Culture Shock

This week in Sociology, we learned about culture shock, cultural relativity, and ethnocentrism. Culture shock is when we are exposed to different rules and ways of living life than we are used to. Ethnocentrism is when we experience that culture shock, but we choose to think of our way of living as superior to another way of living. Cultural Relativity is the way that sociologists try to think. They make an effort to accept other new ideas and ways of living that are different from their own. One way this applies to my life is that I live in a traditional Korean household while attending a school centered around an American mindset. At times, it can be hard for me to adjust from my life at home to my life at school. That's because, in the Korean culture, respect for elders is the most important aspect. For dinner, we all have to eat together, and I'm not allowed to start eating until the oldest person at the table has had their first bite. When I get home, I have to bow from the waist up, and greet my elders. I'm not allowed to talk back or call anyone older than me by their first name. Once, when I was young, I went to my friends house, for dinner, and I greeted her mom with a little bow. Her mom looked at me strangely, and I was really confused. Then, she greeted me, and when I called her Mrs. Smith, she told me to call her Ashley. At that moment, I had experienced culture shock. I didn't know how to call her by her first name because I was never allowed to call my elders by their name. Since I felt uncomfortable, I continued to call her Mrs. Smith, and when we sat down for dinner, I waited for my friend's parents to start eating. When they saw I wasn't eating, they asked me why, and I explained my culture. At first, they didn't understand, but as I continued to explain, they began to have cultural relativity.