This week, cultural misunderstanding is shown clearly in the video. It is really funny when you look and analyse it. In Singapore where it is a multi racial country you will definitely see some cultural actions. E.g. my grandpa is an Indian and whenever he answers yes or no, he will have this slight movement of a head gesture. For the Muslim Malays, whenever they meet, they won’t say hello but “Peace be upon you” in Arabic. I hope you understand what I mean. Different culture groups will have their own signature cultural action.
Following on to Individualism and Collectivism; In Singapore, to me, I think it depends on where you are located. Say example in the city (Orchard Road or Raffles Place) where it is CBD area and people are always busy with individual work. No time to eat; no time for this that; everything is in a rush. If something were to happen, a man to fall in the streets. Not a single person will come up to give a helping hand; instead surrounding people will stand and stare. I saw this situation my own eyes and I came up to the man from far to help. Once I came to the man, everything goes back to normal. If you were in a neighbourhood area, people are more collectivism. Another example of which I’ve seen is a young school girl’s purse being stolen by a thief. The moment she shouted “help thief” immediately you can see people of all races chasing down the thief. If this situation were to happen in the CBD area, I might think that maybe just 1 will go after the thief as the rest will just stand to watch. People are so busy that they don’t have the time to catch thief and if they do, they will be late for work.
Following on to Individualism and Collectivism; In Singapore, to me, I think it depends on where you are located. Say example in the city (Orchard Road or Raffles Place) where it is CBD area and people are always busy with individual work. No time to eat; no time for this that; everything is in a rush. If something were to happen, a man to fall in the streets. Not a single person will come up to give a helping hand; instead surrounding people will stand and stare. I saw this situation my own eyes and I came up to the man from far to help. Once I came to the man, everything goes back to normal. If you were in a neighbourhood area, people are more collectivism. Another example of which I’ve seen is a young school girl’s purse being stolen by a thief. The moment she shouted “help thief” immediately you can see people of all races chasing down the thief. If this situation were to happen in the CBD area, I might think that maybe just 1 will go after the thief as the rest will just stand to watch. People are so busy that they don’t have the time to catch thief and if they do, they will be late for work.
It seems that in Singapore many sub-cultures exist, the urban culture and kampong culture. They may even be further divided into more sub-cultures. Thus overgeneralizations about a cultural group can be risky, though sometimes useful.
ReplyDelete