Chinese Culture Vs American Culture Essay

Today marriage is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as the relationship between a husband and a wife or a similar relationship between people of the same sex. For the purposes of this paper, it will focus on marriage between a man and a woman and how marriage is differently defined between the American and Chinese cultures. This paper will discuss the cultural differences found between the American and Chinese culture with emphasis on age and mate-selection. The cultural differences between American and Chinese culture related to marriage practices shows that Americans value individualism and Chinese historically value collectivism.

The age of consent varies among cultures. In the American culture we find that most states legally define the age of consent at 18 regardless of sex according to the 2011 Global Justice Initiative. For the purposes of this paper, sex is defined as being biologically female or male. In the Chinese culture, the National

In the Chinese culture we find the opposite because their beliefs and values stem from collectivism. As a result, we find that mate-selection differs among these cultures. Mate-selection in American culture can be online dating (most recently), cohabitating and casual. These all represent individualism where all thinking is about the individual and what they want and need. American culture allows the individual to select their mate without any formal outside influence such as their parents. The decision lies solely on the individual. Individualism is to basically seek your own happiness. Marriage for the American culture has become a less important stage of life. Marriage is no longer necessary to have children or live together because these things can be achieved regardless of marital status. American culture values marriage but the moment they are unhappy they value their individualism more and