Introduction
The following paper provides information about the differences in the culture and the values of two countries, Germany and the United States of America. The cultural differences are discussed in terms of the value of respect and the value of the community. The specific views of the people of the two countries about the environment, the race-based relations as well as the gender roles, and marital systems are specifically provided.
History
Germany and America share a very abnormal and unique history. The two countries stated their relations as two opposing parties in the world war, however, after the defeat of the Nazis in the world war and the two countries have become strong Allies. The transition was not instantaneous and resulted in a period of gold war in the post-world war II period. However, with the development of the status of the West German economic institutions, trade between the countries improved and resulted in a formation of an alliance between the two nations.
Despite the relationship of the two countries, the people and the communities in the two countries are significantly different from each other in terms of their values, the role of the different people in the community as well as cultural and religious norms.
General Differences
The general differences that are perceived amongst the two countries about the approach towards democracy in Germany as well as in the United States. In the United States, it is the majority of the voters who decide the candidate nominations for the presidency. While in Germany, a proportionate mix of voting by the people as well as the decision made by the demographic parties in terms of their nomination for seats in the house of the parliament and the position of the prime minister and the president. As a result, the political parties decide which candidate should be appointed for the candidacy of a specific position while in the US a 50 percent majority is responsible for this decision making.
Aside from the political structure and the approach taken by the countries towards democracy, the two countries are significantly different in terms of their freedom of speech and security. In the US, freedom of speech is one of the constitutional rights while in Germany freedom of speech is applied more conservatively and selectively. Similarly, the degree of nationalism and the values of the people in Germany and America are significantly different as well. for Americans, the institution of the united states and its government is a separate entity than the country name and persona, which is why even if they have conflicting sentiments for the government of the system, they are patriotic and harbor positive sentiments for America. In Germany however, the people value and liken the history of the country as the persona of the country. They take into account the history, culture as well as political and economic system of the country into account when forming views about the country.
Culture Differences
There exist tangible cultural differences between Germany and the United States in terms of bureaucracy, socialism, and communism. The bureaucracy in the United States is liked by the people in terms of their user-friendliness, the approach they take towards establishing and building personal relationships; however, the bureaucracies are hated by the people in the United States for being inefficient as to the methods they employ for processing requests and managing the system. While Americans, as well as people all over the world, hate the bureaucracy in the United States for their double standards and high level of restrictions and discrimination they have specifically in terms of the ethnicity of the people. The bureaucracy in Germany is comparative very much less discriminatory and much more efficient in terms of the way they move and process things. They have very stringent rules and regulations that are not bent for anyone despite the amount of money, power, or influential positions they might have. The business ethics as result in the two countries are largely affected by the structure and the nature of the institutions handling state and government matters. Bureaucracy increased control much makes a system more inefficient. Germany has been able to be much more efficient as compared to the independent institutions in the United States where lack of monitoring has created major problems and discrepancies for the communities as well as for the businesses operating in the region in terms of their legality.
The United States of America is a socialist country while Germany is primarily a communist state. However, the socialism in America makes the country and its institutions highly inefficient while communism in Germany is much more efficient in terms of getting to the final results and providing for the people of the country. Moreover, double standards do not exist in Germany.
Moreover, in America, the culture of the people is much more materialistic and built on power and money. The consumerist culture in the region has created new jobs in the market while increasing the activity in the economic environment. However, in the long term, the current deficit which is visible today is being driven by the consumerist culture of the people in the United States who are spending money they don’t have in large amounts creating a gap in the availability of funds in the market and the actual spend by the people. In Germany, the situation is somewhat different as a result of the history which is experienced b the region and the resultant impact they had on the social-economic conditions in the country. In Germany consumerism had not caught on until the late twenty-first century.
In the United States, everything is bigger in terms of size, hype, and importance, includes a range of things like the budget for the marketing campaign, to the food packaging, meal sizes, and even the large size of the people in general aside from this even the consumer appliances, cards and homes are larger in the US than in Germany. To a large part, this difference can be attributed to the consumerist and social culture in the United States as opposed to a communist culture in Germany.
A study was conducted by Kilbourne et al. about the value of consumerism in different cultures. It was revealed that when materialism was taken in context with the development and profitability of oneself as in the case of the US culture, it was considered negative. However, when consumerism increased the standards of living of others and affected the community in an appositive manner, it was considered advantageous and positive as well. This is depicted in the case of the US where due to consumerism different people can increase their standard of living. The German community however is less affected by consumerism as it is growing in the region on a very restricted level. “The study encompassed three countries, Canada, Germany, and the US. The results indicated that both the materialism and value scales were invariant across countries and that the proposed causal model was invariant as well. The relationship between self-transcendence and materialism was negative, and the relationship between self-enhancement and materialism was positive.” (Kilbourne, et al. 2005).
Differences in Values
The two countries of Germany and the United States have significant differences in terms of their values as well. The values of Germans specific to diversity have improved a lot, previously they were very focused on their nationality and were against diversity, now however it is possible to find as many non-Germanys in the ratio in Berlin as one can find in the city of New York. The United States of America however has been very open to diversity in the workplace as well as in the community for a long period, but specific sects in the communities in the United States still harbor discriminatory opinions about the minority communities specifically in the southern states of America. The level of discrimination in the US, for the disabled, is relatively less than in Germany. In the United States, the government has specifically funded large-scale programs through which the handicap are being educated and provided with jobs just like any other American citizen. The infrastructure and public access places and transportation in the United States are specially equipped to make them more accessible for the handicapped and the disabled. In Germany however, disability is still thought of as a taboo and a reason for neglect and scorn.
In terms of values towards women, the United States is much more open and has women working in male-oriented professions like trucking, business, police, etc., and while in Germany, such professions are still very much dominated by the males, with little or no female representation. The marital roles in America are very vague as both the husband and the wife provide for the family through nurture and development as well as from sourcing the funding by being the bread earners. In Germany however, the martial roles are much more defined. While females are very active in professions and career-building in Germany as well, they are equally active in terms of building a house for the family and taking care of the spouse and the children. The majority of the population living outside of urban cities is not involved heavily in their professional life.
Racism based on skin color, language is high in Germany while in the United States, the people celebrate their diversity. In terms of the visa and immigration policies, however, the United States is a very strict country while Germany offers much more lax laws for immigration. In the United States, however, there is much more widespread discrimination against blacks on an institutional level.
The values of the people in Germany about charity are much more global. They tend to favor charities and organizations which offer relief and support to people facing problems worldwide. While the people in the United States are much more in favor of small-scale local organization that works for the betterment of the local communities. The reason for this is that the Germans state that it is the government’s job to provide for the less fortunate in Germany through the taxes paid by them. Meanwhile, the Americans distrust the large organization due to its expansive and bureaucratic nature.
Differences in Media 300
The media in the United States, specifically cable television is considered as bad filled with nonsensical programming and biased news. Most of the news channels cover hyped-up local and regional news, while very little airtime is allotted for international news. In Germany however, the news channels are much more trustworthy and variant and cannot be influenced by the politicians or the government. They run as a separate entity from the state and provide real-life-based critical reporting to the audience. The public media is much more open and diverse in the United States as compared to that in Germany.
Education
The education system in the United States is a highly double standard. The public schooling system is funded by the regional governments which result in poor communities have poor grade schools and richer communities having much better-equipped education institution. Moreover the rich rarely send their children to public school and prefer the elite private schooling for them. In Germany however, the public system of schooling is the only system for education, and segregation based on social status is very rare. However, in some cases, the social status of the parents or the family can affect the admission of the students to the schools but the private schools in Germany do not exist at all.
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