Culture Shock / Pg

A sudden change in one’s surroundings can result in culture shock. Culture shock refers to the anxiety and surprise a person feels when he or she is discontented with an unfamiliar setting. The majority of practices or customs are different from what a person is used to. One may experience withdrawal, homesickness, or a desire for old friends. For example, when a person goes to live in a different place with unfamiliar surroundings, they may experience culture shock. Sometimes it is the result of losing their identity. In the article “The Phases of Culture Shock”, Pamela J. Brink and Judith Saunders describe four phases of culture shock. They are: Honeymoon Phase, Disenchantment Phase, Beginning Resolution Phase, and Effective

Cultural shock is a common feeling a person experiences when transitioning into a completely different environment and living situation. Throughout the world, immigrants experience many difficulties when assimilating into a new culture.

The chapter continued to discuss how people experience other cultures when they are removed from their area to a different place. This occurs in the form of culture shock people experience new traditions that are unfamiliar to them when the come to a place that is home to another culture. Human development may also include joining the ideas of various cultures and forming it into a new concept. It puts heavy emphasis on learning other cultures in an unbiased form in order to compare and make observations. This chapter also studies of culture have been able to advance over time and how change is an essential aspect of

What Peter Berger means by the first statement, in which he links sociological discovery to culture shock minus geographical displacement, is that sociological discoveries and realizations are very often made in one 's own society. When they are made, they might come off as shocking because they are being viewed in a different light. You can go to the nearest church or park and make new discoveries with what you observe in an open state of mind.

Culture shock is the feelings of alienation, hostility, heightened ethnocentrism, sense of loss, depression and/or self doubt that may result from immersion in a new culture.

Eckermann (2010), defines culture shock as segregation of two communities, creating conflict, inequality of rights, and inhuman treatment. Due to the divide, and Aboriginals being the minor group, they lost their identities and experienced tremendous stress and anxiety due to culture shock.

Pederson (7) explains that there are stages of culture shock, which he identifies as the honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation. In the honeymoon phase, a person is likely to get excited about being in a new place, meeting new people, tasting new foods, and acquiring new habits. However, as time passes by, they get into a phase of negotiation, where the differences between the culture one is used to and the one they find themselves in start to become apparent. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and frustrations start to take shape as unfavorable events perceived as strange come in the way of the person 's life, especially if a person does not feel accepted in the new culture (Mukherjee 273). Loneliness may set in, and the urge to go back to the familiar culture strongly comes into play. However, as time goes by, adjustment sets in, usually within six to twelve months, and one gets accustomed to the culture and also comes up with a routine. By this phase, one knows what is expected of them, and life once again becomes ‘normal.’

Culture shock is influenced by ethnocentrism, which I will explain how it is taking one’s culture as a superior base to judge other cultures. The longer I lived in Louisiana, the concept cultural relativism began to apply to my situation when I befriended a girl that had lived in that town from birth, and it gave me a new perception on cultural differences. Culture shock is a two way street after all, they were affected by my outside presence- especially at times where they needed to forgive my adjustment of catering to their norms. The non-material culture I can list as an example would be a moral holiday celebrated highly in the south, Mardi Gras. Having parades march through my street for seven days with floats, jazz musicians, horses, and people in costumes throwing out beaded necklaces- was quite a celebration that traced back historically and

Cultural Shock: Bruno who is only 8 years old is shifted with the whole family from Barlin to country side as his father was a General in the Nazi military. He was assigned as a command of a Jewish concentration camp in the country side. In Barlin Bruno was used to go to school & play with his friends. He was very happy there. He likes to explore places. He wants to explore the world. He used to play with his friends in his home also. But after shifting from Barlin to country side, he became alone. He didn’t like to read books but after coming to country side he missed his school as well. He also missed his friends. So in Barlin there was a culture but in country side there was another culture. So we can say that this is the concept of cultural

Peter L. Berger once said, “The sociologist routinely experiences culture shock in his own home.” The definition of cultural shock is when someone finds himself or herself in an environment that’s unfamiliar and someone doesn’t really know how to act or do. It is out of the person’s comfort zone and to try to fit and feel included in society, once must first face the uncertainty of how the unknown culture acts like. When the sociologist looks closely at these things, he finds unexpected motives, outcomes, things that might have not been realized. Therefore, culture shock can occur frequently every day due to the fact that everywhere in the world, including America has distinguishable outcomes that belong to other cultures.

Culture shock comes in many forms, unfortunately, I have not been able to go out of the country due to financial reasons. However, I have had many opportunities with church ministry and local outreach's to reach people for Christ. One thing I have realized is that you can experience culture shock even in the United States. When visiting Richmond, Virginia in the summer of 2012 for a conference, I experienced culture shock after seeing the different ways that people live. Being homeschooled all my life, I did not really experience what the secular world is really like. Therefore, my knowledge of society and culture was conformed to my own little world.

Having experienced culture shock is really interesting but difficult to me. I remember very clearly the first moment that I have arrived in the US, I felt very excited about everything as the American is friendly and they are willing to help me in any situation, which differs from people in Vietnam. Also, I love the fresh environment and the cool weather here because my country has hot and tough weather making me get a lot of acnes. However, I suddenly fell in anxiety, since I could not adapt with the friendly environment when I'm quite introvert and there was a big language barriers, which prevent me from communication as well as interaction with friends and teachers. I have been in Seattle for nearly two months, so I think that I'm in the

Culture shock is a term that describes when a person comes in relations with a culture that is essentially different from that person's own culture. This can result in that said person unable to rely on what they considered normal. For example, in America, there are many characteristics that Americans find normal such as what we value, how we act, our beliefs, and even material things. A person from Africa, on the other hand, wouldn’t value and believe in a lot of the same things as a typical American would. Therefore, culture shock may occur if an American were put into an African setting and visa versa. This happens due to the dramatic changes in the way of life and belief system that the person would encounter.

The biggest culture shock experience I have ever had was when my mother, brother, boyfriend and I went to visit my family in Tucson, Arizona. We went to visit my moms brother, his wife and their son who had lived in Arizona for about ten years. I had visited Arizona many times before but it was when I was younger so I did not remember much about the setting or the people who lived there. I was not fully made aware of the lack of diversity surrounding us until my boyfriend, who is from El Salvador and my six-year-old brother, who is mixed white and black, pointed it out to me. I guess I never thought about it because I, myself am Caucasian so everything seemed normal to me…at first. Because Tucson is right on the boarder of Mexico, anyone who isn’t Caucasian is pretty much assumed to be illegal and ultimately Mexican, Maryland is such a diverse part of the country that when you step out of it you experience an immediate change in culture.

Culture Shock has played a tremendous role in the growth of cultural ecology because it is an issue that is constantly growing all over the world. In the United States, it may not seem like things are changing involving culture shock, but it is not any different then the changes in places like Africa and China for example. It is developing equally across the world because there are now more ways to travel. So, what exactly is culture shock anyways? Well, it is known as going to a foreign or unfamiliar territory that one is not used to, so they may feel symptoms of anxiety such as nervousness or shock because the customs, actions, beliefs, etc of those people may not seem familiar to them, so one may feel ill-prepared for the changing environment. Also, for example, if one was to go to school in the U.S. but came from China, they would feel culture shock because the rules in China are not the same as rules in the U.S. and so it may make one feel uneasy about the situation because they are not use to change and maybe the move was to quick for them to adjust properly. The United States is very different from foreign areas because the culture is very different. Where have people of Africa seen movie productions, music, sports, universities, iPhones, computers, etc? The answer is not where they live but in the United States if they traveled there before. This is exactly the issue with culture shock in ecology. Culture is what people behave like, feel, and do. Shock is a symptom