National Culture Understanding the Cultural Diversity

Question: Discuss about theNational Culturefor Understanding the Cultural Diversity. Answer: The following paper is going to comment on the thoughts pertaining to the national culture and cultural conflicts. As a compact definition of national culture, it can be stated that national culture is a set of discipline, customer, rituals, beliefs and behaviours that impact upon the daily life style of the people living in a country. The following paper has been segmented into two different parts. One argues the thought process of Hofstedes survey on the move and motif of the national culture. The researcher has conducted his survey through the questionnaire that has been sent to the employees of IBM. It has been argued that his process has been unauthentic as he misjudged the mode of representation. He should not have conducted such survey on the very topic. The second part of the paper chronicles an incident showing real life cultural conflict in an academic institution between an African student and a Japanese one. through the description of the incident it has been portrayed that cultural conflit is still in vogue even in the world of multiculturalism. There raise a question pertaining to the application of collectivism upon individualism. I personally doo agree with the view point of Professor Brendon McSweeneys argument against Hofsteds work on national culture. The latter has generalised about the whole national population in each of his case countries. the questionnaire made by him was targeted in a general sense and the respondents were not addressed in a particular manner. The respondents were only the employees of certain company that is IBM. With scrutinising the employees of only one company one cannot understand the movement of national culture in a generic sense. The basic problem with Professor Hofstede lay in the fact that his survey did not address the greater mass of the individual countries. Professor McSweeney has justly questioned the ability of the survey questions in making firm decisions on the national culture and its structural movements in different countries. He argued that greater number of masses was not address and cultural aspects depend on the economic status as well. Therefore, it would b e unjust to survey a certain economic class and conclude something (Avruch 2009.). In terms of my country, there is a huge cultural diversity. From north to south and east to west the diversity is so vivid that surveying only a particular group of employees would not provide us with authentic data and information. Therefore, the conclusion remains absurd and invalid. A country like Canada has people from different cultures. Moreover, the countries like UK, USA has been witnessing cross cultural population in differetn parts of them. Therefore, the survey s not going to provide us with a firm insight of actual cultural motif of a particular country standing in 21st century. An Englishman is not always violent while watching football. Hofstedes second assumption that respondents were already permanently...programmed ...with no interacting cultures again raised a matter of conflict. The authenticity of Hofstede was doubted as he has taken a small cell of IBM while presenting the move of the national culture. It was quite challengeable as the whole country could not be represented by a mere organisation. Moreover, the organisation has its own culture and it was obviously going to be challenged if the organisational culture was supposed to be compared with that of the entire country. So far my own country is concerned, one can find various types of people from different cultural background. Since, I believe, that the cultural differences is only vivid in terms of the economic differences, this survey was totally invalid. Cultural conflict is something that the modern world has been facing since the industrial boom in the European countries (Trueba, Jacobs and Kirton 2014.). The concept of nation and culture has now become much more diversified than it was before the World Wars. I had read a book written by an Indian writer. The novel was named The Shadow Lines where the sense of culture and nationalism was at its apex point. The character of the novels- all Indians (though not in nature) were highly multidimensional. The Amitava Ghosh novel dealt with the definition of nationalism and national culture. There is no doubt that the cultural essence begins with the pride of the countries (Choudhury 2016). In the lecture delivered by Fons Trompenaars in TEDx, it has been vividly depicted that the cultural differences in different countries before 1950s was quite expressive whereas post 1950s world experienced what we know as globalisation that has entailed the sense of multiculturalism. However, the quest ion remains the same- whether the cultural difference have been eradicated from the world. The answer, I suppose is an absolute No. I would like to chronicle an anecdote that reflects that the cultural conflicts still remain as it was before the 1950s. The only difference lays in the fact that social cohesion has led the conflict into internal level. If I take the example of Australia, it is a paradigmatic example of social cohesion. As a global hub for education and employment, Australia has come with the opportunity to provide better future for the job seekers as well as the students. However, in recent times I have faced a cultural conflict with a student of Africa. Though I was a passive witness of the conflict I could clearly sense that it was nothing but the cultural clash between the African student and a Japanese one. The clash started with a very minimal attitude (Boubakri et al. 2016). My Japanese friend had his cultural habit to bow down and greet someone. Seeing this, my friend from Congo laughed and tried imitating him. The imitation ended up in a fight. I had to intervene into the matter and separat e them from each other. The only way I was able to stop them was by making them understand in a rational manner. I understood that only separation could end the fight and it did so. Fons Trompenaars has mentioned two different terms in his TEDx lecture: individualism and collectivism. In order to extract the benefits from the collective view points from different cultures and different people, we need to focus on the priority set upon individualism over collectivism and vice versa. Connection of different viewpoints will obviously end up ntoo a mutual understanding of e people who could generate the concept of respecting the cultures of the others. The movie Dictator has a dialogue, which clearly states the cultural differences that is even more deliberated by the governing authorities when the Security Chief of the US police says to the protagonist that all outsiders are Arabs. I personally believe that the cultural conflicts and confrontation can be overcome only through rational upbringing of the people from different countries and cultures. Different viewpoints help us understand the positive value of multiculturalism. It acts as the adhesive for gluing diff erent form of people all together. One of the most effective benefits of multi-dimensional viewpoints in cultural aspect is to bring the people under the same shade by providing them the feeling of sharing space. The sharing ability is the ultimate cure for the cultural differences (Sinha 2014.). Conclusion: It can thus bee concluded that the cultural conflict caused by the priority of a collective self over an individual self. The values of an individual that encompass the entire existential importance of the person entail confliction against the same values of the other. Establishment of the value in different modes and defending approach to the same of ones culture during the crisis period reflects vehement cultural clash between two or more people belonging to different cultural background. In the aforementioned incident, my Japanese friend tried to defend his own culture in a different country from a different person. The cultural conflict in that case was caused due to the mockery and disregard which was not expected at all. Reference: Avruch, K., 2009. Cross-cultural conflict.Conflict Resolution,1, pp.45-57. Boubakri, N., Guedhami, O., Kwok, C.C. and Saffar, W., 2016. National culture and privatization: The relationship between collectivism and residual state ownership.Journal of International Business Studies,47(2), pp.170-190. Sinha, J.B., 2014. Collectivism and Individualism. InPsycho-Social Analysis of the Indian Mindset(pp. 27-51). Springer India. Trueba, H.T., Jacobs, L. and Kirton, E., 2014.Cultural Conflict Adaptation. Routledge. Choudhury, B., 2016.Amitav Ghosh: Critical Essays. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..

Just A Story Essays - Frank Sinatra, Grammy Legend Award

Just A Story Albert watched through the window of his fourth floor apartment as she unloaded the groceries from the back of her Oldsmobile. He sighed, and walked away from the window to water the plant he had named after her. If he hurried, he could make his way down to the mailbox while she was on her way into the building, as he thought about doing every Wednesday when she did her grocery shopping, but the thought of speaking to her made him nauseous and his knees quivered uncontrollably. Tonight was going to be the night, he told himself. He was going to ask her to dinner. He would just walk up the stairs and ring her doorbell, and bring her daisies. Just before eight o'clock, because he knew she would be home. She was always home for the latest episode of Murder, She Wrote, as he knew because he could hear the theme song blaring through his paper-thin ceiling, every Wednesday at eight o'clock. He ironed his khakis in an attempt to look just perfect for the occasion, and ran a comb through the non-existing hair on his head. He could hear her walking up the stairs, and Albert imagined her popping popcorn for her favorite television show, and washing up from a long day at the coffee shop. He had never actually been inside the coffee shop, but instead watched her work from outside the large window. He watched all the other customers inside ? construction workers on lunch breaks, businessmen sitting alone with the New York Times, and the ladies who play Bridge and flaunt their new manicures ? all sipping cappuccinos that she had poured, and devouring French Toast that she had gracefully carried to the table. Tonight was his chance to speak to her like the men who drink her coffee, only this would be different. After all, he had even picked her daisies. He trembled just thinking about it, and thought diligently about how he should introduce himself. He walked into his bedroom to search through his closet for the perfect shirt to wear when eight o'clock approached. As the sun begin to set, Albert could hear Frank Sinatra playing from her apartment above and attempted to calm his nerves by staring out the window as the stars appeared in the sky. Maybe he would bake cookies for her to waste a little bit of time ? chocolate chip, like the ones he had smelled burning from her apartment the other day. He poured flour into a bowl and sang along with Sinatra. He stirred a bag of chocolate chips into the bowl to the rhythm of the music and thought about how happy she'd be. He cracked an egg into the bowl and suddenly, he no longer heard the music or footsteps from above. As he continued to stare out the window, he noticed two figures linking arms as they walked through the parking lot. His eyes widened and he suddenly realized why the music had stopped playing. There she was, in the parking lot, with a man in a suit, and she in a blue dress with her long hair pinned up in the back. They began to tango under the stars, among the cars in the lot, and the man produced a red rose from his jacket pocket. Albert looked at the daisies he had picked just for her, and wiped a tear from his cheek. He continued to gaze out the window as they proceeded to dance in the silence of the night, and paid no attention to the egg yolk that dripped down his newly ironed khakis. Creative Writing

Thomas Hobbes Essays - Philosophy, Calvin And Hobbes, Free Essays

Thomas Hobbes Essays - Philosophy, Calvin And Hobbes, Free Essays Thomas Hobbes Thomas Hobbes was one of the first Western Philosophers that the world had seen. Hobbess philosophies marked a departure in the English philosophy from religious emphasis of Scholasticism. Hobbes was born in 1588 in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. His father was a vicar of the parish during Queen Elizabeth time. He valued not learning and only read the prayers of the church. Hobbes obtained his education from his uncle and moved onto Oxford at the tender age of fifteen. By the time he reached Oxford he was already a scholar in Latin and Greek. He left Oxford in 1608 and began his companionship with the eldest son of Lord Cavendish of Hardwicke, later know as Earl of Devonshire. Hobbes traveled the European continent three times in his lifetime. These trips allowed Hobbes to get most of his work down and he usually traveled with a pupil. His first trip he took was in 1610 were he visited France, Italy and Germany. This trip he took with is pupil, Lord Hardwick. He learned the French and Italian languages along the way. This first tour of the continent did not allow Hobbes to learn his life purpose, but he did gain experience that could help him along his way. His second tour of the European continent took place in 1629 and lasted for two years. In 1628 his pupil and friend Lord Hardwick passed on and Hobbes had no duties to fulfill in the house. The second trip Hobbes took he had a new pupil the young earl, who was eleven when they left for the journey. When Hobbes arrived back he took over the education of his new pupil. Around the time he was educated the young earl, his philoschical views began to take place. It was not until his third trip across the continent that he began to fit in with the other philosophers of the world. The third trip he was accomplice by the young earl, Earl of Devonshire. The trip lasted three years, 1634 to 1637. The trip began a new chapter in Hobbes life, he began to publish books and his theories were starting to be written out into books. During the trip he was an intimate of Meresenne, who at the time was at the center of the scintitific circle. That circle include the like of Descartes and Gassendi. His first publication was when he returned titled, Elements of Law and politic. This book showed the theories that he began to evovle for him during this third and final trip. Hobbes fled to France for eleven years because of the fear of getting arrested from his book. He called himself a man of feminine courage. In France he taught the Prince of Whales, later known as King Charles II, mathematics. While in London he also wrote his most famous book Leviathan. This book should Hobbes views on all the theories and ethical decisions. It was published in 1651, the same year he moved back to England. He moved back because he felt safer now in England then he did in France. In actuality he moved back because his book caused him to fear arrest by the authorties in France. He felt safer in England because of his former pupil took over the throne and Hobbes came into favor with the House of Commons. In 1666 however the house passed a bill to inspect his book Leviathan of charges of atheistic tendencies. This inspection caused Hobbes to burn many of his papers and delayed three publications of future books. His philosical theories were that people could have more then one loyalty and that they could be competing with each other. Mainly he was talking about the loyalty to God. Religion was a big deal back then and he stated that God could have a competing loyalty and that people should decide what is best for them. Loyalty to a person or a king should stop when death could occur to you. He stated that loyalty is a social act and that anything a person does is self-serving. Anything a human being does come full circle and benefits them in a way. A theory that Hobbes had, that I believe was pretty big,

Why I Want A Wife Essays

Why I Want A Wife Essays Why I Want A Wife Paper Why I Want A Wife Paper In our current age we have both sexes going to school and staying at home. A stay at home father is more common than ever. Unfortunately, this is not how society has always worked. In the sasss, women were treated very differently then we do today. We use to be treated like door mats and mutes. In Why I Want a Wife by Judy Brady, she reveals her anger In a different tone. She uses sarcasm and humor to get her point across. As if all of the expectations of a wife is laughable and presumed as a joke. How can anyone possibly do all the work that she has listed and not even complain once. Her message may not have been as powerful and motivating, if she Just simply made a list of her grievances. Also, Brady learned to never complain, thanks to her husband, about her feelings and would be a reason why she did not just say outright all the injustice she felt in her marriage. It could be a way around her moral obligations to her husband, while still getting her message across to married and unmarried women. Brady realizes her husband was sexist, unsupported, and how she was once oblivious of her surroundings, which contributed to her becoming a role model to women everywhere. Brady writes against sexism and warns women of the life of a bride. Based on our past In the demographics of a household, a man would not be caught doing any cleaning or cooking. Brady was classified Into a group called wives. She and other wives are outsiders according to men and are only good for taking care of the well being of them family. The presentment that Just because she is a women does not mean she does not yearn to educate herself or become financial independent. He husband does not allow these things simply because she Is a women Brady explains how just because she is a women, she still has wants and needs just as important as the next men, and not to automatically write her off because she is a women. She shows us how she finally saw that her husband was unsupported and how she hoped her writings would change the future, Throughout the essay, Brady speaks of the want for an education and a life outside her home. Although, at the end of the essay, after the husband completes his school, she is still to stay at home with the children and household work. Even after she was loyal and encouraged his schooling, the husbands view did not change. His wife was to now stay at home and to focus solely on all her previous duties, with the only break is not helping her husband with school. The husband should now take his turn in helping raising the family so that Brady can finally evolve herself out of the classification of a different breed. A women going to get an education around that time was unlikely, but what she was saying Is even If you dont have support, you can soul make a difference In you own life. In conclusion , Brandys past ignorance has motivated her to speak out for women In similar situations. Brady starts filth classifying herself in a whole other species. She comes to the realization of her treatment over a conversation with a male friend who was recently divorced. He states how he is looking for another wife, but not another ND realizes how unfair and unequal her husband is. This is when she finally realizes that to men we are nothing more then Just a an object. After her revelation of her identity, she begins to dissect and define her life by all the chores she is expected to perform and all of a sudden, she realizes she was serving a life sentence. Although, prison might have been a vacation compared to her lifestyle. She now addresses the everyday issues of a common house wife to help prevent similar situations.

The right brothers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The right brothers - Essay Example One of these was a toy helicopter, which sparked a love for flying in the brothers. When the toy broke down, the brothers made a replacement, a feat that illustrated their future inventive capabilities (The Wright Story, 2010). The brothers’ childhood appears to have been highly enriched by their father’s travel and family relocations to various locations in the Mid West, familial encouragement in intellectual pursuits and natural boyhood curiosity, enterprise and inventiveness (The Wright Story 2010). Milton Wright’s strict discipline, farming background experience and Susan’s mechanical ability to make useful things with her hands were imparted into their children in a warm, loving and encouraging family atmosphere. The Wright brothers were exposed to a wide ranging world of ideas through the literature in the family library, as well as their father’s travel experiences (The Wright Story 2010). Despite not being well schooled, the brothers were brought up in a creative and intellectual environment that suited pursuit of varying challenges (Wright Brothers n. d.). Wilbur was a bright, outgoing, robust and studious child who excelled in his academic pursuits and had plans to attend Yale University after graduating from high school (Wilbur 2015). However, an accident in the 1885-86 fall at the hands of an opponent’s an ice hockey stick disfigured his face resulting in a depression, drop out from high school and cancellation of college attendance plans. He became recluse, spending more time at home reading, helping out his father in his religious work and looking after his sick mother (Wilbur 2015). Susan Wright later died from tuberculosis. Orville was a mischievous and curious child given to playing pranks. Despite the fact that his family encouraged his intellectual development and academic pursuit, Orville was once expelled from school due to hi mischief. He especially loved flying kites and started making his

The Iraq War Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Iraq War - Research Paper Example Without a doubt, the Iraq War was one of the more hotly-contested wars—many people arguing that this was the next Vietnam. Some eleven-thousand American lives later, it’s possible that some people would not agree. But the Iraq War, no matter how much precedent the U.S. had to invade, will always remain in the American mindset as a colossal financial drain. Here it will be attempted to: identify and describe the Iraq War; analyze the historical and contemporary causes of the Iraq war; analyze different historical interpretations of the Iraq war; and evaluate the positive and negative outcomes of the Iraq war. II. Identification and Description of the Iraq War The Iraq War was an armed conflict that took place beginning in Iraq in 2003. Although people now state that the Iraq War is technically over, there are still U.S. troops which are occupying Iraq. It was technically supposed to have ended a few years ago, but realistically, there are still American forces there, and there probably will be for some time to come. So, even though the war is technically designated as finished, it is still not finished—if that makes sense. There is no â€Å"over† for this war. The war began when President Bush acted (without Congressional authority) to unilaterally declare war on Iraq. According to Kelly (2001), â€Å"A huge controversy arose when President Bush sent troops into Iraq on March 19, 2003 claiming that the country led by Saddam Hussein was developing weapons of mass destruction and aiding Al Qaeda operatives†¦[however,] time passed and no evidence of those weapons were found in Iraq†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pgh. 7). It was especially distressing to the American public to find out that there were, indeed, no weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq. This angered much of the public and made many Americans feel like they were tricked into going into an armed conflict without all of the available evidence laid before them first. This was a major faux pas that continues to be rehashed in the media whenever people argue about whether or not the U.S. should have invaded Iraq; it will probably be a sore spot for years to come. III. Analysis of the Historical and Contemporary Causes of the Iraq War Historically speaking, the rationale that President Bush used for going to war with Iraq was the advent of 9/11. According to Hanson (2004), â€Å"[T]here is a direct connection between Iraq and our current war on terror†¦Whether or not one believes Iraq was involved at the planning in 9/11, there is proof that it had something to do with the first World Trade Center bombing, had intelligence meetings with†¦Al Qaeda [members], [and] tried to assassinate a former president of the United States†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (pp. 245). Although 9/11 is traditionally associated with the main reasons for why Bush began his â€Å"war on terror,† another reason that many people feel he went to war with Iraq was to settle an old score with Saddam Hussein for having engaged in conflict with his father (Bush 41) in Operation Desert Storm. Many people feel that one of the sole reasons that Bush went to war with Iraq was so that he could feel vindicated on the behalf of his father. One of the contemporary causes of the Iraq War was also the fact that U.S. companies stood to make millions of dollars off of the war. Vice President Dick Cheney’s construction company Halliburton was called into Iraq for most of the reconstruction of the

Life of William Shakespeare Paper Essay Example for Free

Life of William Shakespeare Paper Essay Ever since the death of Shakespeare, his life was only well known about his plays and poems. He had written many famous Plays such as: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and etc and his famous poems were the Sonnets. Many decades have passed since his death and his plays and poems are still famous and read out loud in schools. Sadly, only a few people knew about Shakespeares life and how he became a Bard. â€Å"Details about William Shakespeare’s life are sketchy, mostly mere surmise based upon court or other clerical records.   Ã¢â‚¬  (enotes. com). Shakespeares early life was not very well known to the public at this time but according â€Å"Enotes†, he was born in Stratford upon Avon, England in 1564. According to the website william-shakespeare. org. uk. There were records of William Shakespeare being born in the â€Å"Holy Trinity parish church, in Stratford,† on April 26, 1564. His dad John Shakespeare, was a â€Å"yeoman—a glover and commodities merchant. â€Å"(enotes. com). His mother Mary, was a Land owner or as they called it back then, a landed gentry. Shakespeare was the 3rd child of the family but he was one of the childs that lived for a long time. He had 4 sisters and 4 brothers. According to William went to a grammar school until the age of fourteen but he did not continue his education at a university. In 1582, at the age of eighteen he married Anne Hathaway and had their first child, Susanna six months after their marriage in 1583. After two years, they had twins named Judith and Hamnet. It is estimated that Shakespeare arrived in London around 1588 and began to establish himself as an actor and playwright. † (bardweb. net ). According to â€Å"bardweb. net† the exact date of Shakespeare going to London is unknown but estimated to 1588. They thought Shakespeare moved to London because he was â€Å"pursued by the law for poaching deer on private property. † ( enotes. com ). The same year he was called an â€Å"upstart crow, the theater closed in London because of the Black Death plague. â€Å"By 1594 Shakespeare had joined a theater troupe known as the Lord Chamberlains Men. † During this time period, Shakespeare had expressed many of his plays but sadly, it was not to last Soon, the law had banned plays throughout the reach of London. According to â€Å"william-shakespeare. org. uk â€Å", Shakespeare was very successful in 1596 due to his performance while Queen Elizabeth the first was present. He also got permission to hang his coat of arms and he got very rich because of his career. In 1597 they started to make the Globe Theatre and finished making it in 1598 (which Shakespeare got 10% of the profit from the Globe Theatre). One day, while the Globe Theater was performing the play King Henry VIII, on June 29, 1613, there was a fire due to the cannon that was shot, since the building was made of wood, the fire spread quickly. That day, the globe theater was destroyed. Three years before the fire, Shakespeare retired and went back to Stratford upon Avon, England. Though he lived a wealthy life, according the both websites, the cause of his death was unknown. He died on April 23, 1616 at the age of fifty-two. Just four weeks before his death, on March 25, 1616, he wrote his will. In his will he gave â€Å"his properties to his daughter Susanna† (bardweb. net ). According to that website Shakespeare â€Å"he left ? 300† to his daughter Judith (who was still living at the time) and his wife he left her â€Å"his second best bed†. â€Å"William Shakespeare was buried on April 25th 1616 in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. † (william-shakespeare. org. uk ). After William Shakespeare died, he was buried 3 days after his death and according to that website his tomb was â€Å"beneath the floors of the church in the chancel†. In the end, there was almost no record of Shakespeare’s life but some records. After the death of Shakespeare people found out that he wrote those plays that were performed in the Globe Theatre. They were all written in Shakespeares First Folio. Work Citation N. P, Enotes. com, eNotes Inc. 2011, 16 Nov. 2011 L. K. , Alchin, William Shakespeare info. November 21 2005. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. Pressley, J. M. Bard web the Shakespeare Resource Center 1997-2011 16 November 2011.