東西方文化差異 Cultural Differences between the East and the West
Culture, according to the definition given by Hofstede, is the collective mental programming of the people in an environment, conditioned by the same education and life experience. Therefore, there are differences between various nations or regions, because people are affected by education, society and work experience. Take the cultural difference between the East and the West as the example, China is a country that endures high power distance while America endures lower power distance. Therefore, status symbol is very important for Chinese and a superior having the privilege is a matter of course. But PEOPLE IN AMERICA think that they are all equal. Besides, the westerns are individualistic while the easterners are more collectivistic. In individualistic societies, people focus on their own values and needs, relying on individual efforts to serve their interests. In the collectivistic nations, people combine themselves into one or several communities, finding their own place in the group and they mentally rely on the community, so harmony seems important in those nations. There are three main differences between the East and the West, namely uncertainty avoidance index, masculine versus femininity and long vs. short term orientation.
根據霍夫斯泰德對文化所下的定義，文化是在同一個環境中的人們所具有的“共同的心理程序”，是由相同的教育背景和生活經歷所決定的。因此，各個不同的民族或地域之前會存在文化差異，因為其中的人會受到教育、社會和工作經驗的影響。以東西方的文化差異為例，中國是一個崇尚大權力距離的國家，而美國是權力距離相對較小的國家。因此，地位象征對中國人來說尤為重要，認為上級所擁有的特權是理所當然的；而美國人則認為人與人之間是平等的。此外，西方人相對比較個人主義而東方人則更看重集體主義。在個人主義的社會中，人們重視自身的價值和需要，依靠個人的努力來為自己謀取利益，而在集體主義國家，人們把自己融入到一個或幾個集體中，在這些集體中找到屬于自己的位置，人們在精神上依賴于集體，因此，和諧在這些國家中顯得尤為重要。在東西方文化中，還存在以下三個主要的文化差異，即不確定性規避、男性度與女性度以及長期取向與短期取向。
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