A Contrastive Study On Sino-American Value Orientations--Differences And Similarities

In this age of increased global contact, societies are moving toward greater interdependency and interconnectedness. The propensity of this increasing globalization poses unique challenges to the issue of how people from diverse cultural backgrounds attempt to communicate effectively in conjunction with cultural awareness and sensitivity, and understanding thus is intensified. As a result, the field of communication has been given an increasing amount of attention.Value is the core of culture and it guides our behaviors. So a contrastive analysis of the differences and similarities in Sino-American cultural value orientations allows insight into behaviors of both Chinese and Americans and conduces to successful communication. The previous researches on values pay too much attention to differences, or show little respect to the levels of differences, and overlook similarities. However, successful intercultural communication is based on recognizing the way in which two cultures resemble one another as well as the way in which they differ. Thus this thesis makes an attempt to explore differences as well as similarities regarding Sino-American cultural value orientations.This thesis falls into five parts: Introduction; Chapter 1. Cultural Value Orientations; Chapter 2. Differences in Sino-American Cultural Value orientations; Chapter 3 Similarities in Sino-American Cultural Value Orientations; Conclusion.After pointing out the necessity and significance of the study in Introduction, this thesis begins with a general explanation of the definition of cultural value and value orientation. This is followed by an exploration of the close relationship existing between value and communication. Then, some prior studies and relevant research findings of cultural value orientation are reviewed.Chapter 2 makes a comparison of the cultural value orientations that are commonly preferred respectively in China and America by presenting ideas that draw heavily on the work of Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck and their theory of value orientations, concerningpeople's relationship with nature, people's concept of human nature, time, activity and their concept of interpersonal relationship, the focus being on the differences. Then a contrastive analysis between dominant cultures and co-cultures is made, arguing that differences exist on different levels. The second part of the chapter centers on the differences in a dynamic perspective, showing that values are not static and they do change over time.Chapter 3 is concerned with the similarities in Sino-American cultural value orientations in much the same way that the differences are stated. First, similarities are exemplified at a macro level, i.e. between dominant cultures. Then, similarities are analyzed at a micro level, i.e. among co-cultures. Another attempt is made to discuss similarities in a dynamic perspective, asserting that cultural values as the core of culture remain relatively stable. The last section addresses the issue of Globalization, pointing out that globalization is a process that exposes the need for mutual recognition of divergence and convergence in cultures and values.Based on the three chapters, the last part arrives at the conclusion that in the trend of globalization, similarities and differences exist simultaneously in Sino-American cultural value orientations.