What does "culture shock" mean?

Cultural shock refers to a person's psychological state of anxiety and depression caused by social isolation, rather than a pathological shock caused by illness in clinic. This kind of psychological state is often caused by suddenly being in a different cultural life environment or leaving the original cultural life environment for a long time, and then returning to its original cultural life environment; It may also be caused by being loyal to two or more cultural psychology at the same time. When ethnic groups with different cultural backgrounds undergo fundamental changes due to their cultural living environment, cultural shock is common among immigrants or in a society.

In recent years, the research on cross-cultural and socio-cultural changes, mental state and mental health has attracted more and more attention from various countries and nations. So it's reported all over the world. For example, Danish scholar Mirdar conducted a survey of female Turkish immigrants and found that most of these female immigrants have psychological and physiological reactions, most of which are nervous. Besides diseases, occupations, crowded housing and other factors, it is also related to the long-term separation of husband and wife, education level, religious beliefs, conflicts between values and lifestyle and local cultural and living environment, language barriers and other factors. At the same time, this immigrant has serious psychological anxiety, helplessness and depression.

Graves' survey in New Zealand shows that not all immigrants are accompanied by psychological problems. For example, Indonesians who immigrated to New Zealand have low educational level, little experience in city life, many people to support and few psychological problems. Through personality survey, it is found that most of these immigrants are not aggressive and gentle, which has played a role in buffering the pressure of social environment.

Gurney studied the mental health problems in the development of American nation from a macro perspective. The results show that people's achievement, aggression and psychological distress depend on competitiveness and interpersonal relationships; When there is a high level of social coordination, people's aggression and psychological troubles will be reduced, but the level of achievement will not be affected. In other words, people don't have to reduce social pressure at the expense of reducing their progress in achievement. In the process of modernization, escaping aggression and psychological distress is regarded as an inevitable side effect. However, this side effect can be weakened or even eliminated by promoting social cooperative behavior, such as a behavior pattern that is beneficial to both individuals and society.

China is a multi-ethnic country with a vast territory. The domestic regions, ethnic cultures and economic development are different and unbalanced, and there are great differences in culture and folk customs. At the same time, with the deepening of modern economic construction and opening up, the interaction with foreign cultures has become increasingly prominent, and the research in this area has gradually increased.

For example, after the Japanese invaders surrendered in World War II, the Japanese left about 3,000 children in northeast China. In recent years, many of these "Japanese orphans" have returned to Japan to find their relatives with the help of the people. It is estimated that nearly 1,000 Japanese orphans in China and their families have moved to Japan so far, and many Japanese orphans and their families still live in China. These Japanese orphans grew up in the cultural environment of China and spent 30 or 40 years. Although I "returned" to Japan, I was faced with a brand-new and different social and living environment. Naturally, there were adaptation problems, and it would be more difficult to adapt in language, lifestyle, economy and other aspects. Japanese scholar Keisuke Eda investigated the psychological adaptation of 86 Japanese, 77 Japanese spouses and 203 children after living in Japan for three months. The results show that anxiety, compulsion, hostility and terror in the Japanese group have increased significantly; Anxiety and hostility among spouses have increased significantly, which is related to the intensity of migration motivation. The stronger the spouse, the more obvious the increase. It shows that the higher the motivation to live at first, the more psychological problems will be shown. Secondly, the ability to master a new language and adapt to a new cultural environment are also important factors.

Cultural shock is a temporary psychological state of social isolation, anxiety and depression caused by a person suddenly being in a new and different cultural life environment. The changes of people's anxiety and depression experience are obviously temporal and conditional. In addition, these emotions are also related to personality and their own values, especially those who pursue perfection excessively, are afraid of failure or seek recognition, and regard their happiness as coming from the outside world, which are most likely to cause psychological conflicts. Therefore, in order to prevent cultural shock, we need to improve our psychological quality besides increasing our adaptability to new and different cultural living environments.

Author Zhen Zhongke, associate professor, secretary general of Beijing Mental Health Association.

Cultural Shock and Xenophobia —— A Sociologist's Understanding of Visiting the United States

Author: Wen Jun | April 200414,09: 43 | Original source: Century China | Abstract.

"Cultural shock" is a concept put forward by American anthropologist Calvero oberg in 1958. It refers to a feeling of loss, doubt, rejection and even fear when a person enters a strange cultural environment because he has lost all the symbols and means of social communication that he is familiar with. "Shock" originally refers to the loss of important human functions, such as excessive blood loss and respiratory and circulatory failure. However, when a person who has lived in his own culture for a long time suddenly comes to another completely different new cultural environment, this cultural shock often happens for a period of time. Soon after I arrived in America, I felt this "culture shock" strongly.

Although I studied sociology, I was fully prepared before I went to America, especially in social culture and lifestyle. I read a lot of books about American history, culture and social customs, and thought I had a good understanding of American society, but I still felt strongly uncomfortable after going to America. The reason is not only because of the huge cultural differences between China and the United States, but also because of the huge contrast of the whole social environment. For example, because I am used to living in a big city in China, I see a bustling crowd every day. Shops in the street are always open day and night to welcome guests (especially in Shanghai). However, due to the low temperature in winter in Michigan, USA, even in the most prosperous central city, I can hardly see anyone. All the shops are closed, which makes people feel as if they are closed. It is really not easy for newcomers to buy some daily necessities in the store. Larger shops and supermarkets are in the suburbs, so it is impossible to buy them without a car. However, if you look at the name of a smaller store, you may never know what it sells. Isn't the American market economy a model for the whole world? How to buy some small things is very difficult. Even though I live in downtown, I can buy any daily necessities downstairs in Shanghai.

In fact, it is very common for people like me to suffer cultural shock when they first arrive in the United States. Through the communication with many local friends in China, I learned that almost all China people have experienced this kind of cultural shock when they first came to the United States. Some people have been in the United States for more than 65,438+00 years or even longer, and it is still difficult to overcome the cultural shock and its sequelae. There are many differences between China culture and American culture. The essence of China culture is to emphasize harmony and peace, while American culture is based on Christianity, emphasizing scientific progress and the rules of the game of democracy and the rule of law, and attaching importance to development and change. China culture emphasizes the interests of groups and families, which is a communitarianism-oriented culture, while American culture pays attention to individual rights and privacy, which is an individualism-oriented culture. From a cultural point of view, we often say that the root of cultural shock mainly lies in the deep-rooted original cultural model. When a person is faced with a new cultural form, if he still understands and judges all the existing phenomena and behaviors based on the original culture, it will definitely have a cultural shock. But from a sociological point of view, I think this is just a cultural representation, and the deeper reason lies in the huge differences in social environment. In a narrow sense, culture is just a symbol, a form of expressing thoughts and objects, and it needs a carrier to create and inherit, and the social environment is the most profound and extensive carrier. If it weren't for the huge difference in social environment, the feeling of this cultural shock might be much lighter. Because culture can be learned (just like I learn American culture through books), but the social environment cannot be copied. For example, the first thing you see everywhere in China is people, while the first thing you see in the United States is cars. People who are used to living in the metropolis of China will first have a comparative perspective when they arrive in the United States, especially in small and medium-sized cities in the United States, where there are few tall buildings and crowds, and it is difficult to see buses and taxis shuttle. Except for the cars coming and going, almost no one is walking in the street, and it is even difficult to find a person who asks for directions. This is really a bit difficult for China people who are used to living in lively scenes and strong interpersonal relationships.

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A serious consequence of this cultural shock is the direct appearance of xenophobia. Xenophobia, also translated as "xenophobia", is simply the fear and hatred of foreigners. When a person is in a foreign country or a different cultural area, his language is not fluent, and his cultural life customs are different, and the people around him are different from himself in appearance, clothing, behavior habits, lifestyle, and even skin color and race, it will lead people in a foreign country or a different culture to be at a loss when doing things for others, thus psychologically generating an unspeakable extreme fear, even being overly sensitive, worried and defensive everywhere, and finally generating a hostile attitude towards foreigners from fear. Xenophobia mainly occurs in individuals or groups of foreign cultures, mainly manifested in fear and hatred of Hakka culture, but it may also occur in individuals or groups already in the main culture, mainly manifested in fear and hatred of foreigners or foreign cultural invasion.

Due to the relatively closed geographical environment, China has been relatively isolated from the world culture by the three natural barriers of Himalaya, Siberia and the Pacific Ocean for thousands of years, except for a few short-term contacts with non-Chinese cultures (such as the introduction of Buddhism, the western culture brought by Genghis Khan's Mongolian Empire and the invasion of modern European and American strong cultures). In this relatively closed environment, the resulting culture and its socio-economic development consequences are either very developed (such as around the Tang Dynasty in ancient China) or very backward (such as after the late Qing Dynasty in modern China). The main reason is the lack of comparison and communication with other cultures and societies in the world, so that I don't know whether my development is fast or slow. Moreover, it has also brought more serious consequences in social mentality, that is, treating foreign cultures or foreigners is either contempt and rejection, or extreme fear, flattery and obedience. In fact, these two seemingly contradictory social phenomena are all manifestations of xenophobia in the final analysis, and there is no fundamental difference in essence.

Historically, it seems that the xenophobia of China people used to be very serious. Needless to say, since the Opium War of 1840, China people have shown extreme xenophobia, and they are afraid to see "foreigners". As a result, they had to cut land and lose money. Later, this kind of xenophobia began to evolve into a kind of foreign worship (essentially a kind of xenophobia), but the objects of worship were different. Some people worship Uncle Sam of the United States, and some people worship the big brother of the Soviet Union. They all prostrate themselves on the ground, and the final result will naturally be disastrous. Then we shouted for independence and enhanced national pride. Having said that, in fact, the conversion between "fear of foreign countries" and "worship of foreign countries" has become more frequent, that is, worship and fear. The sudden worship and fear have really hurt many people in China. Even today, when the country has been open for more than 20 years, many China people's foreign worship and xenophobia have not subsided.

In the United States, many people in China feel very strange, and it is difficult to adapt to the ever-changing and ever-changing contemporary American society. Especially for most new immigrants from the mainland who come to the United States, 3P (pH.D, P.R., property means doctoral degree, permanent residence and real estate) is an important standard and goal for them to realize their Citi dream. In addition, marrying a foreigner is also a shortcut for new immigrants to achieve assimilation and naturalization. But in this process, xenophobia has undoubtedly become the biggest obstacle for them to realize Citi's dream. I have asked many China friends in the United States, and they all admit that they have this kind of xenophobia to varying degrees, especially when they first arrived in the United States. There is an China who has lived in the United States for nearly 40 years. He can speak fluent English and has excellent professional and social status. However, his social circle has always been developed only within the Chinese, and he rarely has contact with local Americans after work. This friend told me that there are roughly three kinds of China people in the United States, namely "CBC" (Chinese), CBA (Chinese American) and ABC. The former two groups are deeply influenced by China culture and can speak Chinese and English fluently, while the latter group is greatly influenced by American culture, and most of them can't speak Chinese. But no matter where the Chinese appear, their ethnic relations and cultural traditions cannot be changed. Perhaps, for many "ABC", the degree of worship and exclusion of foreign countries is much lighter.

In fact, in many cases, this kind of xenophobia is entirely a personal subjective feeling, and this kind of feeling, like cultural shock, mostly comes from one's own cultural centralism concept, that is, judging other social cultures by one's own social culture, sneering at inferior people and admiring superior people, which will lead to xenophobia over time, and so will Americans. A few years ago, an American white man shot and killed five ethnic minorities in Pittsburgh, killing Yafei China Restaurant, which caused widespread concern in the world media. Knightley News Agency, the second largest newspaper group in the United States, once commented and called for dealing with the xenophobia of Americans. Some American scholars even pointed out that, in fact, most Americans have suffered from xenophobia. You can see this symptom in politicians' speeches about strengthening borders and expelling immigrants. Ironically, the man who shot the minority in Pittsburgh was an immigration lawyer. On the one hand, he handles immigration affairs for many foreigners, on the other hand, he is extremely afraid and disgusted with these foreigners. This dual character just reflects the immigration policy of the United States: foreign labor is needed, but their population is not needed; Need foreign technology, but scoff at their food taste or face. Therefore, xenophobia, like cultural shock, is not innate, but caused by social and cultural environment, which is a cultural prejudice and psychological deviation when judging different cultures by self-cultural standards. When you look at different cultures and other countries from a straightforward perspective, you will naturally see the advantages and disadvantages of different cultures. Even if you realize the inferiority of your own culture, you will clearly realize that it is just a drop in the ocean and has no attraction, because since a culture can be passed down for thousands of years, there must be reasons for its existence and inheritance.

Nowadays, American society is working hard to cultivate a generation of "color blindness" and "racial numbness". Perhaps after countless racial conflicts and arguments, cultural diversity has been increasingly recognized by the younger generation in the United States. When I walk through the university campus with blue eyes and yellow hair, it seems that I seldom find strange eyes on me, because they have long been used to people of different races, colors and languages around me. Today's Americans come from more than 60 countries in the world, and no one has any reason to ask others to accept their own culture. This may be an unexpected consequence of openness and freedom. In contrast, China's "closed door" cultural habit has caused a lot of inadaptability to foreign cultures, and cultural shock and xenophobia are one of them (some scholars have pointed out that compared with westerners, China people are more serious in both cultural shock and xenophobia).

Of course, I think cultural shock and exclusion are not diseases, but a learning process and a complicated personal experience. Although I may feel uncomfortable or even painful during this period, it will not affect all people in the same way, or even have different effects on the same person at different times in the same environment. Therefore, for people who will or have been in different cultural areas, since the social environment cannot be temporarily changed by individuals, they should learn to adjust their own culture. First of all, we need to realize that any major cultural transformation may produce great pressure and anxiety, but this pressure and anxiety is a normal consequence of social adaptation. When a person encounters cultural shock, which may lead to xenophobia, he not only needs to have personal self-esteem, sincerity and self-confidence, but also needs to maintain a healthy self-image and a good desire to reshape personal cultural needs. Although it can't prevent the recurrence of cultural shock and get rid of xenophobia for the time being, it can at least alleviate the adaptation pressure of entering the new Hakka culture. In a sense, even serious cultural shock and xenophobia can be called a new cultural experience and psychological feeling.