Reflection 4 Cultural Shock

From the Book

Preamble:  Dr. Jones had been transferred to Germany as a Research Scientist and his reflection captures for his grandchildren his culture shock

Culture is the acquired knowledge people use to interpret experience and generate behavior. Culture makes information meaningful. Culture gives a person the set of rules by which to behave.

These rules are knowledge, that is, actionable information that suggests how to interpret a situation and what to do next. Reusing and sharing knowledge is quicker and more effective than recreating it.

Both individual and collective contributions of people benefit their community. The sum of contributions supports the community. How much we can accomplish collectively is dependent upon how well people can create, capture, validate and share "know what, know how, know why and know when."

Germans celebrate homogeneity. Most Germans "know" what right behavior is and expect it from their neighbors. As a consequence less energy is required to cope with and create laws to deal with diversity. But, keep in mind that every 500 miles in Europe the language and government completely change.

Europeans have created homogeneity by segregating their diversity into independent countries. Culture shock for us revolved around German homogeneity. We were alternately amazed and frustrated by a German culture which produced some of the world's greatest philosophers, scientists, sausage, beer and two world wars.

Germans are publicly rude to each other by our standards and become friendly when they get to know you better. We are friendly to strangers and rude to our very best friends. Amongst "us engineering guys" trading insults was a gesture of affection.

North Americans celebrate diversity. Accepting immigrants from diverse cultures is credited with keeping us adaptive and innovative by constantly expanding our cultural perspective.

Let's celebrate a little homogeneity. A recent five year study by Robert Putnam, Harvard political scientist, suggests that immigration and ethnic diversity have a devastating short and medium-term influence on the social capital, fabric of associations, and neighborliness that create and sustain communities.

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13/01/2009 04:24 PM

(continued)

Celebrating diversity views members as a group rather than individuals. We should not support ethnic behavior which does not agree with our legal systems. We must expect certain behaviors as an established norm with no excuses for one's race, gender or ethnic background. I am not Gaelic-American or an English Canadian. I am an American or Canadian.

The problem with celebrating diversity is that ethnic groups don't assimilate culturally and subsequently some contribute less or don't contribute at all to society. The effort to build a technologically advanced, innovative, trusting culture can come undone if we tolerate diverse behavior that results in a subculture that continually doesn't contribute.

Some of our immigrants become part of a subculture that takes from our social programs and gives little back. To fix this problem, we need to understand the elements of our culture that we consider important and insist that diverse groups adhere to these elements. When we determine this we can define a LEGAL acceptance and assimilation process.

For example, the rich in Mexico exploit the poor. If we wish to nation build as in Iraq and Afghanistan, we should direct half of that energy to Mexico while insisting on proper working and living conditions there. Why don't we? We want cheap Mexican labor in the US and Canada as well.

Remember, how much we can accomplish collectively is dependent upon how well people can create, capture, validate and share "know what, know how, know why and know when." This can not be accomplished in an atmosphere of distrust. Having a general set of objectives to which everyone is expected to adhere is good depending on the objectives.

Eugenics wasn't such a good idea, but it is a very good idea to require everyone to: speak a language that is understood nationally, graduate from high school or trade school, obey the law, respect their neighbors, pay their bills, etc….

Germans and Europeans consider attending a University as a privilege that must be earned. A good liberal education (Reflection 7 -- stay tuned) is our best opportunity for diverse groups to acquire knowledge that has evolved over thousands of years and can provide the continued foundation for a progressive, innovative society.

For Reflection 1

For Reflection 2

For Reflection 3