Food For Thought

Have a bite. Put it in your mouth and chew… it’s delicious.

Every Friday we’ve been having technical and cross cultural sessions. In addition to giving us a break from our endless hours of Russian class and English Clubs, we’ve been learning some great techniques for teaching (tech sessions) and coping with cultural adjustments (cross-cultural sessions). On September 14th we had a really interesting cross-cultural session regarding American and Kazakhstani values. Now, the entire exercise was huge over-simplifications and generalizations about entire countries, but some really interesting points were brought up that I’d love to share with everyone back home. Before the session we read an article called “The Values Americans Live By,” by L. Robert Kohls which is in our cross-cultural handbook, and I’d love to share some of the article’s main points, which I found very interesting. Kohls begins:

“Most Americans would have a difficult time telling you, specifically, what the values are which they live by. They have never given them any thought. Even if Americans had considered this question, they would, probably, in the end, decide not to answer in terms of a definitive list of values. The reason for this decision is itself one very American value: their belief that every individual is so unique that the same list of values could never be applied to all, or even most, of their fellow citizens. Although Americans may think of themselves as being more varied and unpredictable than they actually are, it is significant that they think they are. Americans tend to think they have been only slightly influenced by family, church, or school. In the end, each believes, ‘I personally chose which values I want to live my own life by.’”

He then goes on to say that you can, in fact, make a list of values that fit most Americans, of which he discusses 13.

“1. Personal Control Over the Environment/Responsibility: Americans no longer believe in the power of Fate, and they have come to look at people who do as being backward, primitive, or hopelessly naïve… Most Americans find it impossible to accept that there are some things which lie beyond the power of humans to achieve or control… Americans seem challenged, even compelled, to do, by one means or another (and often at great cost) what seven-eighths of the world is certain cannot be done.

2. Change is Seen as Natural and Positive: Change is strongly linked to development, improvement, progress and growth. Many older, more traditional cultures consider change a disruptive, destructive force, to be avoided if at all possible. Instead of change, such societies value stability, continuity, tradition and a rich and ancient heritage – none of which are considered very important in the US.

3. Time and Its Control: Time is, for the average American, of utmost importance… [their] language is filled with references to time, giving a clear indication of how much it is valued. Time is something to be on, to be kept, filled, saved, used, spent, wasted, lost, gained, planned, given, made the most of, even killed.

4. Equality/Fairness: Equality is, for Americans, one of their most cherished values. This concept is so important for Americans that they have given it a religious basis. They say all people have been “created equal.”… To most of the rest of the world rank, status, and authority are seen as much more desirable considerations – even to those who happen to find themselves near the bottom of the social order.

5. Individualism/Independence: Americans think they are more individualistic in their thoughts and actions than, in fact, they really are… Privacy, the ultimate result of individualism, is perhaps even more difficult for foreigners to comprehend. The word “privacy” does not even exist in many non-Western languages. If it does, it is likely to have a strong negative connotation…

6. Self-Help/Initiative: Americans pride themselves on having been poor and, through their own sacrifices and hard work, climbed the difficult ladder of success to whatever level they have achieved – all by themselves… Take a look in an English language desk dictionary at the composite words that have “self” as a prefix. In the average desk dictionary, there will be more than 100 such combinations…

7. Competition: Americans believe that competition brings out the best in any individual. They asset that it challenges or forces each person to produce the very best that is humanly possible… [they] have devised an economic system to go with it – free enterprise.

8. Future Orientation: Valuing the future and the improvements Americans are sure the future will inevitably bring means that they devalue the past and are, to a large extent, unconscious of the present. Even a happy present goes largely unnoticed because, happy as it may be, Americans have traditionally been hopeful that the future would bring even greater happiness. Almost all energy is directed toward realizing that better future.

9. Action/Work Orientation: …Action – any action – is seen to be superior to inaction. Americans routinely plan and schedule an extremely active day… [This] attitude towards life has created many people who have been become known as “workaholics,”… The first question one American will generally ask another American when meeting them for the first time is related to his or her work: ‘What do you do?’

10. Informality: Americans are one of the most informal and casual people in the world, even when compared to their close relatives – the Western Europeans… American bosses often urge their employees to call them by their first names and even feel uncomfortable if they are called by the title ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mrs.’

11. Directness/Openness/Honesty: Many other countries have developed subtle, sometimes highly ritualistic, ways of informing other people of unpleasant information. Americans, however, have always preferred the most direct approach possible… even publicly.

12. Practicality/Efficiency: If Americans would even admit to having a philosophy, it would probably be that of pragmatism… This…has caused Americans to contribute more inventions to the world than any other country in human history… Another way in which this favoring of the practical makes itself felt in the US is a belittling of ‘emotional’ and ‘subjective’ evaluations in favor of ‘rational’ and ‘objective’ assessments.

13. Materialism/Acquisitiveness: Foreigners generally consider Americans much more materialistic than Americans are likely to consider themselves… But, by any standard, Americans are materialistic. This means that they value and collect more material objects than most of the world’s people would ever dream possible to own… The modern American typically owns: one or more color TV sets, a CD player, a VCR, an electric hairdryer, an electronic calculator, an expensive camera, a clothes washer and dryer, a vacuum cleaner, a powered lawn mower, a refrigerator, stove and electric dishwasher, one or more automobiles, a telephone and/or cell phone and a personal computer.”

That is a very brief overview, but I think it says a lot about us Americans, if you can allow a moment for stereotypes and gross generalizations. Obviously not everyone is described by this list. I, however, see myself at least a little (in others, a lot) in each value Kohls mentioned. In our cross cultural session we discussed how we are seeing these cultural differences pop in every day events and how being aware of these values that most of us haven’t ever admitted to having can improve our effectiveness as a volunteer. How can we begin to understand the culture we are living in if we don’t first know (or at least consider) our own.