跨文化大论文

Comparison of Values between China and America in Cross culture Communication Discussion on Collectivism and Individualism Abstracts Collectivism and Individualism are two different ethical values developed from different cultures In the former the interests goals and achievements of the collective are strongly stressed rather than the individual s personal beliefs come after the common beliefs willingness to show concerns for other people and to co operate with others is highly thought of In the latter personal interests happiness and achievements are fully emphasized things such as independence equality freedom privacy and democracy are cherished Analysis on American individualism and Chinese collectivism can not only reveal the essence of the two cultures and the roots of the critical problems encountered by the two societies but also help us understand more about American and Chinese societies and cultures to avoid cultural clash more effectively Key words cross cultural communication cultural value collectivism individulism 1 Introduction Recently there is a wave of globalization due to factors including mass access to internet globalization of industry and expansion of educational exchanges and so on New technologies growth of the world s population and shift in the global economic area have all contributed to the increase in cross cultural communication Therefore cross cultural communication has become indispensable today Collectivism and individualism actually act as shapers of society and affect social interactions and communications As the principles underlying individualism and collectivism between the West and East are entirely different the communication patterns and styles between the two sides are also entirely different A lack of awareness and misinformation are the causes of many cross cultural conflicts Therefore an understanding of the individualism or collectivism of another culture helps to predict the behaviors of people from it and then enable people to decide and adjust their approach to ensure a successful intercultural communication 2 The Overview of cross cultural communication Several factors help to contribute to the development of intercultural communication The first is the rapid expansion of worldwide communication especially the advancement of communication networks It is possible to communicate with people in another country with seconds Secondly communication satellites sophisticated television transmission equipment and the World Wide Web allow people throughout the world to share the ideas and information at the same time Several factors help to contribute to the development of intercultural communication The first especially the advancement of communication Thirdly due to the shrinking of time and space human beings have become aware of the global village nations have realized that they should work together to solve some problems or confront the common disasters Lastly the international and domestic changes have brought people into direct and indirect contract with people who because of cultural diversity often behave in ways that they do not understand In the foreign language education circle more and more teachers and students have strong desire to promote their international communication competence that the development of international communication has been enhanced 3 Cultural Values Hofstede s Value Dimensions Theory Hofstede is one of the earliest scholars who deployed extensive statistical data on examining cultural values Hofstede further developed his earlier theory on cultural values into the four value dimensions theory For testifying his four value dimensions theory Hofstede surveyed thousands upon thousands of workers in multinational organizations among fifty countries and three regions Through careful observations and analyses Hofstede drew a table to present his major findings and arranged the countries and religions in an order from one to fifty according to the features of the four value dimensions individualism uncertainty avoidance power distance masculinity femininity long term short term orientation as measurement 4 Chinese Collectivism and American Individualism 4 1 Chinese Collectivism Collectivism is characterized by a rigid social framework that distinguishes between in groups and out groups People count on their in group relatives clans and organizations to look after them and in exchange for that they believe they owe absolute loyalty to the group Triandis offers an excellent summary of this situation collectivism means greater emphasis on a the views needs and goals of the in group rather than oneself b social norms and duty defined by the in group rather than behavior to get pleasure c beliefs shared with in group rather than beliefs that distinguish self from in group d great readiness to cooperate with in group members Triandis 1990 52 This definition subsumes ideas such as high interdependence interpersonal sensitivity conformity readiness to be influenced by others mutual sympathy self sacrifice for in group members and external control The emphasis is on the in group i e a group of people who influence an individual s behavior so that the individual chooses the goals of this group or subjugates his or personal goals to theirs Other orientation is the extension of collectivism orientation which behaves like this when a Chinese wants to do something he will firstly take others viewpoint into consideration This results in Chinese face saving and doing something not in accordance with one s social status is considered losing the face It is the habit of people not to offend others even at a cost of telling a lie As professor Yang Guoshu said traditional Chinese paid attention to neither the accordance of behavior and thought nor the order of them but the ability to play to the score Yang 1989 4 2 American Individualism The origin of American individualism can be traced back to the beginning years of its history when first American immigrants came to the North American continent looking for better life and shaking off the yoke of European feudal tradition and the oppression from all kinds of powerful classes It is determined that elements of anti yoke and searching for freedom should be the American people s character This was the original explanation of American individualism Those early immigrants who came to this continent in order to escape from all kinds of suppression on the European continent planted the seeds of equality and free thoughts After that immigrants in every section of American history took these two principles as their common goal It is no exaggeration to say that the 300 years of American history was the process of redefining the equality and freedom And these two aspects have the tightest link with Individualism Individualists thought for themselves judged for themselves and made decisions for themselves They lived by their own lifestyles Anything violating these rights could be considered morally wrong and a blasphemy again the God They considered that Egoism was a kind of concept that one only thinks about himself with crazy love for himself in front of everything But Individualism as they advocated was a kind of calm feeling that made every independent citizen live above others and live together with their families or friends who agreed with them where the small community came from Egoism was extreme individualism In American society different people have different understanding of Individualism Most American believed that it is self reliance self improvement self expression the forces to personal success and social development Benjamin Franklin was the successful representative of Individualism in the early American history Benjamin Franklin who was born very poor gained his success through his hard working which was considered the only way to wealth at that time 5 Conclusion The United States and China stand on almost opposite ends of the continuum of individualism and collectivism and respectively represent Western and Eastern values We can not directly assert that America is an absolute individualistic society and without change in individualism of America there is team spirit and we cannot say that China is an absolute collectivistic society because under the influence of western culture there is also privacy in China recently Although there are significant differences in Chinese and American cultures and these differences constitute a key reason behind the two countries disagreement on series of questions the two countries have important common interests in many fields which decide that they should have mutual cooperation instead of conflict The important thing is to promote mutual understanding through contact and dialogue so as to reduce disagreements and expand common ground The author of this thesis sincerely hopes that China and America may increase cultural communication and cooperation and the two people may walk hand in hand into a bright future Based on Hosfstede s individualism collectivism theory through a comparative study I select collectivism and individualism of two