【Talk about English】 我们究竟是什么 (Episode8-2/5)
喜欢独处还是群居？你来自哪个文化群体？本期主播Marc Beeby继续带会带领我们一起探究这个主题的更多细节，一起来听听吧。Hints:
Confucius
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http://t1.g.hjfile.cn/listen/201303/201303270137598489810.mp3Individualist societies tend to be more modern, people as a function of education have become more socially mobile and more geographically mobile as well and the emphasis is perhaps a bit more on personal achievement, the affluence that comes with that, much more than on family values or group spirituality.
In a society where you don't have the hierarchies of royalty and structures of that kind, you actually do seem to produce another substitute. And that substitute is wealth and possessions. In the United States, a great deal of value is placed on how you present yourself, what you have achieved.
Collectivist cultures on the other hand uphold tradition to a much greater extent. Security is very important, and good social relationships are very important. And often religion and a belief in the cycles of nature is important.
Religion is extremely important in India even today, even with people who are very well educated. People go to temples, keep fasts and do it with a lot of faith. When we read that Christianity is now coming back to the West we feel quite happy and smug about the fact look, you know, we never gave up our religion. We do ape the West, that's one thing that has come about again due to the media, TV etc, but where religion is concerned we stuck to our own traditions. We just said 'Well in the West if they don't practise religion well they are a materialistic lot. I mean that's our stereotype of the West, only interested in making money, not spiritual, so we are now surprised that they are going back to religion, which we always had in out country.
Hierarchy comes with this, the importance of seniority the importance of respect for elders in a society or in a system.
In Chinese situation, the importance is about order that means actually the hierarchy, age
plays a great importance so the older people or the older generation are supposed to look after the young to be responsible for just bringing them up and also in an appropriate manner and when the younger generation grows up obviously they are supposed to look after the old. So in this culture age always carries a kind of respect. The Confucius idea is that we need this hierarchy structure but it doesn't just go one way, the older ones have obligations to meet as well. So in Chinese culture you find that the older people stay or live together with their children. Obviously, with the rise of this kind of nuclear family this is disappearing, however you still find that there are far more older people living with their children in China than probably compared in the West.
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