AMERICAN CULTURAL CATEGORIES

CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING

GROUP 8
AMERICAN CULTURAL CATEGORIES

Attitude
Towards Age

By. Stevanus Subang Thalar

EMPHASIZE PHYSICAL BEAUTY AND YOUTH
Not a few Americans,
especially young people
who are addicted with
plastic surgery. And also
people who work as an
actress or actor. As
example, Britney spears.

She said that she didn’t like

her appearance and
decided wanted to do
plastic surgery to look
younger.
AGE IS NOT A BENCHMARK

The US-American emphasis on

concrete achievements and
"doing" means that age is not
highly valued, for the older you are
the less you can accomplish. Age is
also suspect because new is usually
better in US-American culture,
and the elderly are generally out of
touch with what's new.
 THE STEREOTYPE

The youth culture did another

great disservice in stereotyping
old people as chronically ill,
unable to work, behind the
times, slow-thinking, useless
financial burdens on society. The
idea that old people could
actually fall in love or have sex
with each other is embarrassing
to many Americans, old, young
and in-between.
OLDER
AMERICANS Not one of these stereotypes is true, of course, A
ARE VITAL full 70 percent of these people own their own
homes. They vote and are active in the community
to a greater extent than young people. You can
find them out there doing sports and outdoor
activities, or working out at the gym. If they find
themselves single, divorced or widowed, they
keep the Internet dating services humming,
looking for each other. Just like younger people,
they are just as likely to fall in love and, yes, they
do actually have sex with each other.
AMERICAN CULTURAL CATEGORIES

Concept Of
Fate And
Destiny
By. Aria Dhani Swastika
Concept
Of Fate
And
Destiny
 Concept Of Fate And Destiny

01 You can be whatever you want to be

02 Where there's a will there's a way
03 The American dream is rangs-to-riches
American view : The concept of self-determination negates
much of the influence of fate and destiny. Parents tell one's
children they can be whatever they want to be when they
grow up. There are few givens in life, and people have little
sense of external limits. Lack of success is their own fault.
AMERICAN CULTURAL CATEGORIES

View Of
Human
Nature
By. Satria Pamungkas Surya Suhendi
View Of Human Nature
People are considered

1 basically and inherently

Courts consider a
person innocent until
he/she is proven good. If someone does
guilty
an evil deed, we look for
2
People should be
given the benefit of the explanation, for the
the doubt reason why the person
turned bad. People can
3 If left alone, people
will do right thing
and should be trusted;
and we are fairly open to

4
We need to discover strangers, and willing to
how a vicious killer
“went wrong” accept them.
AMERICAN CULTURAL CATEGORIES

Attitude
Towards
Change
By. Hania Lulu Lestari
Attitude Towards Change

• New is better Americane view :

• A better way can Change is considered positive, probably
always be found ; because Americans believe in the march of progress
thinks can always be and the pursuit of perfection. Improvements will
improved upin always move us closer and closer to perfection.
• Just because we've Traditions can be a guide, but they are not
always dont it that way inherently superior.
doesn't make it right
Indian view :
Change is suspect and often turns out to have
negative consequences. Traditions should be
upheld unless there is a good and compelling
reason to alter ways of doing things. Progress,
and the physical world, are often seen as
illusory. Their traditions are "who they are"
and link them with their past.
AMERICAN CULTURAL CATEGORIES

Attitude
Towards
Taking Risks
By. Lugi Atiningsih
Attitude Towards Taking Risks

• A low level of personal savings is typical

• You can always start over
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained
• A high level of personal bankruptcies is
common

American view : There will always be enough

opportunity to go around, so taking risks ,
involves no real danger. For the truly ambitious,
failure is only temporary. Experimentation, trial
and error are important ways to learn or to
improve your product.
AMERICAN CULTURAL CATEGORIES

Concept Of
Suffering And
Misfortune
By. Diah Surtiningsih
Concept Of SUFFERING & MISFORTUNE

01 - People rush to cheer up a friend who’s depressed

02 - If you are unhappy, take a pill or see a psychiatrist

03 - Be happy

American view : Because we are ultimately in control of our

lives and destiny, we have no excuse for unhappiness nor
misfortune. If you are suffering or unhappy, then just do
whatever it takes to be happy again. If you are depressed, its
because you have chosen to be.
About
American
Americans want to be happy. The pursuit of
toward 01 happiness is even an unalienable right for
happiness Americans, according to the Declaration of
Independence.

02 In American culture, happiness is one of the most

important values guiding people's lives.

Everyone in America is obsessed with being happy. They always

03 try to act positively from the outside no matter what they are
feeling.
 Americans Points of view towards happiness
James Brown, Lives in
Washington
1 Tom Wills, san Fransisco
2
 Its because we smile I'm American. I just like being happy
better than being unhappy, so I try
whether we are happy
to think about actions and situations
or not
that move me towards happiness.
 It’s an aspect of our And I try to eliminate from my life
culture those that move me towards
unhappiness.
I've learned over time and with
conscious effort to not let negative
events and people determine my
happiness. I've learned that
happiness is ultimately a choice, and
it comes from within.
3
Kathy Marin
Whofeld,Smalltown in USA
A Without a doubt happiness is both a
culturally-determined idea, and then in
turn a personally determined idea.
I worked on a cruise ship in which some
of the crew shared with me how the
American way of smiling all the time
(passengers were mostly American)
sometimes changed the way they
behaved when they went back home to
their native cultures. In some of those
cultures, the constant smiling was
considered a kind of insanity.
 How Happy Americans right now?
A new survey finds that the U.S. is just the
18th happiest country in the world,
because of poor health, poor economic
mobility, and a lack of social relationship.
Americans are less happy today than they were 30
years ago thanks to longer working hours and a
degradation in the quality of their relationships
with friends and neighbors, according to an Italian
study.
For those who still have a typical go-it-
alone American attitude, strongly
desiring happiness may create a high
standard—like, I must always be happy
—that’s hard to meet. This leads to
disappointment, which directly
interferes with being happy.
“Part of the reason that wanting to be
happy backfires in the US is that
people get down on themselves,” says
Ford. “Also, wanting happiness can
make you self-focused and
disengaged, and then you’re kind
of lonely, and that interferes with
feeling happy, too.
THANKS FOR YOUR LISTENING.
GROUP 8
General Definition
Fate ‘“ the preordained course of your life that will occur
because of or in spite of your actions.
Destiny ‘“ a set of predetermined events within your life
that you take an active course in shaping.

Definisi umum
Nasib‘“ jalan hidupmu yang telah ditentukan
sebelumnya yang akan terjadi karena atau terlepas dari
tindakanmu.
Takdir ‘“ satu set acara yang telah ditentukan dalam
hidup Anda yang Anda ikuti secara aktif dalam
membentuk.