The group vs. the individual
Thursday, 07 September, 2006
Following on from yesterday's post, I thought it pertinent to reproduce the following segment out of Following Jesus without Dishonoring Your Parents which expresses the culture clash between east and west so much better than my pathetic attempts:
Philip Slater, in The Pursuit of Loneliness, states that America stresses competition, individualism, independence and technology., Asian cultures, on the other hand, tend to stress cooperation, community, interdependence and tradition. “The cultures pull in opposite directions, and it is the soul of the Asian American that provides the rope for the tug of war.”
In a doctor of ministry dissertation (“Cultural Pluralism and Ministry Models in the Chinese Community”) John Ng quotes John Conner to contrast Asian and Western cultural values.
Asian Value: Situation Centered
Western Value: Individual Centered
Collectivity Individualism Group identity Autonomy Achievement of goals set by others Achievement of individual goals Obligation to group Trained to be individuals Duty & Obligation Rights & Privilege Relational responsibility Responsible to self Duty to others Personal rights Motivation based on obligation Motivation based on feelings Hierarchy Equality Submissive to authority Dislike for rules and control Emphasis on positions in relationships Play down superiority/inferiority Accepts rules and propriety Questions authority Deference Assertion Passivity and yieldedness Aggressive and expressive Adherence to social politeness Assertive Emphasis on self effacement Open and accessible to others (John Ng, “Cultural Pluralism and Ministry Models in the Chinese Community,” D. Min. dissertation, Fuller Theological Seminar, 1985.)
Being partly in two worlds but not fully in either makes for a difficult high-wire balancing act. What makes it so tough is that Asian and Western values are often polar opposites. What an Asian American young person experiences at school and in the neighborhood is often in stark contrast to what she or he lives out at home.
Paul Tokunaga, “Introduction: Learning our Names” in Jeannette Yep, Peter Cha, Susan Cho Van Riesen, Greg Jao and Paul Tokunaga, Following Jesus Without Dishonoring Your Parents, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, 1998, pp. 13-14.
I said yesterday that, for me, culture strikes right at the heart of family; replace the headings “Asian Value” and “Westerm Value” with “Dad” and “Mum” respectively and you've pretty much got it.
Current:
Bible: Isaiah (ESV) 28/09/2010
seen: Tropic Thunder 26/09/2010
seen: The Life of Mammals 24/09/2010
seen: What a Girl Wants 19/09/2010
seen: Jerry Maguire 19/09/2010
seen: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 06/09/2010
seen: Tomorrow Never Dies 05/09/2010
seen: Nanny McPhee 28/08/2010
read: Mercury (Hope Larson) 27/08/2010
read: Spellcheckers Vol 1 (Jamie S Rich, Nicolas Hitori de, Joelle Jones) 16/08/2010
read: Solipsistic Pop Vol 2 (Solipsistic Pop) 16/08/2010
read: Chiggers (Hope Larson) 15/08/2010
seen: Josie and the Pussycats 14/08/2010
seen: Mr & Mrs Smith 14/08/2010
seen: Step Up 2 13/08/2010
Blinks:
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
Online magazine that publishes fairy tales that are not reworkings of old tales.
Journal that publishes fairy tale writing.
|
|
Disqus comments
Other comments
This is a tough one and not at all uncommon!
Such a contrast to expectations, Mum is the fire, father the water! Breathes uniqueness into their child.