Different cultures Essay Example for Free

Different cultures Essay In the past, different cultures have been developing in various ways and in different parts of the world. These cultures have been influencing the living styles of various nations in the world. It is now very important that different countries be grouped according to their cultural beliefs and civilization e. g. European communities will share those cultures which will differentiate them from those people who are coming from China or Africa. It is believed that those cultural differences of people in the world will clash based on where and how an individual was civilized. This is mainly the ‘clash of civilization’, the concept of Harvard professor Samuel Huntington. This is because people from different parts have ways on which they were civilized and they have different views on the way they view about life,the way they relate to one another and on their various religious beliefs. †We have moved into a world in which ‘civilisation’, some seven or eight of them, and defined much as Arnold Toynbee and some other scholars defined them in the first half of this century,are the building blocks of the new world order† Huntington added. Also most people these days are traveling a lot and therefore the interaction between people from different parts of the world and of different civilization is increasing. These interactions of different people from different civilizations has increased the awareness that this kind of difference in culture exists all over the world, Africa immigration will generate hostility when they settle on European or Asian nations. This is typically due to the clash in their culture. A country whose culture is completely different from another has a problem in investing in a foreign land as compared to those other rivals in the same land. This is because most countries fear to give investment license or such countries due to different ways in their cultural beliefs. The process of economic development and socialization has also resulted in the clash on the ways people live. Samuel Huntington once said†,Pattern of trade will be decisively influnced by pattern of culture†. The different religious beliefs in most of the different cultures is an example of this. We find that there are various types of religions in the world today. These are Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. Another reason which brought about the clash in different culture was the way in which people in different parts of the world viewed about civilization. Many communities found civilization rather hard to adopt because it had other believes and cultures which clashed with their original beliefs. This made different communities to quit the idea of civilization of adopting the western culture and replacing it with their original beliefs. De-westernization has therefore been seen in many non-western countries. ( http://www. bintjbeil. com/articles/en/d-huntington. html). The cultural beliefs of people originating from different parts of the world are very hard to adopt to the same culture unlike other things such as economic and political ones. This is because cultural beliefs of more than two nations are not compatible, rather they are clashing. For example a political system of one country can be adopted by another country but the religious issues are far more complex to be adopted form one country to anothere. g. Muslims are very hard to change and start believing in Christianity but they will be very easily convinced to accept to change and adopt other country’s leadership styles. People of the same civilization have also been known to spur economic growth. This has mostly been witnessed in Europe, East Asia and North America. The development of the nations living in this regions usually is because these people have the same civilization and almost the same beliefs in terms of their culture and their social lifestyles. A country like Japan on the other hand who entirely have different civilization has faced a lot of hurdles in their economic development. Their lifestyles and its cultural beliefs have been known to be clashing with that of its neighbors and therefore making it hard for them to get a business partner with the same interests and beliefs. Thus reducing the rate of their growth. (Ghost, 2003) Yes Huntington’s point of view is supported. This is because there are numerous conflicting issues on people living in different parts of the world today. Huntington described an era in which people everywhere define themselves in cultural terms, ‘ a world in which cultural identities are central’. There is a pre-dominant clash of ideas between the religious communities. This is because there is a split between the western Christianity, Orthodox and the Muslims. These difference are traced to have occurred in the year 1500. There were cultural lines which were traced to have been the source to the different cultural belief of these communities. The people who were living to the west and the north of the line were protestant and others were Catholics. They were economically well of than those who were living to the East. The differences and the conflict of various issues between western and Islamic civilization has been going on for almost 140 years. This was mainly due to the attempt by the westerners to introduce Christianity in the Islamic region which faced a lot of oppositions mainly because various issues regarding the beliefs and norms of Muslims culture were conflicting with those of the Christians. The relationships existing between Japan and America has of late worsened so much. This is mainly due to the culture differences which will result to economic conflicts. The attitudes, and the way people relate to each other between the two societies are very mush different. As compared to the European nations, the economic issue between United States and Japan are very serious. This is because the economic difference in culture between United States and the European nations is far much less as compared to those of Japan civilization. Japanese civilization is very much different because their geographical location is far away as compared to the geographical location dividing America from European nations. This has resulted to a very different type of culture being developed in Japan which on the other hand conflict with that of Americans. ( Edwards, Glover, 2001). According to Huntington, ‘East Asian economic success has its source in East Asian culture’. Culture and civilization have also influenced economies of various countries. Chinese economy ha been enormously growing within the last 15 years than that of Japan. These growth in the China’s economy has been a result of almost the same culture and civilization china enjoyed with its immediate neighbors. Unlike Japan who did not have some cultural resemblance with other nations, china had almost the same cultural beliefs with most of the developing nations in Asia. These countries include Taiwan-which are very much advanced in technological issues, Hong Kong – which is known for the creativity and marketing strategies, Singapore –which is very rich in communication technology. All these three have the same civilization as that of China and therefore they can understand each other in terms of being trading partners, carrying out investment and also respecting each others religious beliefs. (Murshed, 2002) The increase in population among the various countries in the world has resulted to the migration of people. This has mainly occurred in countries particular those living in the Northern part of Africa. The communities living in these parts are then forced to move to western Europe. This movement has resulted to development of other cultures in these countries. These then leads to instability in the normal social life of the citizens in the country both religiously and culturally. The results might be emergence of racism which might cause violence in the country. Reference: Edwards, Rusalind Glover Judith. Risk and Citizenship: key issues in welfare. New York. Routledge, 2001. Ghost, B. N. Contemporary issues in Development Economics. New York. Routledge, 2003 The clash of civilizations. Samuel Huntington. September 1993. Bint Jbeil. 22/10/2007.http://www.bintjbeil.com/articles/en/d-huntington.html

The Race :: essays research papers

If politics is the application of influence and authority then an election is the application of that influence to win the vote of the citizens. Many things from finances to current civic topics and from political background to political denomination determine the outcome and/or circumstances of elections, but the most influential election tool is, and has been, the media. The use and misuse of the media, political advertisements and televised debates has been known to win or lose an election. In the late 1990’s Patrick Kennedy decided to run for the House of Representatives, in Congress. After winning the primary, Kennedy would have only one opponent, Dr. Kevin Vigilante. At 39 years old Vigilante had an excellent background that included John Hopkins University and dozens of medical clinics. At 28 years old Patrick Kennedy was a typical political Kennedy with the drive to carry on the family legacy of public service. The media embraced this Kennedy-mania and Patrick Kennedy won the election 54-56, only 8 percentage points ahead. Kennedy won the election with money and influence in his left pocket and bulging out of his right pocket was the media. At first glance of this election it would seem as though Kennedy won because of name and money. At second glance that is not the complete story. Kennedy won the election through correct use of the media, through negative campaign ads and political influence. For Vigilante, fundraising for the campaign started with spending 500 hours on the phone and raising a commendable $150,000. Kennedy, on the other hand was not on the phone, he was planning fundraising events, events that would win him media attention, and the citizens approval. Kennedy brought in family members such as Caroline Kennedy, John F. Kennedy Jr., and Hollywood icons such as Tony Bennett. In the end, the fundraising totals were close, Kennedy $1 million and Vigilante $800,000. The fact was, the media had embraced Patrick Kennedy with spotlights, interviews and editorials and the citizens embraced Kennedy because he had the influence to â€Å"bring home the bacon.† During the campaign Kennedy furthered his use of the media through negative advertising. Kennedy launched several ad campaigns the attacked Vigilante on several subjects ranging from only voting 4 times in 20 years and exaggerating an insurance claim on an automobile accident. Holding a news conference, Vigilante proceeded to ask Kennedy to pull the negative ads.

Ethical Perspectives Essay

Abstract This essay will research a a global organization and cultural issue that affects the organization’s interactions outside the United States. It will also define the cultural issue within the global organization as well as provide an analysis of the ethical and social responsibility issues that the organization must deal with as a result of being a global organization. The analysis will identify ethical perspectives in the global organization and it will compare these ethical perspectives across cultures involved in the global organization. Ethical Perspectives Paper Due to many strict regulations placed on corporations by the United States, a lot of them have moved their factories overseas as a way of escaping the strict regulations. South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan, and China are examples of various Third World countries that have a readily available and abundant cheap labor source. These companies take it vantage of this cheap labor as a means of fulfilling the consumer’s needs while at the same time cutting costs production. Many of these organizations have been noted by the media as abusing these forms of cheap labor and are highly criticized because of their organizational culture. The use of child labor or work conditions in the labor force are some of the malpractices these organizations are noted as using on both the local and international level. Although these organizations have been reported for doing this very little has been done to correct the problem unless someone has either gotten hurt were the people go on strike to rally for the workers’ rights. Nike Corporation is among those corporations that have been highlighted and criticized for its organizational culture. This Corporation, founded by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight, has had companies based abroad from the very beginning in an attempt to increase its profits around the world. By doing this the company has managed to save money on production and labor costs and has been labeled a blue ribbon sports organization. There many different countries that this organization has expanded into. One of these countries is Pakistan. Pakistan, Nike company faced serious cultural issues including the use of children for labor and poor work conditions. The allegations range from situations where children’s job was to stitch soccer balls to stitching of and support garments. Boje & Khan (2009) indicate that Sialkot, Pakistan has been the place where soccer balls of Nike company and then produced for several years and it is estimated it thousands of children have been used as workers in the production process of the company’s goods. Khan (2010) indicates that childhood is perceived in different ways and that it is not across countries but also in a specific culture had across various ethnic groups (Khan, 2010). Child labor is the main cultural issue that affects the Nike Corporation. The company has been highlighted by the media through illustrating the conditions under which the Nikes factories were operating overseas and the minimal standards that had to be attained by the employees. This company’s goal was to achieve financial gain while exploiting its workers. Due to these malpractices the Nike Corporation received ceaseless attacks. Strict recommendations were set in order to improve these back conditions. With the media being involved Nike had to do something to improve how it was operating in other countries. Due to Nikes global expansion, the company was faced with various aspects of concern, costs being among those issues. In order for them to stay competitive, as it pertains to price without the need to reduce its workforce, they decided to outsource some of its manufacturing overseas. By doing so, it gave the company an advantage over its competitors as well as opening other doors of marketing for the company. Even though the shifting of jobs from the US to other countries may be viewed as an unethical  practice by others, it can be said that Nike’s decision was in the best interest of the company, as well as the employees working at the company. A company that is unable to maintain its competitive advantage within its current markets and at the same time thinking of expanding its business, will end up experiencing a stagnating growth and loss of jobs among many employees. No one will then be the winner when the company has lost his competitiveness in the industry (Etienne an d Lewis, 2005). Another thing that has to be taken into consideration are the customers. This falls within the ethical responsibility field of the company which had been overlooked for a long time. It is apparent that the Nike Corporation failed to comprehend the consequences of not following the required base market ideologies in a place where they were not required to follow stringent labor regulations. Taking jobs out of the United States is hard enough to justify, never mind the fact they were taking those jobs and moving them to a place where children were given those jobs. With child labor being a major problem is clear that Nike did not consider its ethical obligations and wound up paying the price for its malpractices. Nike was accused of lowering the human standards rights single-handedly with the goal of maximizing profits. Furthermore, Nike products have been linked to forced overtime, slave wages, and habitual abuse. The main difficulties in diversifying an organization is based on the principle of cultural adaptability while ensuring that ethical and social standards and maintain. Groundwork of the organization or company can be well described when there is a clear analysis of what takes place in organization. Nike’s decision to take the company’s business abroad was with good intent and motive for cutting costs, increasing the company’s competitiveness and profits, but should not have come at the expense of abusing child labor. The accusations placed on Nike Corporation by the media were based on poor working conditions, use of child labor, and the exploitation of wages to its employees abroad. The company was not only criticized these accusations, but were also criticized for taking jobs away from the American people. Through corporate social responsibility laws, the Nike Corporation was forced to adhere to the recommendation in order to  improve the poor working conditi ons in its factories abroad. References Boje, D, & Khan, F (2009) Story-Branding by Empire Entrepreneurs, Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship, p 9-24. DeTienne, K & Lewis, L (2005) the Pragmatic and Ethical Barriers to Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure, Journal of Business Ethics, p 359-376. Khan, a (2010) Discourses on Childhood, History & Anthropology, p 101-119.

How The Ancient Greeks And Romans Still Influence Our...

It is important for students to understand how the ancient Greeks and Romans still influence our modern world. Ancient Greece was the birthplace modern mathematics, science, philosophy, architecture, literature, theater, art, architecture, Democracy, Law, and competitive sports. The term mathematics was invented by Pythagoras. It means that which is learned. In turn, mathematical theories were applied to building the great architecture of Greece. The great Greek temples are visual representations of the mathematical and aesthetic theories of their day. Today, our modern skyscrapers are designed in the image of the great Greek Columns. The Greeks looked to reason and empirical evidence to explain the world and how man exists within the world. Famous philosophers who continue to inspire our modern society are Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle From the Iliad and Odyssey, the ancient Greeks laid the foundation for modern literature, storytelling, and theater. Greek mythology was used to teach people the trials and errors of the Gods and preserve the most colorful aspects of Greek culture. Today, Aristotle’s poetics are applied to modern movies and television shows. In fact, Greek mythology is updated and incorporated into modern storytelling. In fact, Spike Lee’s new film, Chi-Raq, is based on Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. The arts, sculpture, pottery, painting embodied examples of great artistic skill, science, math, aesthetics, trial and error, and commerce. The GreeksShow MoreRelatedAncient Greece And Roman Civilizations790 Words   |  4 Pagesthe ancient Greek society would practice beliefs and traditions that would lead to the development of advanced civilizations. It started as the Greeks beliefs which would help develop the Roman society, which would later lead to contributing to the development of the Byzantine Empire. 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