Introduction
Cultural values are defined as ideas that are good, right, fair, and just. Children learn these values through different stages of development, from infancy to adulthood. Culture is a way of life, a learned behavior, passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to another and can vary greatly based on nationality, ethnicity, religious values, and beliefs. With increasing globalization, it is paramount that cross-cultural values are understood by educators, healthcare providers, and parents to better understand and address the needs and desires of the next generation.
This literature review will focus on the Chinese/western values and how they play into everyday life such as academic performance and social interactions.
Differences between Chinese and American/western Cultures.
The Chinese culture is known for its authoritarian parenting style. This style is characterized by attempts to shape and control the child according to absolute standards, with a high value of obedience to authoritative figures (Lieber, Fung, Wing-Leung Leung, 2006). Chinese culture also emphasizes in emotional restraint to promote harmony and healthy adjustments, which results in Chinese children being less emotionally expressive than American children. Self-control, or learning how to accept rules, control of emotions and impulses, and tolerance in frustrating social situations are a universal construct, and norms that all children across the world are thought in
When it comes to culture it depends on the state or country that you live in. As we age we teach our children these values and
"The fact is that the large majority of Chinese youth are happy, or at least content. There is no burning desire or excruciating pain being experienced." (Lee) Although not as instantly apparent, many of the values of these cultures are quite similar. Academic achievement, friendship, and family are all important factors in both the United States and in China. Symbols of popularity and prosperity are seen in fashion, automobiles, and homes, even though the traditional styles of such still hold sway, and allow for almost immediate visual distinction between our nation and China.
In discussions about raising children in different cultures between Chinese and Western families, Chinese mothers and Western mothers raise their children differently from each other. Amy Chua, in her essay entitled “How Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” argues that Chinese mothers are extremely more strict and harsh when it comes to parenting their children’s self-esteem while Chinese mothers do not while they assume “strength, not fragility” from their children. She also believes that it is necessary to limit the children in their daily lives in order to achieve greatness and honor to their family. Amy Chua is led to this conclusion due to research and examples of her own life as a Chinese daughter as well. My own view on the issue is that Chinese
There are some common ways in which different cultures express their values. Cultures value different things. Some ignorant people think that this also means all cultures do not have similarities to teach or express values. In “Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern And Western Cultures Tackle Learning” it conveys how a professor recorded how American families talked about intelligence being something people are born with. In contrast, in Eastern families they talked about how hard work brought intelligence (Spiegel). This passage shows extremely different values, but when examined, researchers can see they both were expressed through speech. This discovery is not surprising
In her piece, Chua offers a question which she answers in a couple of ways. Realizing that Chinese and Western societies have different values is fundamental to the differing parenting styles. By listing three reasons that Chinese mothers can get away with behaviors that Western parents cannot, Chua crystallizes the varied cultural values. Her ability to categorize such a
Everyone, every social class and every country have their own unique values. It is the fact that value is the core of cross-culture communication and the differences of culture among countries depend on different values. Value exerts great influence on everyone’s daily life. Scores of people rely on value to obtain knowledge, master the basic skills and foster correct world outlook. China and America are two opposite countries in terms of different values. It exists in many different fields in China and America such as politics, literature and family structure. The essence of these differences actually reflects the cultural differences. The word
Amy Chua, an American lawyer and the author of, “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior”, she explains the differences between Chinese and Western parenting styles and the outcomes of these two mind-sets. She claims that Chinese parents raise their child with very strict rules so later in life they can be successful. On the flip side, Western parenting styles are more towards on the effect of their child’s feelings so they don’t hurt their self-esteem or confidence. The reason why Chinese children are so intelligent is ultimately because of their parenting style. In Chua’s essay, she gives her own personal stories and examples from her life that reflect on stereotype.
This might be overwhelming to the Western world. Western parents seem to be concerned about their children’s psyches and self-esteem whereas the Chinese parents focus on strength and endurance rather than fragility to prepare themselves for the outside world and not every children could take that kind of pressure. Chinese parents would invariably criticize their children negatively be it academically or physically. As stated earlier, my father labelled me as the fat dancing elephant. This action would probably be reported to the social services in the West for causing mental anguish, negative body image and encouraging eating disorders. However in the Chinese world, this action is completely normal and I quote, “(...) Chinese parents can do things that would seem unimaginable—even legally actionable—to
Chua asserted that there are three big differences between the Chinese and Western parental mindsets, which allows Chinese parents to raise “stereotypically successful kids” – math whizzes and music prodigies. This essay examines one of the reasons given by Chua, the way Chinese parents prepare their children mentally for whatever tasks, this difference results in them holding their children to higher standards and demanding more of them, which in turn, causes them to achieve greater achievements.
Chinese mothers’ endorsement of Chinese cultural values is similar to Confucian beliefs about socialization goals and society virtues. According to a research on Asian culture by a psychologist Heekyung Cho, the Asian Values mainly have six elements: conformity (following familial and social expectations is important), family recognition through achievement, emotional self-control, collectivism (one should think about one’s group before oneself), and humility (modesty). (56) Influenced by Dao spirits, Asian parents often adopt the authoritarian parenting style which is consisted of punishment, power-assertive strategies, discouragement of the child’s emotional express, and psychological control. A lot of Asian parents assumed that “they understand the society much better than their children”. Indeed, Asian parents want to guide their children through every single little thing. Asian parents all have the motivation to educate their children better because they want the harmony among the family members and also in the society. (“How to Raise Smart Kids Chinese-Style”) In Asian communities, there are plenty of resources to help a parent educate their children better. Families are surrounded by ways to enhance education and advices on after-school classes by acquaintances and friends. Asian parents often compare which school is the most academically successful in the community, discuss about school teachers, and
In Amy Chua’s article “Why Chinese Mothers are Superior,” Chua insists Chinese parenting methods yield better results than Western parenting methods when raising academically prosperous children because Chinese parents are willing to do anything for their children. Chua begins with a detailed account of common activities her children are prohibited from engaging in. To express who she considers a Chinese or Western parent, Chua provides their defining qualities and then utilized statistics to prove that Chinese parents are stricter than Western parents. Chua claimed a child must be good at an activity to enjoy it and therefore, the child must repetitively practice until the task is performed perfectly. Chua points out the Chinese’s’ ability
Personal, organizational, and cultural values are the basis of an individual's personal and professional decision-making style. These values are the key ingredients that make up our core beliefs. Values are ideas that are actions which could be right or wrong, good or bad that are the basis of human action (Tosi 2000). Personal values might also be called morality, since they reflect general expectations of any person in any society, acting in any capacity. These are the principles we try to instill in our children, and expect of one another without needing to articulate the expectation or formalize the process in any way. Family is the first school for a child where the seeds of cultural
On the other hand, parenting styles greatly varies across all nations in many important ways because of factors that affecting it such as culture, religion, socioeconomic status, education, personality and their own upbringing (See psychology.about.com). Among these factors, culture plays the most vital role in parenting styles. For instance, “Chinese culture is greatly influenced by Confucian philosophy which emphasizes respect for authority, devotion to parents, emotional restraint, and the importance of education. Chinese parents are not necessarily driven to control their children; instead, they are expected to teach their children how to maintain harmony with others. That is
The people in China are rich in culture just like other Asian countries. Therefore, to be involve with Chinese people in China for business, undertsanding their values and culture are very important. The first important thing to understand about Chinese is their devotion to collectivism. Chinese is trained from very early to consider himself as a dependent segment of a group, which is also called totalitarianism. It is helpful to think of the notion of family in China as a template applied to many networks of relationships that hold the society together. In the Chinese business context, the notion of family is about more than the emotional support and ties of a nuclear family. Family members, for
“Culture comprises of shared beliefs values, and practices that guide a group’s members in patterned ways of thinking and acting. Culture can also be viewed as a blueprint for guiding actions that impact care, health, and well-being” (Leininger & McFarland, 2006). “Culture is more than ethnicity and social norms; it includes religious, geographic, socio-economic, occupational, ability-or disability-related, and sexual orientation-related beliefs and behaviors. Each group has cultural beliefs, values, and practices that guide its members in ways of thinking and acting. Cultural norms help members of the group make sense of the world around them and make decisions about appropriate ways to relate and behave. Because