Russians and Americans

1228 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender roles and how they affect society

Russians and Americans
Americans often think that they have a better chance of finding a common ground with aliens from outer space than with "resident aliens" from Russia. Frequently Russian immigrants feel exactly the same way about their American co-workers, classmates and even spouses. A key to gaining and sustaining a mutual respect in cross-cultural relationships is an understanding of distinctive cultural norms of people from different countries. Without going too deep into historical and psychological aspects of typical Americans’ and Russians’ behaviors and traditions, let us look at a few dissimilarities between representatives of these two cultures.
In Russia, children are customarily expected to stay with their parents in the same apartment or live nearby, and parents are often very upset when children move away. This closeness arises not necessarily by choice, but by deep-rooted traditions and, later on, by difficulties in getting a separate apartments. Many older people feel that several generations should still live together. Also, Russian grandmothers feel that it is their duty to raise grandchildren; in many cases they are involved in their childrens’ live much more than parents are and they greatly enjoy it. In the USA it is customary for the younger generation to leave home right after high school, often moving across the country to start college or a new job, and live in his or her own apartment or house. The older generation is even glad, when this move occurs, and happily builds plans for a free life that starts when "children are out of the house."

Traditionally, Russian men are breadwinners, and wives are house-makers and full-time mothers. After the revolution in 1917, the majority of women entered the workforce, but people's mentality has not changed. All household duties are still considered a woman's responsibility, even if she works longer hours than her husband or makes more money. Lately, in the most "modern" families, husbands have started to take on more household duties, but in the majority of families, the situation remains the same as a hundred years ago. In the USA, if both spouses work outside the home, it is a norm to share responsibilities for housekeeping and for spending time with children. More so, it is quite normal for fathers in America to take care of children after work, even i...

... middle of paper ...

...k for it beforehand. If a person get caught for a traffic violation he or she better give a policeman money right away even if the person did not actually speed; otherwise that person might loose not only his or her license, but also, for a few days, his or her freedom.
Americans mostly mind their own business when it comes to somebody else's demeanor or behavior as long as it does not directly disturb them. Russians on the other hand, especially older folks, very often make it their business to know other people’s business. They might on the length of a persn’t dress or the misbehavior of a child and complement this opinion with a full lecture on appropriate clothing or upbringing of youngsters.
In general, Americans are individualists and Russians are collectivists. This essay is the comparison of two great different nations, which are similar and different at the same time in our views and desires, aspirations, concerns and prejudices. It seems that Americans have much of an open mind than Rusians. Russians are very conservative. In most of cases it is difficult for them to a change in their beliefs. For the Americans freedom is good, but it is nothing without responsibility.

Show More
Related

  • The Legacy of Russia and the Soviet Union - Authoritarian and Repressive Traditions that Refuse to

    1785 Words  | 4 Pages

    Historically, Russia has always been a country of perplexing dualities. The reality of Dual Russia, the separation of the official culture from that of the common people, persisted after the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The Czarist Russia was at once modernized and backward: St. Petersburg and Moscow stood as the highly developed industrial centers of the country and two of the capitals of Europe, yet the overwhelming majority of the population were subsistent farms who lived on mir; French was the official language and the elites were highly literate, yet 82% of the populati...

    Read More

  • The Heartland And The Rural Youth Exodus Analysis

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Going through the same thing every day can be comforting and change can create chaos in the everyday routine. After the youth leaves change will set in but will change the outcomes of the activities that occur. Some parents will enjoy the free time that has been presented and others will fade and not know what to do. Older generation parents have readjusted before and have had to change their life to incorporate the youth coming into their life; some transitions were easier than others. Some of the parents find that moving out of their community is not the way to change the pace of life that is occurring. Yet the change of moving would create a drastic change of pace; some of the parents in Ellis tell Carr and Kefalas, “They fear that the outside world will expect them to change too much of who and what they are” (21). Making a change would require something that most parents don’t have, and that would be wanting to leave. Most of the older generation are content with the life they have; yet the ability of having a change of pace is enticing.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of My Parents Basement

    1293 Words  | 3 Pages

    As a humbled and mature member of the Boomerang Generation (Burrell, n.d.) there has been an increase of adults moving back into their childhood homes. According to J. Burrell, “there are many reasons why this becomes necessary. The biggest cause in this latest generation was a stagnant economy that caused problems in the job market”. Through my experience and encounters with other boomerang members,

    Read More

  • Russian Immigration to America

    1417 Words  | 3 Pages

    When looking at culture, one cannot help but wonder about aspects that are not familiar to themselves. Substance abuse rates are on the rise and this is included when looking at the culture, background, history, and modern day influences of a Russian-American citizens. Life is focused not only on oneself, but family, friends and the community in a certain area. Russian-American citizens are a part of the American society and will always have a history fixated from the Russian lifestyle.

    Read More

  • America, Russia, and the Cold War

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    The origins of the Cold War came about when United States President Harry Truman issued his Truman Doctrine. This doctrine stated that the United States would support “free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This would end up being the foundation of the U. S. involvement in the Cold War. The main idea of the doctrine was to support nations in the resistance of communism. Truman felt that if one nation fell to communism then this would lead to a “domino effect” resulting in many other nations in the region falling to communism. The greatest fear was that the Soviet Union would spread communism throughout the world thus the reason for the policy of containment. Truman felt it necessary to also provide economic aid to nations that surrounded the Soviet Union. The idea being that they would create a ring of Allies that would contain the threat of the Soviet influence of communism. Economic support would be given and if necessary military support as well. The basis for this economic aid was presented in the Marshall Plan. This plan called for $16 billion in economic aid to be used in the reconstruction of Europe.

    Read More

  • Changes in the American Family Since 1970

    634 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the video clip Changes in the American Family Since 1970 we were learning about the changes that had occurred in American families since 1970, which have, even since then, changed in other ways. At the time of the video clip we were learning different things from experts Arlie Hochschild and Timothy Biblarz. One of the changes that have been made, this change being the most drastic, is the amount of women who were working in the labor force at the time. According to Arlie Hochschild, mothers of children 18 and under, less than half of them (43%) were in the labor force in the 1970s. Today over 2/3 of women are now working in the labor force, and taking care of children when they arrive home from work. Once women joined the labor force it seemed that the roll of men seemed to change drastically also. Once women were gone at work during the day, along with the men, the men were beginning to help more around the house. Hochschild had made the comment during the video clip that men are doing more work at home and women are doing a lot less, which all together means that less work is being done at home. In the home in the 1970s the rolls that each spouse had were different in many ways. Before women joined the labor force women took care of the children. By taking care of them, women did the important things such as bathing them, brushing their teeth, combing their hair, as the video stated, the maintenance things. As a father in the 70s th...

    Read More

  • Young Adults In 'Let's End Adolescence'

    136 Words  | 1 Pages

    American teenagers are often criticized for being irresponsible and immature. Some in the older generation will also state that kids are taking too long to move out of the house. These views of young adults are pessimistic and demeaning to the current generation. While the adolescent stage has been extended, American kids are taking an ample amount of time to accept the responsibilities of becoming an adult.

    Read More

  • Impressions of America

    608 Words  | 2 Pages

    I have been in this country for almost three months now. One of the biggest challenges is getting along peacefully with the native population. To Americans one of the most important things is to make sure that no one gets insulted or hurt and that everyone is heard. Some would go to the extent of not revealing their true opinion, in order to avoid confrontation. In some group discussion decisions, if reached at all, are made after making long, tedious conversation about the topic at hand. While there are some merits to this kind of behavior, other aspects of interpersonal aspects are lost, such as frankness and being open to one another. Sitting among other international students enhances these observations by listening to the so-called “outsiders” talk amongst themselves. On one occasion a fellow student tried to explain something to his friend from another foreign country that he had different opinions from him on a certain subject, talking and describing the matter and “beating around the bush” as they say, when all of a sudden the listener said,” Just say what you think – don’t be an American.” I was amazed that someone noticed or thought the same way I did.

    Read More

  • Germans

    767 Words  | 2 Pages

    By the twentieth century over two million Germans have immigrated to the United States. Regardless of where they settled they came from a multitude of areas and for a variety of reasons. They were a highly diversified group in terms of regional origin, religious and political orientation, education, and socioeconomic standing.

    Read More

  • Soviet Union

    1706 Words  | 4 Pages

    The general perspective of the Soviet Union was that the country was a dictatorship, specifically, an oppressive, brutal, top-down autocracy that guided all aspects of life of its people. From grocery stores having set quantities of goods, only purchasable by ration card, to strict, set times of work and off-duty hours, to censored press, The Soviet Union was indeed a dictatorial state. However, the people of the Soviet Union did not simply fall into line with the established rules of society- They had diaries, they wrote down their opinions about the government or their job, they wrote detailed memoirs of their life within the USSR. The people of the Soviet Union had some freedom, and it was even codified in the Constitution of 1936. Yet, scholars and most people in general still widely accept the notion that the Soviet Union was a totalitarian dictatorship. The question then arises: Why did the Soviet people have freedom, otherwise known as sociological ‘agency,’ to denounce others or write down their views about society, if the country was perhaps one of the most totalitarian and dictatorial countries to exist in human history? By analyzing Totalitarianism as scholars perceive it, as well as the Soviet system, along with examples from the people of the USSR, one will be able to realize that totalitarianism set the rules for society within the Soviet Union and provided its people with a distribution of power, which was used by those that understood the system and could act within the framework of the system.

    Read More

  • Emotions - Universal or A Learned Phenomenon

    1809 Words  | 4 Pages

    John, W. Berry, Ype H. Poortinga, Marshall, H. Segall, Pierre R. Dasen (2002). Cross- Cultural Psychology: Research and applications (2nd ed.) United States of America, New York.

    Read More

  • The Nation of Russia

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    Russia’s social society as a whole is very different from that of other countries that surround it. Russia is physically the largest country in the world, and because the people are so widespread the social norms vary from place to place. Also, there are social characteristics that are evident in the cities that are drastically different than those seen in the small villages scattered throughout much of Russia’s rural countryside. The family structure and women’s roles are different in the urban areas than they are in the rural areas. Expectations and responsibilities vary so to study Russian family and gender roles one must find the similarities in rural and urban ways and also find the aspects that make them different. The same concept must also be used in looking at popular recreation in this large country.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in American Society

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout history, the roles of men and women in the home suggested that the husband would provide for his family, usually in a professional field, and be the head of his household, while the submissive wife remained at home. This wife’s only jobs included childcare, housekeeping, and placing dinner on the table in front of her family. The roles women and men played in earlier generations exemplify the way society limited men and women by placing them into gender specific molds; biology has never claimed that men were the sole survivors of American families, and that women were the only ones capable of making a pot roast. This depiction of the typical family has evolved. For example, in her observation of American families, author Judy Root Aulette noted that more families practice Egalitarian ideologies and are in favor of gender equality. “Women are more likely to participate in the workforce, while men are more likely to share in housework and childcare (apa…).” Today’s American families have broken the Ward and June Cleaver mold, and continue to become stronger and more sufficient. Single parent families currently become increasingly popular in America, with single men and women taking on the roles of both mother and father. This bend in the gender rules would have, previously, been unheard of, but in the evolution of gender in the family, it’s now socially acceptable, and very common.

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality: The Allocation of Household Chores

    1249 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gender is defined as the scopes of genetic, physical, mental and behaviour characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and feminity, meanwhile inequality is defined as in a situation where there is an unfair situation or treatment in which certain people have more privileges or better opportunities or chances than other people. Thus, from the definition stated gender inequality refers to unequal or unfair management, treatment, or perceptions of persons or individuals are based on their gender. In a parallel sense, gender inequality can be said as the world in which there was discrimination against anyone based on gender. In this introductory, the general understanding of gender inequalities will be discussed further into three significant factors that influence the allocation of housework between men and women. Household chores can be classified as cleaning, cooking and paying bills. Division of housework serves as an important element in the continuation of the function of a family and it requires contribution from both spouses (Tang, 2012). However, current society’s perception on housework is based on gender, so the three major factors that influence the division of household chores within the couples are education level, economic resources, and time availability (refer to Figure1 in Appendix 1).

    Read More

  • Barriers Of Multiculturalism

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    When people communicate, they are trying to find similarities with others. (Samovar & Porter, 2004). We all know, it is easier to socialize with people who are similar and have things in common. This causes problems because when people seek similarities, they involuntarily defy people form different cultures. Uncertainty captures people when meeting with strangers, especially with people from other cultures. People are trying to cover their uncertainty by predicting possible behaviors. We, people, have this necessity to understand others' behavior, and when behavior does not respond to expected, people could get apprehensive. This why especially Finns try to avoid situations where they must face strangers. People might also pull out totally from multicultural

    Read More

More about Russians and Americans

Open Document