Culture Shock

Culture Shock

What is culture shock? 

Is when someone has the feeling of disorientation due to the experience of an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set attitudes. 

My experience of a culture shock in Peru:

I lived in Peru for more than 6 years, where people were nice, the culture and tradition were special and unique. But at the same time, there were some things that I couldn't understand and was kind of shocking since it wasn't normal for me. 

 

First, when I was living in Peru, something that shocked me was parents, hitting their children with a belt. Even though this action didn't occur in every Peruvian family, it was something normal for them; they didn't see that as something strange. Many of my friends from school were hit with the belt by their parents, saying it was a way to educate them and they could have a better attitude. Usually, they were scolded when they had low grades, bad behavior, weren't honest or didn't do something as their parents wanted.  

The second culture shock was when I saw many people on the bus throwing trashes. In Peru, one of the most common modes of transportation is the bus and I got shocked as I noticed that many of the passengers who were on a public bus opened the window and threw all the trashes on the ground as if it was a garbage can. No one didn't care about those actions and they just saw it like it was something ordinary. They threw different kinds of things, such as food including fruit seeds, fruit peels, empty snack bags, tissues, plastic bottles, juice cans, straws, etc. And they were even some people, spitting. Due to these actions of people, the main streets and roads are always with trashes and are dirty.

 

Non-material: 
Attitudes and ideas of the people:
- How they didn't care when others threw trashes on the ground.
- Some parents hitting their children and viewing this as if was something normal.

Material:
- The most common mode of transportation: public bus

Why this is a cultural shock?  Looking at it through ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the evaluation of other cultures, judging it from the point of view of their own culture.

The first one of parents hitting their kids with a belt was a culture shock because in Korea and Nicaragua it isn't something normal. Most of the parents, usually when they get mad or want to scold their children, they just give punishment or say it with words, but they don't educate them physically. However, there some exceptions.


The second one of throwing trashes was also a culture shock because in the countries where I lived such as Korea and Costa Rica was totally different. Each country, maintained it really clean, trying to avoid pollutions and people following basic rules to have an organized country.