Cultural D ifferences, C ulture S hock

1. Cultural Differences,Culture Shock Orientation Meeting Strečno 20. 9. 2008

2. ... OR What every exchange student should know about culture before his stay abroad

3. The best preparation is to understand the concept of culture and the idea of cultural differences

4. What is culture? • learned behavior, not hereditary or genetic • Culture is the acquired knowledge (not instinctual) that groups use in order to • interpret the world around them • generate social behavior • judge the behavior of others

5. What is culture? • everything that is not a part of nature • Tree – part of nature • Chair – invention and manifestation of culture • Buildings, architecture

6. Communication • Communication, particularly language, is the foundation ofculture. Language labels, creates,maintains, and transforms culture.

7. Language • Language is not only the way culture is transmitted • It is one of the lenses through which culture is created

8. What is culture? • An integrated system of learned behavior patterns that are characteristic of any given society or group • It refers to the total way of life, including how people think, feel and behave

9. Metaphorically, culture is the LENS, through which we see the world

10. Think of these„cultural lens“ as the ability to see the world colorful or colorless

11. Think of color-blindness(inability to see different colors) asculture-blindness

16. Ethnocentrism • The universal tendency for any culture to see its own values and practices as natural and correct • The Mediterranean Sea • “China” means “middle earth” • In Ecuador, the monument at the equator is roughly translated as “The middle of the world”

17. Ethnorelativism • The acquired ability to see many values, beliefs and behaviors as cultural rather than universal

18. Developing Intercultural Sensitivity The Experience of Difference Acceptance Adaptation Integration Denial Defense Minimization Ethnocentric stages Ethnorelative stages

19. Developing cultural sensitivity and competence requires moving fromEthnocentrismtoEthnorelativism

20. Defensiveness • Recognizing a cultural practice as different, but • Labeling it wrong or inferior • Or, by labeling one’s own practice superior

21. Our own culture or sub-culture comes to us naturally and unconsciously • Ex: Our handedness • We generally don’t think about what hand we will use to write our names • Changing our cultural point of viewis about as hard as changing our handedness • Both are possible, but neither is easy

22. Cultural differences • Easily noticed differences • Language • Food • Clothing • Deeper differences • Values • Thinking patterns

23. The Cultural iceberg Conscious behaviors 1/8th above the surface Unconscious beliefs and values 7/8ths below the surface

24. Individualism Group Orientation Formality Informality Past Future Directness Indirectness Change Permanence

25. Change Permanence

26. Example: development of music players (walkman, discman, iPod) Individualism Group orientation

27. Individualism Western cultures Change Permanence Eastern cultures Group orientation

28. Culture shock • The profound sense of disorientation and discomfort that comes with extended travel or living in a foreign culture markedly different from one’s own

29. Stages of Culture Shock • Initial excitement • Irritability and negativeness • . • .

30. „ Some travelers want to go to foreign places but are dismayed when the places turn out actually to be foreign.“Canadian author Margaret Atwood

31. Stages of Culture Shock • Initial excitement • Irritability and negativeness • Gradual adaptation • Biculturalism

32. Culture Shock Cycle Months Pre- departure 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Return... Normal level of feelings Adapted from a model by: Robert Kohls

33. Reverse Culture Shock • Initial Euphoria (may be very brief or not happen at all) • Irritability and Negativism (may be very lengthy) • Gradual Adaptation • True Bi-Culturalism

34. Culture Shock and Reverse Culture Shock are not just unpleasant side effects of international living.They are the necessary ingredients that bring about quality exchanges.

35. „Inbound Syndrome“ • Universal tendency of foreigners to group together, regardless their country of origin • They become a sub-culture and being foreigners is what they have in common

36. „ When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own peoplecomfortable.“Clifton Fadiman

37. First you need to know your owncultural values

38. Slovak cultureCzech culture

39. Advantages? • personality • biculturalism • further education • employment • your life

40. Finding help • To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. Chinese Proverb • Problems connected with culture shock can be helped by those, who have such experience (rebounds) or who know about the problem (YEO in your club) • Your parents can’t give you good advice unless they have lived in a different culture for a longer period of time

41. Prepared by: Ivan Polák, Rotex Slovensko, 2007 From the original: Dennis White, Ph.D., WI, USA Presented at: 2007 USA Canada YE Network Conference, www.yeoresources.org