Comparison between the culture of United States and
India
By: MD. SIFATULLAH
Introduction:
Culture defines the way people do things and the way
of their life. Different groups of people do things differently and their
culture also varies for this reason. Through the learning process culture is
passed on to the subsequent generations but genetics are usually passed on by
heredity. People’s cooking, religion, clothing, music, writing and many other
things show the difference of each region to other regions. Culture can be
described by the arts and social interactions of a particular region along with
their customs where high culture can be defined by the excellence of taste in
fine arts and humanities. Attitudes, beliefs, morality, outlooks, customs,
norms, knowledge, behavior are the things that differ mostly among different
cultures (Davis, 2011). In
the whole world there are many cultures, such as, Western culture, Eastern
culture, Latin culture, Middle Eastern culture and African culture. For this
assignment purpose, I am choosing western culture and eastern culture and for
that United States and India are chosen respectively.
Western culture and Eastern culture:
Western culture is defined by the culture of
European countries or those countries which are greatly influenced by the
European countries. Heritage of social norms, beliefs, political systems,
customs and values differ western culture from other culture. Not only the
European countries follow the western culture but also those countries which
are strongly influenced by the immigration of Europe follow western culture.
For example, America and Australia are countries that follow European culture (Widdig, 2007).
With Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome the historical records of western culture
was begun in Europe. With the passage of time, European culture developed with
wide range of philosophy, mysticism, Christian and humanism. The rational
thinking of European people also developed over the time.
Eastern culture is defined by the social norms,
customs, beliefs, attitudes and other natural thoughts of the countries that
are located in the east of Europe. For example, China, Japan, Korea and Indian
subcontinent are some countries that follow eastern culture (Fiske, 2011).
Eastern culture is also influenced but not by the other countries like western.
Rather eastern culture is heavily influenced by religious factors. It has been
also found that people following eastern culture are more family oriented, more
emotional and more focused on agricultural sectors Eastern culture is
considered to be more colorful and more interesting. Moreover, Asia is
considered to be the world’s most populated continent having the most
diversified culture (Jaroszyński, 2007).
Culture of United States and India:
The culture of United States of America is western
but greatly influenced by African, Native American and Latin American culture.
Its characteristics those differ from other cultures are its music, social
habits, cuisine, dialect, arts, beliefs, attitudes. United States is one of the
most diversified countries in culture in the world and it is difficult to find
any region of the world that is not influenced by this culture (Bahadur, 2007).
That is why it is called that United States has a culture that is shaped by
some other cultures that are Native Americans, Latin Americans, Africans and Asians.
The United States is sometimes also defined as ‘melting pot’ as many cultures
have contributed their own unique culture to its culture. Culture of United
States involves how the people of United States wear clothes, what they were,
what food they have usually and occasionally, what things they believe right or
wrong, in which religion they believe or not, how they talk with people, how
they greet new people or visitors, what music they love, what language they use
along with many other things. On the other hand, culture of India is regarded
as most colorful and interesting culture(Mumford, 2016).
It is believed that Indian culture is greatly influenced by ’Dharmic’ religion.
Indian culture is diversified enough and its languages, dance, music, food,
religions, customs and many other things differ from place to place even within
the country. India has got many historical places which are famous for their
uniqueness. Food, cloth, etiquette all is different in different places of
India (Ḥusain,
2010). Christianity
is commonly followed by the people of United States but in India Hinduism and
Islam is mostly followed and performed. People are found very religious mined
in India and love spicy foods. Both United States and India have diversified
culture but differences also prevail between them.
Comparison between the culture of United States and India:
There are numerous differences between United
States’ culture and Indian culture. They are educated in distinctively
different ways. Their way of living, behaving and all the necessary and natural
activities differs due to regional differences. They also vary when it comes
about their attitude toward life and love and individual’s personality (Taylor, 2012). Usually
Indian people follow the natural order of time and do necessary works following
steps but people from United States prefer to live in space which means they
prefer their will and what they want to do. If we talk about personality,
Indian people tend to be submissive and do not feel like leading staffs. They
try to avoid big responsibilities (Widdig, 2007).
They often think more and do less but people of United States are quite
different. They do more and think less. They enjoy leading and taking
responsibilities at the same time. It has been also found that people from
western culture often lead the people from eastern culture but the opposite
doesn’t happen frequently. Another important fact is attitude toward love.
Indian people are found more serious and practical when it comes about the
person they love. Marriage is regarded the ultimate destination of love life
but the people of United States are not that serious about this matter (Goody, 2014).
If they love someone they try to impress and they rarely get married before
they make sure that they love each other. Another fact is people from United
States usually take decisions by their own but in India parents take the
decision of marriage as it is considered to be very crucial decision of life.
Because parents of India think they understand better what is good for their
children but parents from United States think it is best when someone take his
or her decision by own. Besides these facts there are many important facts that
show the cultural differences between United States and India. Some of them are
described below:
Rigid
Beliefs:
Indian people tend to follow traditional values more
often that United States’ people. People from India are found more rigid in
their own ideologies and beliefs that have been taught them from their
childhood. For them the truth is what they have been watching and teaching.
Even if the authenticity of the values were fading its validity in modern terms
they are not permitted to think against that. They are emotional people and
when they take any decision emotion plays a great role (Bahadur, 2007).
But when it comes about people of United States, they take things simply. They
are rational thinker not emotional. It is not like that they don’t have emotion
but they use their emotion less when they make any decision. Their actions are
not driven by emotion and that is how they achieve their goals in life(Davis, 2011).
Forthrightness:
People from United States are known for their
openness. They take things easily in front of any situation or people. For
example, they discuss several topics with their children like, child birth or
sex. When talking about these things in front of any elder or younger person is
still considered as taboo in India. The lack of openness among the people of
India makes thing bit difficult to discuss and sole when any problem occurs (Jaroszyński, 2007).
It is also found that children from India are not that free with their parents
but children of United States are more free with their parents which is an
important thing for any child to overcome his or her queries which also
improves the metal development of the children. Openness is important for
people of any age but Indian people lack to be more open when it comes about
different generation of people before them which is regarded as very common
issue for people of United States (Fiske, 2011). So, this is an
important fact that differs between the culture of United States’ people and
Indian people.
Status
of Female:
Status of female is different in United States and
in India. A female is free to live her life as she wants and she can make her
own decisions in United States but in India a female has to live her live
according to her paternal family’s wish or husband’s wish. She doesn’t have the
right to make a decision by her own (Widdig, 2007).
She has to take permission before doing anything. In the matter of priorities,
female of United States can set her priorities which also involves big
decisions such marriage and having children but in India the opinion of a
female is less regarded. She has to prioritize her family over anything else
and does not have the any opinion when it comes about marriage or having child
(Bahadur, 2007).
Another thing is, in India it is expected that women will sacrifice her
professional life for the sake of her marriage life or rearing children so that
she can take good care of her family but in United States the case is not same
as women enjoy all the facilities equally and get a chance to make balance in
professional life and family life.
Language:
There is no official language of the United States,
according to the United States government. But around ninety percent of United
States people frequently speaks and understands English. But there are some
other languages which are mostly used in United States and those are French,
Spanish, German and Chinese (Widdig, 2007). But mostly used
official language is English. Hindi is the official language in India but
English is regarded as a provisional official sub-language. There are different
official languages for different states of India but the constitution also
allows the use of English as official purposes. From one survey it has been
found that around 63% people of United States use English as language and
remaining others use Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Spanish and other
languages and in India around 51% people use Hindi as their language And other people use Tamil, Marathi, Gujrati or
Bengali as their language. So, in language perspective it can be said that both
the countries have their own uniqueness.
Food:
Cuisine of United States was influenced by Europeans
and Native Americans. Today there are a number of foods that are mostly known
as Americans. Hamburgers, hot dogs, meat loaf, cacaroni and cheese, potato
chips are the foods which are meant to be American food. The style of cooking
these foods varies in different regions of United States (Bahadur, 2007).
On the other hand, in India the traditional food has been receiving lot of
appreciations. India has different style of cooking and has the uniqueness of
using herbs and spices which is rare in the food of United States.
In India the cuisine also differs within the country
as there are so many types of cuisines. For example, Bengali food, Gujarati
food, Kashmiri food, Mughlai cuisine, Panjabi food, Rajasthani food. Different
state has different food of its own and bear specialty in those cuisines (Goody, 2014).
Sports:
The United States is regarded as a sports-minded
country. It has millions of fans who follow the most enjoyed sports, such as,
football, basket6ball, hockey, baseball. Baseball is a different kind of sport
played in the United States. It was developed in colonial America and became an
amazing sport for the people of United States (Richardson, 2011).
They also enjoy football a lot and its quite popular sport among them. Sport is
regarded as an important part of Indian culture. Cricket is the most popular sport in India.
India has won the World Cup for 2 times (1983&2011), T20 World Cup 2007,
and ICC Champions Trophy 2013 having some legendary cricketers like Kapil Dev,
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and many more.
Soccer is 2nd most watched game by Indians and the Indian
national soccer team is ranked 156th in FIFA ranking. So this is
also a popular sport among Indians.
Besides these sports, field hockey, badminton, tennis, chess, motor
sports, wrestling, table tennis, basketball are some sports that are mostly
enjoyed by the people of India (Bahadur, 2007).
Festivals:
India is very well known for its cultural and
traditional festivals in all over the world. It has many cultures and religions
as a result the number of festivals is also higher. One can easily attend any
festival celebration almost in every month of the year (Goody, 2014).
People from different religion have own traditional festivals but there are
even some festivals that are celebrated by the people of all religion, cast,
language. Celebrating the festivals holds a great significance in the life of
Indian people (Richardson, 2011). Most celebrated festivals
of Hindu people are Holi, Chaitra Navaratri, Janmastami, Diwali, Durga Puja
etc. Muslim people living in India also
celebrate many festivals like Eid-ul-Fitr, Eid-ul-Adha, Muharram, Ramadan,
Jamat-ul-vida etc.
Most of the public holidays in the United States
have either political or historical background. But apart from that, people of
United States celebrate some festivals that have been brought along to the new
world by the ethnic groups of people in United States. The most celebrated
festival is Christmas Day. Though this festival is celebrated all over the
world but people of United States celebrate it in such flamboyant style (Richardson, 2011).
Homes, trees and outdoor are decorated with fairy lights and special part is
Santa Claus figures. Halloween is another popular festival among the people of
United States. This festival is all about remembering the souls that had not
made up to heaven and also keep the transience of earthy existence in mind. The
main focus of this festive is on scary dressing up and it is wholly pranked
based festival. Besides these festivals, people of United States celebrate
other festivals like Valentines’ day, independence day, thanksgiving etc.
Though both the countries celebrate lots of festivals but there are huge
differences between the way of celebrating those festivals and the festivals
themselves.
Conclusion:
It is said, ‘East is east and West is west, neither
is better nor worse than the other’. Considering India having eastern culture
and United States having western culture we can only say that both the
countries have diversified culture which hold much uniqueness of their own. The
differences are not only because of its demographical differences rather religion,
beliefs, values, attitude toward life are most effective reasons for the
cultural differences. Culture is something that has been following for many
years by the beholders and has differences even within one country as the way
of celebrating is not same in all parts of the country or even in the world.
But it is also true that culture does not remain the same as before because it
changes over the time or the way of celebrating also changes for the
betterment. The characteristics of each culture are shown in people’s behavior,
personalities and way of living life and that’s how the culture plays a great
role in the life of people from India and United States.
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Ḥusain, S. (2010). The national culture of India. New Delhi:
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P. (2007). Science in culture. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
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