A great, great book (Making Common Sense of Japan) makes this point: usually, when people say “culture” (or “preferences are different”), they’re using it to say “I haven’t found a structural reason so it goes in my miscellaneous bucket.” https://twitter.com/sknthla/status/1022234997485432832 …
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Like there are actual differences in cultural rituals very frequently and cultural norms sometimes but they have massively less explanatory power than they are perceived as having from the outside.
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Note how so very infrequently people say, regarding their own actions, “My culture made me do it!”
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And yeah that is sometimes a failure of self-reflection but often it is simply access to better, more specific explanations like “The reason why American companies do not enforce a 9:01-is-late norm on knowledge workers is not preference for sloth it is error bars on cars.”
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Systems in particular often get described as culture because they’re complicated and defy single sentence explanations. That’s likely potentially a useful thing to think but if you do culture is effectively everything.
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Example: culture of 9:01-is-late in Japanese companies is embedded in a) a reality where public transportation is extremely reliable and extremely available b) if it breaks down you get an excuse note from the train company because they know you get in trouble if you’re late.
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That is one piece of a much more complicated tapestry and after I get to the part about “Well actually lots of Japanese people aren’t salarymen” folks got “Got it; their culture is inscrutable.” (Totally happens other way, too.)
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As long as I’m on topic of many issues, “How many guns did your family own growing up?” “None. I lived in a city where they are illegal.” “But isn’t your gun-loving culture descended from citizen soldiers and cowboys and don’t you literally fire military weapons for fun?!?”
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“Those are narratives of the American experience and some people do factually engage in that subculture but it is not as hegemonic as you model it as.” “But how did you defend yourself from armed kids at your school?” “Complicated topic!”
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Replying to @patio11
Visakan Veerasamy Retweeted Visakan Veerasamy
I've noticed something similar!https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/945336582369767424 …
Visakan Veerasamy added,
Visakan Veerasamy @visakanvA realization I had when talking with friends from different parts of the world: When you examine a foreign culture, you're going to be most startled or drawn to whatever is most different about it. SG caning, US guns, etc. It may NOT be what its members consider significant!Show this thread0 replies 0 retweets 0 likesThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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