Culture Shock

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GCSE English

Culture Shock        

1        Definition of Culture

Culture as the most complex terms has countless different definitions ranging from complicated phrases to the simple statement describing culture as "the way we do things around here". The widely used definition of culture is that of Meads (1951), "A body of learned behaviour, a collection of beliefs, habits and traditions, shared by a group of people and successively learned by people who enter the society"(Joynt and Warner, 1996, P. 33). Hofstede(1980) created the very illustrative definition of culture as "the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another". Again to Hofstede’s option, culture is learned not inherited, it is not impossible to learn new cultural traits and to unlearn old ones (Manz, 2003, online). Therefore, it must be feasible to integrate cultural differences.

Culture has significant influence on the behaviour of individuals. In general, a person’s perceptions, attitudes, motivations, values, learning experience and personality are shaped by culture. The importance of culture lies in the fact that it provides the body of knowledge and techniques that enable people to act, both physically and socially, in the world and make sense of the people and around world . (Forester, 2000, p.63)

Culture items ‘above the waterline’ include language, food, festival, clothing and dress, architecture and art. Those ‘’below water line’ are much more numerous and include business ethics, values, morality, facial and body language, male/female relationships, family fidelity, learning style, work motivation and employee loyalty(Forester, 2000, P.64).

It is essential to understand and respect the different element of culture if people have to adapt to working and living in foreign culture. With the rapid process of globalization, the individual’s ability to adapt to new cultures is one of the most important elements of a successful assignment. Hence, anyone working on an international assignment has to be knowledge about the cultural aspects of the environment they are moving to.

2         Definition of Culture Shock

Nowadays there are many definitions for culture shock. The term Culture Shock was first mentioned in literature by Kalvero Oberg in 1960. In his article he defined Culture Shock as follows‘ the distress experienced by the sojourner as a result of losing all the familiar signs and symbols of social interaction’ (Selmar, 1999, P.517). And these signs or cues include the thousand and one ways in which people orient themselves to the situations of daily life. Oberg mentioned at least six aspects of culture shock:

(1) Strain due to the effort required to make necessary psychological adjustments.

(2) A sense of loss and feelings of deprivation in regard to friends, status, profession and possessions.

(3) Being rejected by and/or rejecting members of the new culture.

(4) Confusion in role, role expectations, values, feelings and self-identity.

(5) Surprise, anxiety, even disgust and indignation after becoming aware of cultural differences.

(6) Feelings of impotence due to not being able to cope with the new environment (Selmar, 1999, P.517).

Oberg described cultural shock primarily from psycho-physiological and socio-cultural perspectives. And he argued that people in unfamiliar environment tended to judge visual aspects of culture (like behavior, language, and customs) applying their own values and beliefs is responsible for the culture shock. And his research on culture shock laid a solid foundation for other theoretical studies for culture shock and cross-cultural adjustment.

Many researchers dealt with cross culture topics and found own definitions but most of them are very closely to the definition of culture shock Oberg made in 1960. Scholars such as Black and Solomon also added important contributions to culture shock. Black and Gregersen described culture shock as the stress induced by all the behavioural expectation differences and the accompanying uncertainty with which the individual must cope (Black and Gregersen, 1991, P.74).

Similarly, Solomon defined culture shock as an emotional and psychological reaction to the confusion, ambiguity, value conflicts, and hidden clashes that occur as a result of fundamentally different ways of perceiving the world and interacting socially between cultures: Disequilibrium (Solomon, 1994, P. 58).

In summary, culture shock can be described as the fluctuation of emotions an individual feels immediately when he or she enters a foreign country with a different culture and perhaps even a different language. Almost everybody who stays in abroad experiences the problem of Culture Shock when facing with a foreign culture. But the severance of Culture Shock varies significantly to individuals.

3         Symptoms of Expatriate Culture Shock

It is a well accepted that almost everyone who is on an overseas assignment experiences some form of culture shock. When expatriates first enter a new culture, there is uncertainty about behavior that is considered acceptable or unacceptable. Since culture shock is grounded in uncertainty, when an individual leaves a familiar environment and enters an unfamiliar one, his lack of understanding of the host culture inhibits awareness of what is appropriate or inappropriate behaviour in the new cultural environment. Psychological uncertainty increase as expatriate begin to realize that past behaviours may be inappropriate in the host culture but has not yet learned what behaviours to substitute. It may result in confusion, frustration, tension and depression.

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Expatriates in culture shock display obvious symptoms such as anxiety, depression, helplessness, loneliness, irritability, a longing for a more predictable and gratifying environment, a reluctance to learn the host country language and even lead to psychiatric disorders and dysfunctional behaviour disorder(,1997,online). Table 2 below shows, the symptoms of culture shock expatriates most often experience.

Table 2: Symptoms of culture shock:

Source: Jennifer, W.R., 2003, Developing Intercultural Competences

As a normal process of adjustment to cultural stress, culture shock can appear in a number of guises. Oberg described the typical symptoms of culture shock as follows: "excessive washing of the hands; excessive ...

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Culture Shock
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    English
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