Culture Clash
Culture Clash Paper
As humans face various social situations they easily adapt as they tap into previous memories of other situations that are applicable. They don’t have to recall all the details of the past memories, but rather just rely on the important main points that directly apply. This generalized story is referred to as a story script. Oftentimes story scripts may be learned from past personal experiences or they may be derived from our cultural upbringing. Story scripts are very important as we relate to others because they tell us “what we should expect to happen in a given situation and what, in turn, is expected of us” (Colombo, Lisle, and Mano 119). They prevent us from getting perplexed and flustered every time we step into a new situation. However because every human has a different cultural upbringing and different personal experiences, story scripts can be just as problematic as they are helpful. Our story scripts can cause us to do something completely wrong as we relate to other cultures because “even the most homogeneous culture group is criss-crossed with by subcultures based on age, class, gender, profession, and other factors” (Colombo, Lisle, and Mano 119). On a daily basis we run into the problem of our story scripts clashing as we interact with others whose story scripts are very different from ours. When I attended Northeast Wisconsin Technical College last year, I experienced firsthand how my story script clashed with others who came from a very different culture.
At the technical college, I made friends with several of the foreign exchange students. Izhar was from Pakistan and Sanjukta and Priya were both from India. I was invited to their apartment one evening for a meal. As I stepped in the small apartment, my buddy Izhar and the two Indian ladies greeted me. I shook Izhar’s hand, gave him a quick hug and then turned to the others. Reaching out my hand courteously, I felt them looking at me in a somewhat awkward way. Then
As humans face various social situations they easily adapt as they tap into previous memories of other situations that are applicable. They don’t have to recall all the details of the past memories, but rather just rely on the important main points that directly apply. This generalized story is referred to as a story script. Oftentimes story scripts may be learned from past personal experiences or they may be derived from our cultural upbringing. Story scripts are very important as we relate to others because they tell us “what we should expect to happen in a given situation and what, in turn, is expected of us” (Colombo, Lisle, and Mano 119). They prevent us from getting perplexed and flustered every time we step into a new situation. However because every human has a different cultural upbringing and different personal experiences, story scripts can be just as problematic as they are helpful. Our story scripts can cause us to do something completely wrong as we relate to other cultures because “even the most homogeneous culture group is criss-crossed with by subcultures based on age, class, gender, profession, and other factors” (Colombo, Lisle, and Mano 119). On a daily basis we run into the problem of our story scripts clashing as we interact with others whose story scripts are very different from ours. When I attended Northeast Wisconsin Technical College last year, I experienced firsthand how my story script clashed with others who came from a very different culture.
At the technical college, I made friends with several of the foreign exchange students. Izhar was from Pakistan and Sanjukta and Priya were both from India. I was invited to their apartment one evening for a meal. As I stepped in the small apartment, my buddy Izhar and the two Indian ladies greeted me. I shook Izhar’s hand, gave him a quick hug and then turned to the others. Reaching out my hand courteously, I felt them looking at me in a somewhat awkward way. Then
Bibliography: Colombo, Gary, Bonnie Lisle, and Sandra Mano. Frame Work: Culture, Storytelling, and College Writing. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. Print.