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Is tearing people down at work an American thing? I worked in Japan, and there was a culture of overwork, but it wasn't anything like Glengarry Glen Ross.

• ahoyhere 14y ago
  No, it's not an American thing, it's an ego thing, and America has lots of great people and also a lot of huge egos and not a lot of cultural taboos to reign them in. Some call this the "rockstar" or "brogrammer" problem, but you'll find it in any industry where people think they're hot shit. No doubt many people in Japan have large egos, but Japan also has institutionalized politeness.
  • alinajaf 14y ago
    > but Japan also has institutionalized politeness. Careful. They also have an institutionalized social hierarchy, baked into the language and pretty much everywhere. It's expected that when you start at a new school or a new company that you will be treated like dirt by your 'superiors' on an ongoing basis. There's a much higher tolerance for hazing and bullying in general. This leaves me skeptical that Japanese culture fosters an environment where people are nicer to each other than anywhere else. Foreigners tend to get a free pass by being 'out of the system', unless their Japanese(ness) passes a certain threshold of fluency.