Surrounded in darkness, for half the year would make any country seem like a miserable place to live it. However, “Iceland consistently ranks as one of the happiest countries in the world” (Weiner, 142). What makes Iceland a happy and blissful country to live in is a direct result of its culture. Icelandic culture is multifaceted and two dimensions of its culture that assist in the happiness of all Icelanders are indulgence and individualism. Iceland is an indulgent culture instead of resistant one. There are different parts of Iceland’s culture that make it an indulgent one. An indulgent culture is defined as “the extent, to which people try to control their desires and impulses” (Hofstede). These parts are leisure ethic and creativity. This leisure ethic presents itself in several different ways. The first way presented is obvious, binge drinking. Icelanders are heavy drinkers and spend the whole weekend drinking. This represents leisure because during this time they are not worried about working hard but about having fun and temporarily forgetting everything and everyone. The fact that Icelanders are …show more content…
This is very individualistic because one is able to completely focus on their interests, if they want to try something they can, without the fear of failure. This is because Icelanders’ admire failure; failure is not seen as failure but as trying. Iceland is a nation of born-again and this belief really exemplifies the individualism in the culture because people are free to try something new that interests them. This is evident with Icelandic artists because before they discover the amazing things they are capable of they start be produce less than stellular art. It is through the bad that they are able to grow and discover the good (Weiner, 162-163). Being able to focus their energy on what they want to pursue contributes to Icelander’s overall
One of Iceland’s Governments tasks is to encourage cultural exchange between Iceland and the United Stated. Working closely with cultural institutions, Iceland has had the opportunity to promote cultural events in the U.S.(Invest in Iceland,
Jamie traveled to Denmark as a student in a study abroad program. She went expecting the country to be fairly similar to the US. She was surprised right away to see so many differences. Jamie states “I was shocked to find out that the Danish way of life couldn’t be more different from what I was expecting.” (350) . Coming from New York City where things are fast paced and very career-driven, she found a place that was calm and cozy. A place where friends sat around and ate dinner and enjoyed each other’s company for many hours. A place with a lot of intimacy and
Dale Carnegie once expressed, “Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.” Analyzing this quote, it is crucial to note the underlining theme that happiness, true and genuine happiness, requires a shifting away from conformity and the status quo in order to discover the treasure found in one’s own self. Therefore, finding out who one’s self is mandates a state of solitude which acts like the green pastures by the still waters that restores the soul. However, with its roaring and hungry fire that sends up flutters of red and yellow and orange and white fireflies soaring into the carnivorous night, conflict is the key ingredient in shifting away from acquiescence and society’s present state of affairs.
In this documentary, Roko Belic an American film producer and director tries to explain happiness by traveling the world from Louisiana, United States to Okinawa, Japan to learn more about happiness of different ages, classes and ethnicities of people. He explains that in his documentary by interviewing several normal people about their
In some cultures, there are situations that involves drinking. These include: birthday parties, New Year’s festivities, graduations, weddings receptions, Fourth of July, Christmas and Mardi Gras. In these holidays, people usually drink in excess to have a good time and celebrate. Different countries specialize in different types of alcohol, such as: the Italian have really good wine, Mexico is known for beer and tequila, Ireland is famous for beer and whiskey, Japan has their own beverage called Sake, and the United States is known for beer, wine, and whiskey. In these cultures, drinking alcohol is an acceptable type of celebration that teenagers even participate in. Not all alcohol consumed is in celebration. Therefore, “the top 20 percent of drinkers consume approximately 30 percent of all alcohol drunk over a 12-month period” (Grant 290).
Allowing people the discovery of their true nature, ending their life of mimicry and fakery. Individuality is important and beneficial for it develops a sense of freedom which brings out the authentic self. Whether this is rebellious or not is up for debate, but this act of nonconformity can unlock new ideas and open paths for brighter futures, letting creativity flow through minds of those who have been restrained by peers and their opinions. Be different than others, express yourself through thoughts and ideas that have been hidden by conformism and do not be afraid to be a
Cultural view A macro-level variant is this view is that the view on life is embodied in the national character. In this line cross-national differences in happiness reflect cognitive cultural norms, rather than individual grief and joy (Inglehart, 1990). Earlier view is the Folklore theory of happiness (Veenhoven 1995: 35). Homeostatic maintenance While the above set-point theories aim at explaining differences in happiness, there are also theories of this kind that focus at the general level of happiness. These are motivational theories that assume that we tend to maintain a comfortable level of happiness, even in adverse conditions. We unconsciously keep happiness between 7 and 8 on a 10-step scale, just as we maintain a 9 body temperature of 32 degrees Celsius (Cummins, 2002).
Individuality is the quality or character of a particular person or thing that distinguishes them from others of the same kind, especially when strongly marked. According
Ruth Benedict’s anthropological book, Patterns of Culture explores the dualism of culture and personality. Benedict studies different cultures such as the Zuni tribe and the Dobu Indians. Each culture she finds is so different and distinctive in relation to the norm of our society. Each difference is what makes it unique. Benedict compares the likenesses of culture and individuality, “A culture, like an individual, is a more or less consistent pattern of thought or action” (46), but note, they are not the same by use of the word, “like.” Benedict is saying that figuratively, cultures are like personalities. Culture and individuality are intertwined and dependent upon each other for survival.
According to Freud’s conclusion, based on decades of experimentation and theoretical work in the field of psychotherapy, humans cannot be happy because a satisfaction of needs creates only a momentary phase of happiness which expires after some time. Therefore, the focus of life should not be on obtaining happiness, and people should focus on avoiding suffering instead (Bullock, n.d.). However, several paradigms of well-being exist, and individual cognitive patterns and paradigms define the emotional responses to social influences. From an objective viewpoint, well-being is a state of consciousness that arises from a combination of internal and external factors, and money is an unstable external influence in defining subjective well-being. Money as a determinant of subjective well-being is influenced by several cultural influences.
This same culture also advertizes alcohol as fun and pleasurable through movies and commercials. This kind of culture clash between the negative effects of addiction, and the implied positive effects of alcohol through marketing, can cause both adolescents and adults to misinterpret society’s stance on addiction. It is no wonder that our society has behavioral problems with young adults when the culture that we live in sends mixed messages about its stance on addiction (Zastrow, 2010). To study this effect on our culture we need to look at all approaches to the problem.
A great example of this is a sub-chapter in his book titled Sports Bars on Wheels. Up until the games it appears that moderation in terms of alcohol was used. Public drunkenness was discouraged so much that 'meden agan, ' which meant 'all things in moderation, ' was engraved on temple pediments. Throwing this slogan aside the game had wine vendors who somehow became very popular and profitable. A Greek doctor named Mnesitheus had argued that binge drinking had positive and purgative effects on ones health. Wine carts were desisted from at any other time of year but most only used their services during the Olympics when it wasn 't considered so
In addition to anyone being happy, genuine happiness is vulnerable. “If happiness is similarly available to people of any age, sex, or race, and to those of most income levels, who is happiest?” (Myers and Diener 14), the capacity of peoples’ joy is undiminished. Self-esteem, personal control, optimism, and extraversion are four inner traits that classify happy people. People who are happy admire themselves and feel personal control, empowered rather than helpless about their lifestyle. They are also optimistic and tend to be more healthy, successful, and happier than pessimistic people. Also, people that are happy are extraverted and they are happy when they are surrounded by a lot of people and even when they are alone. They are not happy because of their status of wealth.
Although it is apparent that to become or be motivated does not always rely on
One way culture affects one痴 personality is how we perceive the world and the way one perceives them self. Some culture-specific characteristics link together cultural conditions such as complexity, tightness, individualism, and collectivism. This brings us to individualism and collectivism.