Comparison between the Western culture and Eastern culture.

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 2^nd most watched game by Indians and the Indian national soccer team is ranked 156^th 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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