inefficient universally hated treat people like customers user is not welcome: impolite extremely efficient universally feared treat people as a nuisance

16. Optimism/Security USA Germany Americans are very optimistic. Baby showers are celebrated months before birth in order to receive a lot of gifts. Birthday wishes given before actual birthday is very common. Birthday is not so important. Germans need security. Never have a baby shower before the baby is born, bad luck! The same with birthday wishes. To say it earlier brings bad luck. It does not matter if the person will turn 80 or 8 years old.

17. Structural Functional views society as a machine whose parts must be working together “Thinking of society as a living organism in which each part of the organism contributes to its survival in a reflection.”

18. Structural Functional

19. Structural Functional

20. Symbolic Interaction

21. Nationalism USA Germany Flag and pledging the flag is very important This is done every where and every day in school. You can see the American flag everywhere and it seems that „The Americans“ are really proud of it. The American flag is very popular also on clothes and accessories. „The Americans“ know their pledge by heart. Flag and nationalism is not so import because of a “dark spot in German history. After the Soccer World Cup 2006 the German flag was suddenly visible everywhere. To love Germany means to love the history but of course history needs to be treated with a special sense because of some dark sides. Soldiers wear uniform with the German flag. „The Germans“ have a hard time to remember „die Nationalhymne“.

22. Wedding Ring USA Germany Americans wear the wedding band on the left hand side because it is closer to the heart. Germans wear their weeding band on the right hand side because of Roman Catholic religious origin (dexter) to be on the righteous hand of God.

23. Eating Habits USA Germany You use knife and fork Precut everything Eat with fork in the right hand and have the left hand on the lap under the table. You use knife and fork Cut while you are eating Eat with knife and fork at the same time and have to have the hand on the table.*(*This comes form the old times in order to show that you do not have a weapon in your hand under the table – still valid nowadays).

24. Language USto know German „wissen“ and „kennen“ one word in English two words in German for to know „wissen“to know a fact „kennen“to be familiar with For Germans it is more important to be specific. Saphir Whorf HypothesisThe idea that the language a person uses shapes his or her perception or reality and therefore his or her thoughts and actions.

25. Symbolic Interaction Views society as the sum of all personal interactions based on the interpretation of meaning • Communication is symbolic not exactYou don’t know what people think • Sum of personal interactions based on the interpretation of meaning .

26. Symbolic Interaction