In this age of global awareness, ideals spread quickly and other countries can easily experience the world in totality. The ways of the people truly define the culture, and two unique styles pervade: collectivist and individualist. No two countries embody this extreme more than America and Japan. These differences are observable in the key areas of waste management, transportation, and safety. In the “home of the free,” Americans take an extremely individualistic stance on each of these topics. As noted by psychological research done in 2007, Americans’ propensity towards individualism has led to a crucial deficit in populace’s ability to understand someone else’s perspective (“America’s individualist culture influences the ability to …show more content…
Collectivist cultures truly desire to keep face, so understanding the needs and the wills of another individual is essential when it comes to saving face. In public spaces, trash and recycling bins seldom if ever exist in Japan. Some convenience stores or academic buildings may have them, but people in Japan are simply expected to carry their trash home with them (rather than littering). Japanese people, on average, produce 2.1 pounds of trash per person each day. But given the countries much smaller surface area, the people could not turn to landfills like Americans do. Instead, the government implemented a system divided into six separate compartments. One can for metal/plastic bottles, one for PET bottles, one for burnable trash, one for non-burnable trash, one for paper, and lastly, one for plastic drink caps. Each city or residential section has a different rule for how trash must be sorted and the frequency of its collection, but 100% of the population recycles all required items. Japanese society has a phrase “もったいない/mottainai,” which loosely translates to, “I don’t want to waste.” All of the country believes in this practice, as parents and teachers alike instill it in the children, so it is something they hold close to their hearts (“Japan’s Garbage Disposal System Explained”). Next, public transportation in Japan is almost a self-aware entity. A sheer difference to American society, 64% of Japanese people take some form of public transportation to school/work every day. Trains have the greatest popularity, since metro systems have national availability and a greater affordability than car transportation. Still, 12% of the population takes the commute by car, but this usually only occurs in more rural regions. For those who live in urban centers, travel by bicycle is
Heather Roger claims our current garbage disposal methods are short term and etiquette. Rogers’s position is clear that we need to minimize the use of landfills and create better means to discard trash. In supporting Rogers’s environment views I think that we need to create a more economic and environmental friendly garbage disposal system. Heather Rogers and Lars Eighner both acknowledge the issue with society’s throwaway mentality. Eighner proves that we throw away perfectly working stuff, having survived off others discarded materials. Eighner argues against excessive waste we create but does not have any prospected solutions. Whereas Rogers acknowledges the obvious need to minimize our consumption of waste but argues the need
Undoubtedly, as we are stepping towards advancement with technology every day, we are getting exposed to more pollution levels in our life. Water, air and earth, in all these forms of society we are experiencing rapidly growing pollutions. In water, we are experiencing a huge number of unwanted disposals of all sorts from the cruise ships or any private boat. A lot of people now a days doesn't have any idea where to dispose proper wastes. For example, if we go to a grocery store like Walmart or Target, we see big trashcans with it's purpose written on it. There are certain trashcans that are only meant for plastic disposing while some of them are for recyclable objects. People need to educate themselves with this basic things. Not only these, if we look at the bigger picture, in third world countries, earth or soil pollution is one of the major environmental problems. People throwing garbages everywhere on the side of streets, urinating on the side of the street, spitting everywhere are the major habits people are having over the years.
Many people say that recycling is a waste of time or that they just don't have the time.”Yes it’s popular in affluent neighborhoods like Park Slope in Brooklyn and in cities like San Francisco, but residents of Bryon and Houston don't have the same fervor for sorting garbage in their spare time’(“The Reign of Recycling”). The world needs more people to recycle no matter where they live. It seems that even if more people have started recycling things have not changed much.”While it’s true that the recycling message has reached more people than ever, when it come down to the bottom line,both economically and environmentally, not much has changed at all”(“The Reign of Recycling”). People need to work harder to make a change that will account to something. The goals are being set higher and higher but with little success. ”While politicians set higher and higher goals, the national rate of recycling has stagnated in recent years”(“The Reign of Recycling”). This rate has ceased to flow. If something changes how people feel about recycling then the nation may be able to meet its
Individualism is often viewed as a positive trait in America, suggesting a certain level of personal confidence. American society tends to reward independent thinkers and those who decide autonomously. To this end, individuality has become a value in many American homes. Although individualism is widely received and respected in American culture, it is not as well respected in other cultures. One culture in particular which frowns on individualism is the Asian culture.
Upon reviewing Chapter 3, a key concept that stuck out to me was the Individualism vs Collectivism. Individualism focuses more on the personal freedoms of each individual, while collectivism focuses more on the well-being of the entire society. Political officials play a more limited role in an individualistic society versus a collective society. Historically, the United States has been a nation focused on individualism. Personal freedom is a staple in American society and politics. Within the past few months, the media has extensively covered the presidential election. One candidate, Bernie Sanders, has challenged the typical individualism we see throughout American history. His beliefs, which some consider radical, are beginning to gain traction
This quote has great significance because of its explanation of one’s passions. In the context of Judges it talks about corrupt passion, but it can also help us understand our passions.
Other features of Hawaii, such as the economy, also effect trash management, namely tourism. In 2015 about 8.5 million people visited Hawaii—that’s almost six times as much as its population of 1.4 million (Hawaii Tourism Authority). Though city and state governments in Hawaii encourage waste consciousness, tourists are often not aware of the waste problems. Though only estimates are available, it is clear that tourists and tourist centered businesses produce a significant amount of waste, as well as a large amount of water and power consumption (Saito). Tourists don’t have to deal with the problems they contribute to, so they can easily ignore the issues.
I share the same beliefs as you do on this topic. We as Americans have been given the opportunity to practice individualism. Not only are we able to practice individualism we're protected by the law to do so. We are able to to chase our dreams ,and goals without fear of persecution. That alone sets us apart from other countries.
The Individualism is important for the American values because the individualism supports the pursuit of one's aim and willingness while as will value independence and self-trust and advocate that advantage of the individual must achieve priority over the nation or a public group. Besides, the Americans don't really care about their traditions, they just do what they think that is right. Not just the traditions, they even don't care about their parent's opinion, for example, if they want to marry someone they don’t get the permission from anyone they just do it. Americans live the moment without being careful or even think if it was good with the traditions and families to do that, like having a tattoo as an example. Moreover, Americans are
American authors have shaped the role of individualism for us today in many ways from writing about being different, leading yourself, and overall, relying on yourself. I’m an individual because I believe differently from other people, I look at the world in a different way, when I can I try to work alone, I also solve my own problems myself when possible, and I tend to provide myself with my needs by myself. The values of an individualist in my belief are being different, solving problems by yourself, and providing yourself, and sticking up for your own beliefs. By reinforcing the values of nonconformity, being free, and having rights, some of the greatest authors have helped shape our American individualism.
Individualism is an ideology or moral stance where the personal worth, freedom, ambitions and goals of an individual is valued above the good of everything else. In this ideology, the individual does whatever is best for him or her. Self-sufficiency and self-actualization is held at a high standard and valued in this ideology. Individualism is usually defined in contrast to collectivism, which promotes the goals and values of the society above the individual. The concept of individualism is woven into the fundamental foundation of the United States of America. In this outline, the historical framework, that is how and why individualism became a part of western culture, the contemporary issues, that is how individualism manifest itself in the
Individualistic cultures value many things like freedom, privacy, innovation, personal rights and responsibilities, voicing one’s opinion, and self-expression (Sprague, Stuart, Bodary, Verderber, Sellnow, 2015). An example of an individualist culture around the world is the United States. Members of this culture place primary value on the personal and self achievement. Individual
Individualism and Collectivism are much more different than they are alike. Collectivist “place a great deal of importance on extended families and group loyalty. In the United States, this is the case in the Amish communities and in some Latino/Native American communities” (pg.104) Being Latina, I am able to see the difference in those that are first generation Mexican-Americans versus those who migrated from Mexico to the United States. A perfect example of this is my aunt. Although she pursued a nursing degree she decided to quit school and get a full time job to stay home to contribute to her mother and father. She sacrificed any self-desire to build her own family because her families necessities were more important than her own. Her loyalty
In the past intercultural communication scholars have used broad frameworks from anthropology and psychology to identify and study cultural differences in communication (Martin & Nakayama, pg. 99). Through much research, they established that there are two different forms of orientations towards relationships between humans, individualism and collectivism. Individualism is the concept of focusing solely on yourself. In this orientation you strive to perfect your self-image, and take pride in your own accomplishments. On the contrary, collectivism is focused on a group of people. Everything you do is done with a selflessness attitude, never to glorify your own name. “Some cultural groups value individualism, whereas others are more group oriented. The cultural differences pertaining to these values distinguish two types of societies” (pg. 104). There are both commonalities and differences between both types of societies.
People Need to Recycle In the United Sates, where the population is inflated every year. The amount of space for landfills decreases every day. The need for recycling should not be asked, it should just be done out of habit. Everyone in America needs to recycle, to help the lamdfill problem, help the environment, and help produce new products from recycled goods. In America there is about two-hundred and eight tons of residential and commercial trash generated a year, 4.3 pounds per person a day (Prichard 1A). This is an overwhelming amount of trashed produced yearly. When people recycle this number can be drastically cut. But many people do not practice and use