3 ms·
> As a person who has lived half his life in a society where being "well rounded", conformity, and obedience to authority are considered a child's primary virtu
by HarryHirsch 14y ago
> As a person who has lived half his life in a society where being "well rounded", conformity, and obedience to authority are considered a child's primary virtues, I must confess that I am quite partial to the American style, tradition be damned.
My observation is that the value placed on conformity is the US is astounding. Just take a look at the undergrad girls on any university campus. They all look so alike; it is almost as if they were wearing uniform, it's staggering. Also: the importance of "rules".
- afterburner 14y agoTeenagers and young adolescents are desperate to fit in everywhere though, I'm not sure I would take that as a sign of the society as a whole. I would want to see how this compares to university outside the US, as well.
- HarryHirsch 14y agoI never noticed the overbearing desire to fit in when I was at uni in Britain and Germany. There is this idea that conformity is valued highly in East Asian cultures, and I have never been there and consequenly can't tell if this is true. But in America there is this talk of freedom, individualism and stuff, and it just simply isn't so.
- saraid216 14y ago> There is this idea that conformity is valued highly in East Asian cultures, and I have never been there and consequenly can't tell if this is true. Conformity is highly valued in all human cultures. It's what makes a culture a culture, what stabilizes and maintains it. The difference is more that Americans like to delude themselves with self-aggrandizing rhetoric, but don't have the experience and training to actually put it into practice.
- 3A2D50 14y agoWhat part of the US are you talking about? This hasn't been my experience at all (DC metropolitan area).
- HarryHirsch 14y agoI'm in Flatland Northeast, and other foreigners here have made the same observation.
- elements 14y agoClothing choices is one of the least consequential places for there to be a lack of individualism, and I hardly think it's a good proxy for judging how a group values freedom and individualism in areas that matter. I know a lot of people (myself included) whose dress is influenced by prevailing trends, but whose ideas, values, priorities, etc are not (or are to a much lesser degree).
- afterburner 14y agoWere you by any chance forced to wear a uniform in high school? I'm wondering if this practice makes people a little more rebellious clothing-wise in university. I'm not sure if it's more prevalent in other countries than the US.
- kijin 14y agoCompared to most other parts of the world except Northern Europe, I would say that American campuses teem with diversity. I agree with you that there's not enough diversity, but there's still a lot of it. Just take a look at the undergrads in a Chinese/Japanese/Korean university. It's as if they belonged to some sort of military organization.
- anigbrowl 14y agoThe relative ethnic homogeneity in those societies is a factor here, I think. I might be harder for an outsider to appreciate the diversity of what superficially seems to be a very similar group of people.