Module 2 Assignment - Differences

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Module 2

Significant differences exists among western and eastern cultures. The western society is following individual rules and apparent in every aspects of life such as workplace, family and relationships. This indicates that people in west are valuing personal achievements more than group efforts. They are more concerned about validation of self-esteem that is against the ideology of collectivism. Eastern culture is based on the ideology of collectivism. They consider that community is more important than individualism. People are more likely to undermine their individual abilities due to their reliance on group efforts. Individualism is discouraged and considered as a negative personality trait. The society believes that individualism or self-esteem is a rude gesture.

Western society is more materialistic compared to the eastern society. People in the west give priority to focal objects and undermine relationships. They believe that success can be measured by the possession of wealth and objects. They spend more time on making money than building strong bonds with family. "Westerners pay attention to the focal object, while Asians attend more broadly to the overall surroundings and to the relations between the object and the field" CITATION Zee05 \l 1033 (Merali, 2005). Compared to them, eastern focus on the surroundings and the people. They believe on the philosophy of establishing strong relationship with others. They give less attention to the objects than people. Success for them is not the product of material possessions or wealth. The difference also reveals that westerns are self-centered because their purpose of making money is to satisfy self. They believe that maximization of material wealth will lead to increased pleasure. Easters don’t relate satisfaction with material possession because they focus more on real relationships. Their purpose of earning money is also to help everyone in the family.

The emphasis of the Asians is on harmony because they think about the whole family. “Harmony is a central idea in East Asian philosophy, and so there is more emphasis on how things relate to the whole” CITATION Zee05 \l 1033 (Merali, 2005). On contrary people in the west are only concerned about attaining personal goals. They don’t think about the whole and believe in personal gain only. Another difference between two cultures is of varying response towards race and ethnicities. In west society is more likely to distinguish between blacks and whites. Westerners discriminate African-Americans due to their black color. Discrimination is apparent in every aspects of society such as in education, workplace and politics. Compared to that Asians don’t differentiate among blacks and whites. They exhibit equal and non-discriminatory treatment towards others.

The workplace is different in both cultures because in west organizations provide separate design workplace for the workers. In east open-plan work environment is more common in companies. In west the staff takes more time in developing relationship with others. While in Asian countries employees establish relationships more early CITATION Mic19 \l 1033 (Michelini, 2019). The level of trust among co-workers is also high in Asian countries compared to west. Eastern companies are still relying on old traditional ways of working while west has integrated technology. Asian countries still recognize the worth of manual work while in west the organizations are following the idea of technological world.

People in east are inflexible and are more inclined to follow old myths and beliefs. They stick longer to their customs and traditions and value their connections with their culture. While in west people don’t believe on myths and more easily adapt to the new environment and accept change. Easters are not comfortable with change and like to follow older ways of lifestyle.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Merali, Z. (2005). Westerners and Easterners see the world differently . Retrieved 07 28, 2019, from https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7882-westerners-and-easterners-see-the-world-differently/

Michelini, M. (2019). The Differences Between East And West In Terms Of Culture And Education. Retrieved 07 28, 2019, from https://www.globalfromasia.com/east-west-differences/