CULTURES AROUND THE WORLD MAKE DECISIONS - #4

CULTURES AROUND THE WORLD MAKE DECISIONS - Exercise #4

Amy S. Choi

Is the American obsession with individual freedom really such a great idea? What other cultures know about how to make good choices.

Sit down at a restaurant in France, and there’s a menu. Salmon with rice. French beans. Wine. If you ask for potatoes instead of rice, the restaurant will say no. Because it is their menu. Not yours. To an American, this is nearly unfathomable.

1.One American model: Give me personal autonomy or give me death.

“In terms of fetishizing the idea of choice, the U.S. is the absolute pinnacle,” says Barry Schwartz, professor of social theory and social change at Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice. “We want to be able to choose everything that matters, as well as the things that don’t.”

WE WANT TO BE ABLE TO CHOOSE EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS, AS WELL AS THE THINGS THAT DON’T.

Rice and potatoes aside, the American desire for choice has manifested in numerous ways: politically, in a demand for a voice in governance; commercially, in the demand for a variety of consumer goods and services; and spiritually, in the demand to choose and create exactly the kind of individual life, and self, you believe in. In the U.S., the overriding perception is that anything you do out of allegiance to tradition and social expectation is inauthentic and not you. Because the real you is the choices you make.

Exercise: #4 - Due 19 April

How does Culture/ and the 12 Dimensions influence:

-         Life Choices ?

-         Thinking ?

-         Sense of Group / Accountability  ?

Organize your writing including:  100-150 words

-         Use one model and choose 1-4 dimensions to explain interaction and communication forms

  -         Include:

Facts to support your ideas / plus the elements that are present (i.e. individual vs community)

-         Examples from your own experience / studies

  -         Your Opinions on the exercise if you wish.. 

 -         Post on your Blog as Exercise #4 – World Cultures/ World Choices 
- * Add how your Arabic culture influences your choice/ choices !!