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Why call it reverse culture shock? It's simply a realization that the United States not the best country in every regard. And in many regards it's failing bad

by holdenc 10y ago

Why call it reverse culture shock? It's simply a realization that the United States not the best country in every regard. And in many regards it's failing badly. Personally, I call it the I-can't-get-healthcare shock, or the I-can-only-find-chain-restaurants-in-flyover-country shock, or the NYC-subway-is-not-as-nice-as-the-Asian-country-train-system-I-just-left shock.

hueving 10y ago
Did you even read the article? It has nothing to do with the US infrastructure or healthcare system. It happens between cultures, even when neither of them are American. It can even happen if both are American if the source and destination are different enough (e.g. moving from a farm town of 500 in Wyoming to Manhattan).
yladiz 10y ago
If you think of culture shock as visiting a new culture and being "shocked" by something different, reverse culture shock is returning to your original culture and being shocked by it. It has nothing to do with the US.
wtbob 10y ago
> Why call it reverse culture shock? It's simply a realization that the United States not the best country in every regard. That's completely not it at all. Culture shock is what happens when one visits another country and realises that certain things one takes for granted aren't, and other things one thinks are negotiable aren't. It's the same phenomenon which young historians have when they first read of a technologically advanced, trading culture which also casts every firstborn child into a furnace (e.g.). Reverse culture shock is the same phenomenon, when one returns back home. It's caused by the fact that one has assimilated to one's guest culture to some extent, and upon returning home … one finds that certain things one had grown accustomed to taking for granted are not, and other things one had grown accustomed to thinking negotiable are not. An example is the wide variety of cereals in American groceries, or the limited variety of organ meats. If one has grown accustomed to just buying 'müsli,' and one suddenly has a dozen different varieties, one claiming to be good for keto diets, one claiming to be vegan, another gluten-free, another paleo — that's a culture shock. If one has grown accustomed to making kidney pie, then returns to America and must make a conscious effort to source kidneys — that's culture shock. If one has grown accustomed to horse or whale, and returns to find that they are illegal — well, that's culture shock too. It's not about better/worse; it's about different.
jessaustin 10y ago
I-can-only-find-chain-restaurants-in-flyover-country Look harder, and expand your search to more than three blocks from the highway exits.
Rapzid 10y ago
A lot of people have downvoted you; I'm not sure if it's the way you delivered your point, that they don't understand because they haven't been through it, or don't understand these things can constitute more subtle cultural differences than they typically envision.
peteretep 10y ago
> It's simply From your description, it's clearly something you've never experienced, and the only thing uniquely American about this phenomenon is that you're reading about it from a State Department page rather than, say, a page on the Le ministère des Affaires étrangères website

by holdenc 10y ago

hueving 10y ago

Did you even read the article? It has nothing to do with the US infrastructure or healthcare system. It happens between cultures, even when neither of them are American. It can even happen if both are American if the source and destination are different enough (e.g. moving from a farm town of 500 in Wyoming to Manhattan).

yladiz 10y ago

If you think of culture shock as visiting a new culture and being "shocked" by something different, reverse culture shock is returning to your original culture and being shocked by it. It has nothing to do with the US.

wtbob 10y ago

> Why call it reverse culture shock? It's simply a realization that the United States not the best country in every regard. That's completely not it at all. Culture shock is what happens when one visits another country and realises that certain things one takes for granted aren't, and other things one thinks are negotiable aren't. It's the same phenomenon which young historians have when they first read of a technologically advanced, trading culture which also casts every firstborn child into a furnace (e.g.). Reverse culture shock is the same phenomenon, when one returns back home. It's caused by the fact that one has assimilated to one's guest culture to some extent, and upon returning home … one finds that certain things one had grown accustomed to taking for granted are not, and other things one had grown accustomed to thinking negotiable are not. An example is the wide variety of cereals in American groceries, or the limited variety of organ meats. If one has grown accustomed to just buying 'müsli,' and one suddenly has a dozen different varieties, one claiming to be good for keto diets, one claiming to be vegan, another gluten-free, another paleo — that's a culture shock. If one has grown accustomed to making kidney pie, then returns to America and must make a conscious effort to source kidneys — that's culture shock. If one has grown accustomed to horse or whale, and returns to find that they are illegal — well, that's culture shock too. It's not about better/worse; it's about different.

jessaustin 10y ago

I-can-only-find-chain-restaurants-in-flyover-country Look harder, and expand your search to more than three blocks from the highway exits.

Rapzid 10y ago

A lot of people have downvoted you; I'm not sure if it's the way you delivered your point, that they don't understand because they haven't been through it, or don't understand these things can constitute more subtle cultural differences than they typically envision.

peteretep 10y ago

> It's simply From your description, it's clearly something you've never experienced, and the only thing uniquely American about this phenomenon is that you're reading about it from a State Department page rather than, say, a page on the Le ministère des Affaires étrangères website