Cultural Differences between Americans and Brazilians

Abstract

Different nations have different cultural practices. Even though globalization has to lead to the extinction of numerous cultures, most Americans and Brazilians still practice their traditional cultures. Today most people think that because Brazil is in America, they have the same culture. This is not true since both America and Brazil have numerous differences regarding their culture.

Perhaps many people may argue that both the US and Brazil have similar collections of ethnic and racial groups, that is a big minority of indigenous individuals, such as blacks and immigrants from Germany, Italy, and Asia. The presence of the minority groups in both nations was led by activities such as slavery and colonization during the19th-century (Wade, 2017). Chinese predominate the United States while Japanese predominate Brazil. Globalization and the rapid advancement in technology have demonstrated that technological revolution hasn't done much in altering the way of life and the belief of many people (Moran, 2014). With this in mind, I propose research on the differences in culture between Brazilians and Americans. This is because culture is social hence it is not an individual occurrence, it is a product of society, and it grows from social interaction. Culture is differentiable to us by comparison. Thus we should compare different cultures.

Cultural differences between Americans and Brazilians

Due to the rapid advancement in technology and development in infrastructure the world today has turned into a global village. This because the rapid advancement in technology and infrastructure have made communication across time and space easier, not forgetting traveling across any geographical borders. However, this technological revolution has not altered anything regarding culture and way of life of many peoples (Moran, 2014). Different people define the term culture differently. Most people define culture as the beliefs and the way of life of a given community of study. In a detailed definition, culture can be defined as the beliefs, rituals, languages, ideas, and traditions of a certain community or group of people, which are inherited from generation to generations over a long period. In the society we are living in there are no two cultures which can be similar if one is found in the west, the other will be located in the East.

In broader terms, numerous scholars refer to culture as a complex pattern of human activities. These activities include literature, language, religion, and art of a society which represents their culture. Most people may argue that since the United States and Brazil are located in America, they have the same cultural activities. At some point, we may disagree with such ideologies even though both countries have some similarities. However, the differences in the human activities and beliefs have led to the development of diverse cultures in different countries all over the globe (Hughes, 2014). A more interesting research can be done between the cultures of the United States and Brazil, to differentiate both nations easily. The most common cultural difference in these nations is that the Brazilian culture is mainly centered on collectivism while the American culture is predominantly based on individualism (Wade, 2017).

Brazilian culture is mainly characterized with the extended family that is, relatives mainly parents, children, uncles, aunts, and grandparents, while in the United States, it was observed that most people prefer to stay alone or as married couples. The American concept of family has also affected us since we just live as a family my parents and me only while most of my Brazil friends live together as an extended family. Brazilian culture encourages obedience in kids, hence as a child, you are expected to be very respectful to your elders in all situations while in the American culture discourages obedience in kids by encouraging independence and actual testing in kids (Campbell, 2016).

Brazil's official language is Portuguese, and Brazilians have a great pride when they are speaking in their national language. This is because Brazilians believe that their language has a beautiful and its lyrical quality making it quite fun to speak it. Back in the United States, English is the official language, even though it's not spoken uniformly throughout the country different states have different dialects and slight variations in pronunciation. Americans are mainly thought to be very loud, flashy and party lovers in nature while Brazilians prefer to spend most of their time with their family members instead of going out to nightclubs on weekends to party.

Background

The significance of cultural differences in both United States and Brazil is growing more and more in the recent times. Due to globalization, the importance of country boundaries has been reduced because people can now travel across their country borders in search of jobs, trade, education, and recreational activities. In the past two decades, there has been an immense increase in the population of emigrants in most developed countries. Countries such as the United States are flooded with emigrants from all over the world. Most of the emigrants travel to the developed countries in search for greener pastures such as better jobs or even due to business purposes. Being in a new environment may not be so welcoming to the emigrants since they may experience factors that may hurt or interfere with their cultural values and beliefs. Due to this, most companies provide a cross-cultural training to their employees. However, the effects of differences in culture on the family are frequently neglected. As an American from a Brazilian ethnicity, I identify myself with Americans when I am around Brazilians. I have also observed that Brazilians behave differently when they are around each other as compared when they are around Americans. From this, I have observed many cultural differences and would like to research deeper into and see what exactly has to lead to that.

Methodology

It is very crucial to understanding the difference between a quantitative and qualitative research. Qualitative research is basically about the understanding. It gives a range of problems involved, permits an assessment of the concentration in which attitudes and views are held, and hence a feeling for the language is utilized. In the quantitative research, it's all about the measurements, and it's important in establishing some certainty to the extent to which attitudes and views are expressed in the qualitative research.

In this research, I propose the use of both Independent and dependent variables. The Independent variables will be the students watching a Brazilian cultural distinctiveness film. The dependent variable of the study will be the degree to which the students feel cultural individuality. These variables are important since they will test how students feel connected with their original home and their cultural despite them living in America now. For this research I also look forward to seeing some of the cultural difference between Brazilians and Americans with the students filling some questionnaires.

In this research I will use 12 undergraduate students, comprising of 6 from Brazilian nationality and 6 American students who were randomly selected. They were between 16 to 20 years of age (emerging adults).

Sixty Brazilian undergraduates' students were randomly assigned to watch a Brazilian cultural distinctiveness film. The American students were also randomly assigned to watch an American cultural distinctiveness film. After watching the film, all the students were required to answer culture questionnaires to give us more information about their country. After the questionnaire, we went to the school library to get more information about the culture of these two nations. The main limitation of this methodology is that in recruiting students, you must first receive credit towards the research experience requirement in general psychology and should first sign up using SONA systems an online site.

Results

From the hypothesis, we found out that exposing the student to a cultural distinctiveness film heightened their response and more need to connect with their culture. The questionnaires filled showed a great difference in culture in both countries. This result will be very relevant in my future research since it shows that my participants are proud of their culture and hence they have the same results in how they behave in their environment. Therefore, there are numerous differences between the Brazilian culture and the American culture. From the results obtained, the Brazilian culture is mainly characterized with the extended family that is, relatives mainly parents, children, uncles, aunts, and grandparents, while in the United States, it was observed that most people prefer to stay alone or as married couples. The American concept of family has also affected us since we just live as a family my parents and me only while most of my Brazil friends live together as an extended family. Brazilian culture encourages obedience in kids, hence as a child, you are expected to be very respectful to your elders in all situations while in the American culture discourages obedience in kids by encouraging independence and actual testing in kids (Campbell, 2016).

Conclusion

In conclusion, culture is essential. Culture is the identity of a given country, and without culture, the society would not exist. Cultural scholars argue that culture is important because culture is the only representative of a given community or population since, it's a set of transmitted and learned behavior patterns, institutions, beliefs and all other products of man's work and thoughts which characterize the functioning of a given population, organization, profession, or community. Culture is a fundamental root in any community which provides them the ways of life. Additionally, culture provides a solution for any critical issue experienced by the community. With culture a country can think as a whole and not individually, hence providing the concept of family and countries prides.

References

Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Routledge.

Wade, P. (2017). Race and ethnicity in Latin America. Pluto Press.

Larson, Reed W., and Bic Ngo. "Introduction to Special Issue: The Importance of Culture in Youth Programs." (2017): 3-10.

Campbell, N., & Kean, A. (2016). American cultural studies: an introduction to American culture. Routledge. Hughes, C. (2014). Brazilian Culture.

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