Nothing Wrong but Something Different (2010/10/22)

Saksham Gangwar

 

Nothing Wrong but Something Different

A suggestion of how to overcome cultural barriers
relating to Sustainable Development

  

By

 

Jeongmuk Kang

 

   

FrameWork for Master of Science in Sustainable Development

  

Silvia Dovlen

 

October 22nd, 2010

 

 

 

 

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss who to overcome the cultural differences in an international group or organization. Historical and religious features of each cultural group are presented as two of major factors which have led differences among them. At the same time, those can also be the keys to solve problems derived from cultural differences. To help readers' good understanding, some of cultural features or facts of Sweden and South Korea are given as examples. In terms of culture, there would be nothing wrong but something different.

Introduction

Getting along with people from a variety of countries makes people get excited. At the beginning of establishing a relationship with people from different countries, people are so interested in each other's languages, appearances, and things which are different from those of them. In this initial step, differences act as a catalyst in their mixing process. As time goes on, on the other hand, people become fed up with finding differences among themselves and start to feel inconvenient and unhappy with the happenings derive from differences. In this step, differences act as a flint which sparks the fire of conflict. I would like to tell you about the importance of this point, the time of conflict. Because this point is not exactly different from the point from which people become merely people who know each other or real friends each other. In this article, I would like to discuss how and what we should do, when we face a cultural barrier in an international group or organization.

 

Theory and Methods

Even though there are numerous big and small cultural groups on the Earth, frequently, those cultures are simply classified into Eastern and Western. Of course, there are cultural similarities among Eastern countries and among Western countries. However, obviously, each country has their own cultural and religious features in their behavior and thought. In my case, I had also thought of people from Western countries as if they have the almost identical cultural background and lifestyle even though they are from totally different countries in Europe or America. And I became aware of the differences among even themselves who I treated as one cultural group. Then now, I am not going to classify the culture into Western and Eastern anymore.

Cultural differences are derived from several factors, such as historical background, geographical feature, religious belief, and so on. Thus, when it comes to classification of a cultural group, we'd better approach within multi-dimensional method rather than divide them into two or three merely based on geographical location. Nobody can say which culture is right or wrong. What I can do with this article is to help readers to consider several things before reacting against the cultural conflict.

I picked up two countries in case I need to give an example. So I would like to suggest Sweden where I've been living in for 2 months and South Korea where I was born in and have lived in for 28 years in this study. Since comparing two cultures which I experience for quite a different length of a period would possibly create wrong-directed conclusion due to the mal-understanding, I attempted to approach and describe each culture by using objective information as much as I can.

  

Result

Then, where could we find the root of those kinds of differences from country to country? In my perspective based on experiences, those differences are derived from several aspects of each culture.

First of all, the historical background could never be overlooked when it comes to the cultural differences. Since human appeared on planet Earth, each group of people has created their own tools and way of survival based on geological and climatic conditions. Some of them have developed great skills and tool for hunting. On the other hand, some of them have invented technique which can maximize the efficiency of fishing. Basically, those depend on what they need for survival. Furthermore, what they do for their life and the climatic condition of their habitat effects on the process of developing personality and dietary habit. Countries' traditional food, for example, is highly dependent on the climate in their habitat. And that traditional food can also affect the people's personality. Khan (cited in Kim, Y, Suh, B & Eves, A 2009) noted factors linked to the individual and to the environment in which they lived, adding that food choice, at this individual level, was a function of several interrelated aspects of personality.

Korean people tend to try to finish something as fast as they can even though they are not in hurry. And they think that such a personality is derived from dietary habit; eating with the extreme spicy such as Kimchi, which is traditional fermented Korean dish. On the other hand, Swedish people hardly hurry in their routine. When I was waiting for paying in ICA, I had got nothing to do with it. An old woman was having a problem with her credit card and everyone on the queue was not in hurry but was waiting for the problem to be solved. At the moment, I started to show typical Korean personality derived from Kimchi and moved from the queue to another queue several times. As the final outcome, I became the latest person who went to the counter. This was an example of the disadvantage of sticking own lifestyle in a different culture.

Secondly, religious background and beliefs also affect the process of developing cultural features. Walter Burkert (cited in Frances, R 2003) comments that there has never been a society without religion. In traditional Christian or Islamic countries, for example, in which God is believed as only omnipotent existence in our universe, principles of their own religions and God-related tendency affect on their common rules and even constitution. On the other hand, in some countries dominated by Buddhism or Confucianism, mostly Eastern Asian countries, people much more concern about the internal value of human rather than unavoidable external power on which human can lean. Then, politeness and goodness of individual which are derived from their own personalities are concerned to one of the most valuable virtues in their society.

Here is an example of differences derived from the fundamental religious background. When I tried to use the toilet at Uppsala University for the first time, since the public unisexual toilet was not usual in Korea, I felt slightly strange to wait for my turn standing with women. That was the experience through which I recognized the effort of realization of gender equity and horizontal relationship in Swedish society, and it is supposed to be influenced by Christianity. Korean people tend to be more conservative than Swedish people. And it results from the fact that Korean society is traditionally based on the vertical structure which is influenced by Confucianism,

Overall culture could be said as the result of all factors surrounding a specific group of people for a long time. When someone has a reputation in our society, no matter he or she got a gold medal in the Olympic game or was a serial murder, people normally focus on background and environment he or she grew up and try to find out the factors from them. We should concern about the factors having highly affected on the formation of the culture in the tautological sense.

  

Discussion

There are a lot of different things in human society. Some say it as difference, and some say it as diversity. The author John Gray (1997) describes how initially different between men and women in his book 'Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus'. He tells us that we should accept his or her behavior and thought which is not understandable from our own perspective as difference and try to put our own feet in the other's shoes. This can be also adopted in the interaction among people who have different cultural and religious background. Man and woman living in the same cultural group have such a lot of conflict or misunderstanding between them due to the initial differences. Then, what if between a man from South Korea and woman from Sweden? Now, we can imagine how different they are and where the differences derived from.

In terms of cultural diversity, every single culture must be respected no matter how it looks. At the same time, people should respect and understand the other cultures before expecting their own culture to be respected by others. Then, who is going to be first? Me? or others? This question seems to be quite similar to the question "Chicken first? Egg first?" which is quite complicated to answer. In my experience, respecting and understanding each other's culture is some acts of 'Giving and Taking'. There won't be consistent one-way giving or consideration unless one side of people are absolutely willing to help or support the others. People normally expect some kind of counter-action once they give someone their regards or mind. Behaviors of each individual recognizing other's cultural regard and reacting to it would help us establish a more sustainable society on the planet Earth. Harmonization with culturally different human societies is as important as that with human and nature for sustainable development.

Acknowledgment

I've got a lot of ideas for this study during the conversation with one of my Korean friends Gwak, D, Master student of journalism at Mid-Sweden University. And I should give thanks to my international friends who have shared their cultures with me for a long time with great patience and consideration.

  

References

Anonymous, History part of Swedish cuisine, Wikipedia, viewed 19 October 2010, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_cuisine>.

Gray, J 1997, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, HarperCollins Publishers Limited, New York.

Kim, Y, Suh, B & Eves, A 2009, 'The relationships between food-related personality traits, satisfaction, and loyalty among visitors attending food events and festivals', International Journal of Hospitality Management, vol. 29, pp. 216-226.

Raday, F 2003, Culture, Religion, and Gender, Int'l J. Const. L, viewed 20 October 2010, < http://www.heinonline.org.ezproxy.its.uu.se/HOL/Page?page=663&handle=hein.
journals/injcl1&collection=journals>.