Individualism versus collectivism. Initially, a heuristic answer comes up to mind – Korea is a collectivist country. It is really so – people give a lot of focus to group and team work. They do not behave like the “smarty pants” in the class, though it was sometimes obvious that some students wanted to ask something or knew the answer to the teacher’s question, they still kept silence not to act out of line. They learn “how to do” rather than “how to learn” – that is why they do not question the material they are taught. The relationships in the group prevail over the task – team members spend very much time together, not only for the project reasons, but to have fun.
However, personal achievements also play a role, people are protecting their
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Therefore, we can say that Korean culture can be treated as both masculine and feminine. This is supported by the recent studies as well (Rhee, 2002).
Long-term versus short-term time orientation. It is hard to judge about this dimension from the micro-level. It seems like Koreans are mostly long-term oriented because they attribute their failures to their own lack of effort, and they are always trying to adapt to the situation. The fast economic growth of the country after the Japanese war also indicates long-term orientation.
Indulgence versus restraint. People’s faces in the public places in Korea are very similar to the faces of Russian people – they are always very serious and thoughtful, seldom smiling. It can be interpreted as the generally low happiness of people. The sexual norms are strict in Korea – as I have already mentioned above, even the dorms are separated into boys’ and girls’. Despite the good economy, Koreans are very slim. All these are the indicators of a restrained
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Korea was almost ruined in the war with Japan about 60 years ago, but by the time I was there, they have built up an entire country with the skyscrapers, high-speed trains, progressive technologies, smartphones, etc. Everything that people need for life is produced in the country. I have noticed that Samsung, which is usually perceived as a smartphones and TVs manufacturers, also produces elevators, shopping malls, hospitals and amusement parks. So, the country is highly industrial and very rapidly developing. The cities are big, there are several metropolitan cities. The societal structure is also complex. There are still eating places where old Koreans cook homemade food for very cheap and mobile shoes repairing cabins where a husband and a wife work together. And there are huge business centers (famous Gangnam district, for example), where white collars spend a big part of their lifetime. In Korea, you can meet people in the streets wearing traditional dresses (not always, but during the holidays there are many such dresses). At the same time, the modern pop-culture is everywhere: they have posters, K-pop stars in the advertisements, pop music playing everywhere, people in the transport watching Korean series on their smartphones. So, the traditional and modern cultures mix and intersect a lot. All those things support the idea of a complexity of the Korean
Individuality’s Role in Society Anthem is a dystopian novel written by Russian author Ayn Rand in 1937. Ayn Rand was avid about the importance of the individual, and she supported a hands off government, where the people define and sustain themselves. Ayn Rand’s interest in the government’s effect on society certainly led into her creation of Anthem. At the start of the novel, Equality 7-2521, the protagonist, writes from a secluded tunnel and shares about the dystopian society he lives in which prevents education, and individualism. The society prevents individuals from learning on their own, having questions, doubting their elders, and threatens any sort of rebellion or individuality with extreme punishment.
North Korea is under a communist rule. One of the aspects of communism is that the amount they get paid from jobs is according to abilities. This is similar to Equality 72521’s position as a street sweeper- he was assigned this because he was different from the others and they knew what he was capable of with his pride and intelligence. The council placed him in a lower class because he had more abilities than the rest of the people and being different is unaccepted.
Soon after her arrival, Lee discovers the students divided themselves into distinctive groups: Koreans, Asians, Asian Americans, or New Wavers. The Korean-identified students thought of themselves as superior and distanced themselves from all other Asians. They
It is common in South Korea, that people trying hard to maintain the condition of Kibun both in personal and professional business life. This is usually shown by respecting others’ opinion, feeling, be polite, be friendly, and do their best when doing something. One more thing, there is Nunchi in South Korea, which means the way people examining non-verbal, tone, and body language by using eye. The things spoken may not always be the true meaning, for example, they say “Are you sleepy?” And if you answer “No”, it might hurt their feeling, because by asking that, implicitly they want to tell you they were sleepy and wanted to go to bed.
In Korea nowadays, the personality of a person is not judged based on their sex. Women are not expected to be shy and passive; not all women are clean and organized. Men are not expected to be tough and belligerent; not all men are lazy and disorganized. Although gender expectation greatly impacts the Youngers by categorizing them to superior and inferior, it scarcely affects people’s identity in
From that, Korean and American cultures are similar and difference in many ways. First of all, I want to start with the comparison between how American and Korean treat older people. For Americans, when you speak to older people you can call them by name or you or Sir or Ma’am or whatever, but for Korean, you have to call older people by name and ‘님’ or ‘선생님’ like in English word Sir or Ma’am. If you are Korean and you call your father as “you”, you will get slapped. When I first heard my friend call his grand-father by name, I was thinking how they are disrespect older people, it is not acceptable in Korea.
The current relationship between South Korea and North Korea is very similar to how the United States and the Soviet Union were in the Cold War. As the World War II came to an end, so did the Japanese occupation in the Korean peninsula from the Soviet
After the Seoul Olympics in 1988 and the increasingly presence of western and globalization influence, Korea embraced the era of “technological reproducibility” and sheer industrialization (Kim 26). This fact is evident in
Thus, none of them have isolated from one another, especially the Asian American community. The Korean American community in Gook challenged the Model Minority Myth, since it did not stand above the other ethnic communities as a
A prime example of this can be found when the Koreans tell the boy, “You must try to be smarter than those Japanese boys” (Kim, 1988, p. 25). The boy
Individualism versus Collectivism: This element of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions describes if the primary function of a person in a society is more being an individual or part of the group of a society. In individualistic societies people follow their own interest very strictly and are relatively loose on societal morals. Competition in these societies is normal, the ideology exists that people who compete the best are rewarded financially. Examples for strong individual societies are: Canada, Australia and the United States.
Neher wk 2, Ruth (1 day late – vacation) In this section, I am choosing China to do my research of the cultural dimensions. Individualism and Collectivism in China are not even considered. Individualism is about ones self and doing what needs to be done for yourself not others, based on independence. Collectivism is based on group goals rather than individual goals.
After the war, in 1948, Korea was split in two. The Republic of Korea, controlled by the Allies, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, ruled by the Soviets. Both considering themselves the ruling government there was tension which led to North Korea’s invasion of the South on June 25th, 1950. This sparked the Korean war between the American and the Vietnamese. In 1953 the war was over and Korea was still split in two with a De militarized zone in between.
Masculinity versus femininity This dimension doesn’t correlate directly with gender roles or behaviours. Instead this is more orientated towards specific traits that Hofstede has defined as masculine and low masculine (femininity). A high masculine culture is characterized by focusing on money, possessions, and traditional family values. Feminine cultures are said to be relationship oriented, focused on quality of life, and failing is generally more accepted. This is best describe by the commonly used phrase “Americans live to work, while Europeans work to live.
It’s my first time that I have listened to the Korean people speak in real situation. These are so exciting experiences. I joined the conference that held at Anseong. So, I have seen other views of Korea that differ from Seoul. Although Korea has advanced technology, but also perfect combined traditional culture.