Culture: East and West
1. Differences between East and West
And this time I thought we could look at some of the key differences that people often notice between Eastern and Western cultures.
Now these things are generalisations, but they generally hold true for a lot of Eastern and Western cultures, and can be helpful in understanding differences between the cultures. But they can also help us see what an ABC is…
Here are some of the key differences between East and West.
1. Individualism vs. collectivism
West: People tend to make decisions for themselves, as individuals.East: People tend to make decisions for each other, as a whole group.
2. Confrontation vs. consensus
West: Differences in meetings tend to be resolved via confrontation.East: Differences in meetings tend to be resolved via consensus.
3. Friends vs. family
West: We tend to treasure the opinion and company of friends.East: We tend to treasure the opinion and company of family.
4. Guilt/innocence vs. shame/honour
West: People in society are driven by fear of guilt, and are redeemed by proving yourself innocent.East: People in society are driven by a fear of shame, and are redeemed by doing the honourable thing.
5. Theory vs. pragmatism
West: Decision making is primarily driven by rationalism and theories.East: Decision making is primarily driven by what works to get the desired results.
6. Independence vs. responsibility
West: Parents want to see their children become independent.East: Parents want to see their children become responsible.
7. Young vs. old
West: Youth and vigour is respected. New ideas and innovation are treasured.East: Age and wisdom is respected. Old, time-tested ways are treasured.
Again, these are generalisations. You will almost certainly find counter-examples for each area! But for the most part you’ll find that these differences hold true.
2. Baptising the differences
A danger that Christians can sometimes fall into is to baptise their cultural preferences in the gospel – and to automatically assume that what their culture does is simply the Christian thing to do. This is called ethnocentrism (see previous post) – and can lead to great hurt in bi-cultural situations.
The thing is that Eastern and Western cultures both tend to be informed by non-Christian philosophies, whether it be Western Individualism, or Confucianism. When people become Christians they see things in the Bible that seem to resonate with their culture – and these are the things they highlight.
For instance an Eastern Christian might see Paul’s call for unity in Ephesians 4 and assume it is the uniformity that he has been trained to appreciate. Or a Western Christian might see Jesus’ warnings in Matthew 10 that he would even divide families – and assume this is the the individualism that he has been trained to appreciate. And so in a bi-cultural setting, each group can end up seeing their culturally-preffered approach as being the Christian thing to do - and the other group as acting wickedly!
What both groups need to do is to allow the gospel to critique their culture. To hear the things that they find pleasant and expected, as well as to hear the unpleasant and the unexpected. To be alert as to whether they are merely acting selfishly and in line with what comes naturally for their culture – or whether they are doing the loving thing for the sake of the gospel.
3. What about the ABC?
You’ll find that the ABC is not entirely Eastern or Western. They have been partially influenced by their school education and the things they watch on TV, and from these pick up Western values. And they have also been partially influenced by their parents and relatives, and from these pick up Eastern values. In their cultural makeup they have actually collected things from both sides!
A lot of this influencing happens early on in life, particularly before and during primary school. This is why people who migrate to Australia after primary school still seem fairly ‘honky’ (like OBCs), while those who came earlier in primary school (or in fact were born here) have a blend of East and West in them (the ABC).
And sometimes, they will even have contradictory elements in their worldview. Things that seem to tear them in two different directions! An ABC will feel the desire to argue things out in a meeting (from the western individualism they learn at school and in the media) – yet at the same time feel uneasy about moving forward without consesnsus (from the collectivisim they learnt in the family home)!
Both of these values can somehow coexist together in the one person, though sometimes they can lead to great internal tension and turmoil about things that those from a mono-cultural background can’t understand.
This is what makes the ABC such a unique creature: able to function in different cultures, yet not entirely at home in either, and full of tension within!
[ PS: can you suggest other facets of Eastern/Western culture? ]
Categories: Chinese culture
Nicely summarized.I spent first 12 years of my life in China, latter 11 years in Canada and right now I\’m studying in United States. I can definitely feel there\’s quite a big difference in eastern and Western culture although I still have many good Western friends. Sometimes I can confused about my morality and decisions especially the decision to marry a Westerner or Chinese.