LECTURE 4. A cultural clash is defined as the conflict that occurs between two or more cul­tures when they disagree about a certain value

· Cultural Clash

· Culture shock

· Stereotypes

A cultural clash is defined as the conflict that occurs between two or more cul­tures when they disagree about a certain value. A cultural clash may involve strongly held values, such as those concerning religion.

An example of a cultural clash is the "live animal market" in Hong Kong, Singapore, San Francisco, and other cities with a large population of Chinese people. The live market is typically a street of small stalls where live snakes, monkeys, dogs, and other delicacies that are used as ingredients in Chinese cooking are sold. These traditional dishes have been prized for cen­turies by Chinese people. They believe that these dishes must be prepared with fresh ingredients. The businesspeople who manage the stalls in the live market say that their jobs depend on being allowed to sell live animals.

The Chinese perceive the public criticism of the live market as an attack on their culture. They resist the efforts of animal rights activists, such as the Humane Society, who claim that the monkeys, turtles, dogs, snakes, and other animals should not be sold for cooking purposes. Animal rights people appeal to public sympathy—imagining one's pet being sold for food. They also work to convince municipal authorities to ban the live market on the basis of its lack of cleanliness and because of cruelty to animals (such as ripping the shells off of live turtles). In certain cases, animal rights protesters have invaded a live market to smash the cages and to free the animals, birds, and snakes. In San Francisco in 1996, activists claimed that the creatures were kept in cramped, filthy quarters in Chinatown's live market. This protest led the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare in San Francisco to recommend to the city gov­ernment that the live market be outlawed, but the issue remained unresolved. The underlying conflict over the live market traces to a clash of values, in this case the value of animals as creatures entitled to certain rights versus the value of animals as food.

Another example of a cultural clash is provided by Hall and Noguchi (1993). These scholars analyzed the killing of 1,000 dolphins by Japanese fisherman on the island of Iki. Their catch had declined, and the fishermen blamed it on the dolphins, called iruka (gangster or villain). They perceived themselves as warriors fighting off unwelcome invaders—the dolphins that they trapped in drift-nets that stretched for miles in the ocean.

Western conservationists perceived dolphins as intelligent, friendly mam­mals that have a special affinity for humans. They called the drift-nets a "wall of death" and protested against the actions of the Japanese fishermen. Some activists traveled to Iki Island in order to free dolphins trapped on the beaches. After lengthy negotiations, the Japanese government eventually agreed to halt the mass killing of dolphins in 1991. How do Hall and Noguchi explain this cultural clash? ‘Dolphin' and 'iruka' have a common referent; however, the meanings involved were so different that each community's common sense demanded divergent and seemingly incompatible actions.

Cultural clashes occur frequently in cities, such as Miami, that are com­posed of a large number of ethnic groups. For example, Suni Muslims immi­grated from the Middle East and Pakistan in the 1950s. These people have maintained their culture over the several decades of living in North Miami, resisting assimilation into the dominant general culture. This cultural main­tenance of the Suni Muslims, however, frequently leads to intergenerational cultural clash between youth and their parents. This conflict may center on the degree of individual freedom allowed young women. For example, a four­teen-year-old asked her parents for permission to go to a shopping mall with her friends. They refused because of the Suni Muslim value that unmarried women should not be seen in public unless accompanied by parents or older brothers. The adolescent daughter insisted on going to the mall, so her par­ents chained her to her bed (Steinfatt & Christophel, 1996).

All societies lament the differences they encounter in others. Europeans have complained that the United States' past has little relevance to the ex­perience of societies elsewhere on earth. The French have long believed that their culture is infinitely exportable and their history of worldwide sig­nificance. While North Americans tout their democracy, the French pro­claim their civilization. The global attitudes of both nations are similarly grandiose.

Many nations characterize a cultural difference such as the killing of one's sister for adultery as an uncivilized deviation from cultural norms. Differences as extreme as this example signal very fundamental differences in cultural patterns. In non-Westernized Arab settings the sister is a sacred link between families, and culture justifies such an act as preserving the cen­tral family institution, without which the society would perish or be radi­cally altered. Without accepting, condoning, or participating in practices unacceptable to our own cultures, understanding a different practice none­theless aids in intercultural communication. It is true, however, that signi­ficant and fundamental cultural differences make communication difficult at best and, on some points, impossible.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11