Is the American obsession with individual
freedom really such a great idea? What other cultures
know about how to make good choices.
Sit down at a restaurant in
France, and there’s a menu. Salmon with rice. French beans. Wine. If you ask
for potatoes instead of rice, the restaurant will say no. Because it is their menu. Not
yours. To an American, this is nearly unfathomable.
1.One American model: Give me personal
autonomy or give me death.
“In terms of fetishizing the
idea of choice, the U.S. is the absolute pinnacle,” says Barry Schwartz, professor of social theory and social change at
Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice. “We want to
be able to choose everything that matters, as well as the things that don’t.”
WE WANT TO BE ABLE
TO CHOOSE EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS, AS WELL AS THE THINGS THAT DON’T.
Rice and potatoes aside, the American desire for choice has
manifested in numerous ways: politically, in a demand for a voice in
governance; commercially, in the demand for a variety of consumer goods and
services; and spiritually, in the demand to choose and create exactly the kind of individual life, and
self, you believe in. In the U.S., the overriding perception is that
anything you do out of allegiance to tradition and social expectation is
inauthentic and not you. Because the real you is the choices you make.
How does
Culture/ and the 12 Dimensions influence:
-
Life Choices ?
-
Thinking ?
-
Sense of Group
/ Accountability ?
Organize your writing including: 100-150 words
-
Use one model and choose 1-4 dimensions to explain
interaction and communication forms
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Include:
Facts to support
your ideas / plus the elements that are present (i.e. individual vs community)
-
Examples from your own experience /
studies
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Your Opinions on the exercise if you wish..
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Post on your Blog as Exercise #4 – World Cultures/ World Choices
** - * Add how your Arabic culture influences your choice/ choices !!
** - * Add how your Arabic culture influences your choice/ choices !!
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