WHEN CULTURES COLLIDE
Cultures are fabulous, in every continent we can find a wide variety of customs and ideas of a society.
This book emphasizes the importance of these differences, it mentions how each culture has a different perspective of life and a different ideology of it, it is amazing to see that something is normal for us but in other cultures is totally unusual, strange and sometimes punished.
When we go abroad and we interact with a new culture, it is important to get used to their way of living, so that, we do not get in trouble for doing things that are not accepted as in our own culture. So, we can say that the closer we stick to the rules of a society, the more accepted we become because we need to fit in to be part of a group and so to be able to do things without any fear.
In the book something is mention which was really attractive to me, it is about time and the different conceptions about it, for some to arrive late to a meeting it is normal such as Italians, however, for others time is sacred, Germans are obsessed with time, they seem to be like clocks, they really appreciate the time, they do not like make people wait for a meeting and obviously they do not want to wait either.
Some cultures are very strict, they really are attached to the rules and ways of behavior that is expected from them, let us mention Japanese people, they are very hardworking people, they have a deep sense of respect for elders and for the different hierarchies in their society.
Another interesting point of cultures is the CHAUVINISM, every society believes that is better than others, those beliefs have existed for many centuries and still we can hear that way of thinking, there are some groups of people that do not allow marriage with a person that does not belong to their society because they do not want a race mix, they believe that their race has to be unique and never to be mixed with other.
I would like to say something about my country which is Mexico. Americans, Asians and Europeans think that Mexicans are just for manual work to be in the fields, factories and cleaning areas and also they think that Mexicans are lazy people, irresponsible, etc. that is why, in the United States where many cultures can be found see Mexicans like that because most Mexicans who live and work there are from poor areas of Mexico, so, that means that most of them do not have good level of education and preparation.
The study of cultures and the relations among them it is rather wide and interesting to understand their behavior.
