Compare and contrast the components of culture

CULTURAL COMPARISON

Comparing and Contrasting two Distinct Cultures

Cultural Comparison

Introduction

Culture is a unique attribute of human beings that demarcate people over world on basis of their customs , beliefs , ideas , morals characteristics , knowledge and set of values . Culture has been the greatest determinant of progress of civilization , binding the separate isolated groups of individuals in form of societies founded on certain common principles while retaining scope of individual expansion and intellectual growth (Aronson , 1995 . The distinction and variation induced due to numerous cultural components has resulted in the

immense diversity and broadness , enriching the experience of human civilization This looks at different cultural components that demarcate United States of America and Mexico , two neighbor countries sharing same geographical location , but widely different in their individual social political , economic , and cultural evolution

Value component of culture

The value component of various culture are generally measured over four parameters of (i ) Individualism /Collectivism component (ii ) Hierarchy component (iii ) Risk taking /Conventional approach (iv ) gender power (Hofstede , 1980 . USA and Mexico show considerable variance on these parameters . The cultural progression of Mexico makes it a society that focuses on collective performance and collective more than individual achievements , whereas USA 's culture is prominently reflected in it being a highly individualistic country . The society of Mexico shows a high degree of hierarchy , where personal and social power is divided on basis of position . In contrast , USA has a well structured meritocracy based system , where every individual is entitled every position of power based on their individual capacity and faculties . Mexico is a high gender society , where males predominate in social , economic and political spheres while USA is a egalitarian , equality based country that principally and effectively treats every individual alike (Diaz and Draguns , 1999

Social Component of Culture

The social component of culture defines the placeholder and roles of individual , family , friends , spouse , children and peers in the context of self , society and the nation (Diaz and Draguns , 1999 . Mexicans conform to a family oriented society , with deep emotional affiliation within families , great emphasis on inter-personal relations , love , care and obedience to elders , forwarding the interests of family members spouse and children before the self . Mexican parents have an extended role to play in life of their children , from ensuring their education to their acculturization in the family and social system . Mexican society prefers joint family system with two or three generations sharing the same roofs . American family system , on the other hand , is strictly limited to the nuclear scale of husband , wife and kids , placing high value on individual happiness and accomplishments (ibid . While Mexican families are deeply bounded by love and care and hence are closely knit American families are focused on aggressively pursuing economic interests and promote the spirit of risk undertaking

traveling and even opt for possible settlements in distant geographic regions as the need comes

Thus Mexican culture has strongly embedded components of unity collectivism , cohesion , and mutual help . On the other hand , the culture of USA...