Gary Althen is recognized as a foreign student adviser at the University of Iowa for many years. Althen has written several books which are based on his experiences while living in Peru and Malaysia. Althen has also presented his extensive with students, immigrants, and other visitors to the United States.
This article is one of the chapters of Althen's book 'American Ways! A guide for foreigners in the United States. It was published in 2003 and it was the second edition by Gary Althen.
In this article, the writer has described more about intercultural communication, especially about American values and Assumptions.
According to Althen, people having different cultures have their particular values and assumptions.
They do not share in the same way because they have different cultural backgrounds. Thus, culture can be defined as a collection of values and assumptions that go together to shape the way a group of people perceives and relates to the world around them.
The writer has basically focused on American culture and the behaviors of American people how they are living and how they are doing in their life in this article.
He emphasizes/praises that American people are equipped with a good culture due to which they are more successful and progressive
than any other people of the world. This shows that there is bias in the mind of the writer however he worked with many foreign students in the United States
According to Gary Althen, American values and assumptions can be best described with the help of these points.
1. Individualism: American people believe in individualism. They learn to be responsible right from an early age in life. They find their destinies by themselves not by their family, or religious group. tribe, nation, and so on. They treat the children accordingly.
Regarding individualism, this story is worth mentioning. Once the writer had been in a queue to buy orange Julius at the local shopping mall (like Kathmandu Mall). There was a woman with her two children just behind him.
The children were respectively three and five years old boy and a girl. In the meantime, the boy asked his mother to buy Orange Julius for him. Then his mother denied it and told him that he didn't have enough money for orange Julius. If this was the case in the Nepalese context, a Nepali woman would buy it for her lovely son. It shows that in American Society people learn to be individualistic from an early age. For them being dependent on others is necessarily to be weak and trapped.
There is not any kind of imposed either by the government or by any other external force. They prefer an atmosphere of freedom in doing anything they like to do. They are self-centered. Thus, they believe in individualism to be successful, self-reliant, independent, and stand out from the crowd and they are the best of all.
2. Competition: According to Gray Althen, Americans are "real competitors". They compete naturally without any kind of unfair games. They praise other's work and learn to do it in the same or another way without any back-biting or something like that. It is also obvious in schools and extra-curricular activities for children, where games and contests are assumed to be desirable and beneficial. Americans think that consistently making comparisons is less important for them. They try to maintain their superiority differently than that of the others.
3. Privacy: Privacy plays a significant role in American culture because they assume that people "need some time to themselves" or "some time alone" to think about things or recover their spent psychological energy. They don't like people to be with other people. They think such people are weak and dependent. But Americans keep their houses, yards, and offices open and inviting to others.
The development of a career is limited to one's wish in American society which essentially varies with other societies.
Canalis Acting Althen Americans think that "All the ideal dependence Albeugh there is of quality in their daily lives, particularly in matters of racial relationships and sometimes relationships song dom &fferent social classes
Americans have deep faith that is some fundamental w people Amor are of equal value. No one is bom spe anyone the "One person, one vote". They say conveying the dest person's opinion is as valid and worthy of attention as any other Ameans dislike if there are opinions that believe that all men are red-blooded. They are equal in the sense that there is no status difference
4. Informality: Americans are quite informal in their general behavior their relationships with other people are simple, clients, may introduce themselves by their first names and treat customers in a casual and friendly manner. Whatever occupation they taste higher post or lower post, they are informal to each other. For example, the president and the street sweeper while communicating reciprocate each other's first names. They are people with informal speech, dress, and body language.
They are very informal which is also proved by the fact that U.S. President George W. Bush allowed himself to be photographed many times.
They make informal utterances like "Hi!", How are you doin? etc. casually to extend communication without any superiority complexes They think that all men are created equal, unlike other countries.
5. The Future, Change, and Progress: Americans are generally less concerned about history and traditions than are people from old societies. "History doesn't matter," they say. The future counts them a lot, so they look ahead. According to them, what happens in the future is within their control. A mature, sensible person sets goals for the future and works systematically towards them.
'Change' is a necessary element for the improvement of them.
They also believe that 'new things are better than old things. They assume that they can bring desirable changes in the future in the field of the physical and social environment.
They are progressive in the sense they don't like to turn back in doing anything. Americans have great desires like reaching the moon rather than believing in god and fatalism (believing in luck).
Their feeling is that the future is in their hands. So they don't like people having less desire.
The following points will make the concept more clear. Americans don't cry over spilled milk.
They highlight the importance of the future.
Past never comes. (Let the past he passedi Present is your actual time to enjoy the Future (darkness if you make it) in your hand
History is nothing but it is the future that takes high account.
They look ahead since they are progressive.
New/Noble things are better than old things.
They are progressive, not regressive.
In short, with the motion of time, Americans did something noble/new that helped them to draft a new history in the world.
6. Time: Americans take 'time' as a resource similar to water or coal which can be used well or poorly. They compare time with money. They also prefer making the best use of time wisely. They admire the one who is "well-organized" and has a tight schedule to do something.
They are very punctual and see the same thing with others. They are oriented to benefit not any kind of loss. Americans changed society by developing infrastructures.
With the change of time they fought and made a revolution. Later, they started to think that "time is money". To discuss it to the point, we can say that time is a valuable thing for them.
"Time is money' for them.
Time waits for none. The present is the outcome of the past and the future is the outcome of the present.
+ It is time which admire a person.
7. Punctuality: It means doing the right thing at the right time. You may get so much time in this life, but you would better make the best use of it. Americans admire the one who is a 'well-organized person in terms of time. They need actual time to get to the office, meals, bed, and outings. Americans think of those who are least bothered by time as automation and inhuman creatures who are so tired of time (clocks). Thus, they are little machines running around.
9. Achievement Action, Work, and Materialism: Americans are directed towards achievement. Accordingly, they act and work. Finally, they get eternity. They fix everything on time and do it with all efforts to achieve the fruit. Their actions and works are concerned with the particular aim they made earlier. They do hard work to meet the fruit after a long rigorous effort.
They learn such good behavior from others as well. After all, they become independent as they feel he is a hard worker, she gets the job done, etc.
Americans work harder than the writer expects them to Americans work harder because they are from a developed country and all family, persons are self-dependent.
They believe and respect others' work and direct their activities
to be successful • All Americans think/ believe that "Not a work is small",
10. Directness and Assertiveness: Americans are generally direct about what they think and what they want from other people. They assume that conflicts or disagreements are addressed using discussion among the people involved. frank, open
On the other hand, Americans commonly use the term assertive to describe the person who plainly and directly expresses feelings and is different than request.
The way of doing anything by Americans is that of the Asians. Asians are not like Americans to have strong that of responses to something. Thus Americans however, are often less direct and open than they realize. There are still many restrictions on their willingness to discuss things openly.
In short, it is not unusual for them to try to avoid direct confrontations with other people when they are not confident that the interaction can be carried out in a constructive way that will result in an acceptable compromise.
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