Culture Shock: A Condition of Cultural Transplantation

1. Culture Shock:A Condition of Cultural Transplantation Carl Fulton & Patrick DeWitt Soc 100 Professor Troxell August 12, 2009

2. Culture Shock: What Is It? • A temporary feeling of frustration and anxiety. • Culture Shock is caused by the stress that accompanies being suddenly transplanted to a new and culturally different area. • With sudden transplantation (being moved) to a new & culturally different location, the affected may lose some independence. • Culture Shock causes anxiety, and anxiety further complicates the condition.

3. Culture Shock: What Is It? (Cont’d) • “No matter how broad-minded or full of good will he may be, a series of props have been knocked from under him. This is followed by a feeling of frustration and anxiety.” – (Dr. Kalervo Oberg, n.d.) • This may result in rejection of the environment which causes discomfort • The environment is instinctively perceived as bad because it makes the subjected person feel bad. • Temporary. Although rare, there are some who cannot live abroad.

4. What is Culture? • Acquired by all of us while growing up. • Involuntary. • When to shake hands. • What to say when meeting people. • Involuntary social cues that govern when and how we react. • There is nothing genetic that dictates cultural elements, such as using chopsticks, understanding specific languages, or wanting to drive on the right side of the road: • These are learned responses of the culture, which is a product of history, not genetics. • Numerous people of many different cultures experience “ethnocentrism”. (Oberg, n.d.).

5. Honeymoon Stage • May last from a few days or weeks to 6 months. • Period of infatuation with the new. • “Tourist” may stay in hotels, try new foods/restaurants, and actively enjoy the new setting. • In awe of new culture. • Higher social status & the more resources a person has, the longer this stage may last. • Honeymoon stage ends when a person has to adaptively cope with the realities of life in a new setting, and maladaptations/ cultural differences make independence frustrating & difficult.

6. Culture Shock Stage • Follows the Honeymoon period. Period of growing hostility that arises from genuine difficulties. • “There is maid trouble, school trouble, language trouble, house trouble, transportation trouble, shopping trouble, and the fact that people in the host country are largely indifferent to all these troubles.” (Dr. Kalervo Oberg, n.d.) . • Stress results, and further complicates condition creating more hostility. With hostility comes indifference and intolerance from locals, which may create more stress: • Stress  Maladaptation  Creates Increased Stress  Increased Maladaptation. • Locals may attempt to help, but do not completely understand the difficulties of culture shock. This lack of understanding may make locals appear to be insensitive & unsympathetic, which adds to the hostility of the person in culture shock.

7. Symptoms of Culture Shock • Stereotypes & Dysfunctional Coping. Developing negative & simplistic view. • Feeling what is new & strange must be “dirty”. • Fearing physical contact with residents. • Fear of being robbed. • Excessive desire to be back “home”… Homesickness. • Desire to seek company of those with the same culture that the person can relate to. • Stress/Frustration; may be out of proportion to the problem at hand. • Delay and/or refusal to learn language of the host country. • Confusion, loneliness, anger, feeling overwhelmed & misunderstood. (Velazquez, 2009). • Trouble concentrating (Dakhari & Kingsley, 2006).

8. Stereotypes & Dysfunctional Coping • Stereotyping is a dysfunctional coping mechanism: • Helps a person cope immediately at the time, but does not help with adaptation. • Develops negative and simplistic views of the new culture. (Dakhari & Kingsley, 2006). • Stereotyping may “salve the ego” (Oberg, n.d.). • Hate, stress & frustration, and refusal to participate in activities or learn the new language only contribute to stress and frustration and the inability to cope. • “(The) second stage of culture shock is in a sense a crisis in the disease. If you overcome it you stay, if not, you leave before you reach the stage of a nervous breakdown.” (Oberg, n.d.).

9. Final Adjustments to Culture Shock • Adjustment comes with knowledge and learned adaptation. • Begins to grasp elements of the culture and some of the language. • Person becomes operable in new environment, although there are occasional periods of strain. • Humor resurfaces, and the person may begin to joke about the new culture or his/her personal struggle. • Not only will the person accept the new culture & elements thereof, but he/she may even begin to enjoy it. • Once the recovery from culture shock is made, if the person leaves the new culture, he or she will (generally) miss it.

10. References • Dakhari, J.O., & Kingsley, R.S. (Eds.). (2006). Culture Shock. Obtained August 11, 2009, from The Nemours Foundation: http://kidshealth.org/PageManager.jsp?dn=studenthealthzone &lic=180&cat_id=20313&article_set=51180&ps=604 • Oberg, K. (n.d.). “Culture Shock & The Problem Of Adjustment To New Cultural Environments”. From Worldwide Classroom: Consortium for International Education & Multicultural Studies. Obtained August 10, 2009, from: http://www.worldwide.edu/travel_planner/culture_shock.html • Velazquez, L. (2009). Stages of Culture Shock. Obtained August 11, 2009, From: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Stages_of_Culture_Shock.html