A revealing interchange on the matter of status imagery by some twelve Japanese sojourner students was recorded during a two-hour group discussion planned by the project but not attended by Americans. A translation of part of this interchange follows.
M: As I see it, Japanese think of Americans as nobility. So, it is hard to accept invitations because of the status difference.
K: I don't agree fully. Americans are not nobility to us, but they do have a higher social status, so that it is hard to accept invitations. But there is a "category" of persons who are known and placed as "foreign students," and we can take advantage of this general foreign student status and go to American homes and places.
N: During foreign student orientation we came and went as we desired as "foreign students." But here, as an individual person, I have felt it necessary to return invitations which are extended to me, and this I find very difficult since I have no income and must return the invitation in a manner suited to the status of the person.
M: Only if the invitation is from Americans who we can accept as status equals to us should it be returned. . . . American table manners are difficult to learn, and it is a problem similar to that encountered by anyone who attempts to enter a higher social class in Japan. . . . Japanese just can't stand on an equal footing with Americans. ... I wouldn't want an American janitor to see my house in Japan. It is so miserable.
N: Why? That seems extreme.
M: Because I have social aspirations. I am a "climber." A Japanese house in Tokyo is too dirty to invite an American to—for example, could I invite him to use my poor bathroom? (General laughter)
At a later point in the discussion, the following emerged:
Mrs. N: I have watched American movies in Japan and in the United States I have seen American men—and they all look like Robert Taylor. No Japanese men look like Robert Taylor.
M: Again I say it is not a matter of beauty, but one of status.
Mrs. N: No, it is not status—not calculation of economic worth or anything —but of beauty. Americans are more beautiful—they look nicer than Japanese.
U: It is the same in other things. Americans look nice, for example, during an oral examination in college. They look more attractive. Japanese look down, crushed, ugly.
At a still later point, one of the discussants embarked on a long monologue on the ramifications of the status problem. Part of this monologue runs as follows:
A high-status Japanese man going out with American girls knows something of what he must do—for example, he must be polite—but he does not know the language so he can be no competition to American men, who will be superior. In an emergency, for example, the Japanese male regresses to Japanese behavior. Great Japanese professors are embarrassed for the first few months in the United States because they can't even beat American college juniors in sociable behavior or expression of ideas. They don't know the language, they feel inferior. These people, forgetting that they were unable "to defeat America, become highly antagonistic to the United States. . . .They reason that Japan must be superior, not inferior to the United States, because they are unable to master it. While in America, of course, they may write home about their wonderful times and experiences — to hide their real feelings. Actually while they are in the U.S. they feel as though they were nothing.
Some quotations from two different interviews with another subject:
Before I came to the States, I expected that whatever I would do in the U.S. would be observed by Americans and would become their source of knowledge of Japan and the Japanese. So I thought I had to be careful. In the dormitory, there is a Nisei boy from whom I ask advice about my manners and clothing! I asked him to tell me any time when my body smells or my clothing is dirty. I, as a Japanese, want to look nice to Americans.
In general, I think I do less talking than the others in my courses. I'm always afraid that if I raise questions along the lines of Japanese thinking about the subject—or simply from my own way of looking at something—it might raise some question on the part of .the others. When talking to a professor I can talk quite freely, but not in class. I am self-conscious.
These specimen quotations help to show that quite frequently the perspective of many Japanese students toward America has some of the qualities of the triangular model of interaction. Regardless of how our Japanese subjects may have behaved, or learned to behave, they harbored, as a picture in the back of their minds, an image of the Americans as people a notch or two "above" Japan and the Japanese. Thus even while a Japanese may "look down" on what he calls "American materialism," he may "in the back of his mind" continue to "look up" to the United States and its people as a whole, as a "generalized other." Our cultural model of interaction is thus felt to be a very fundamental and highly generalized component of imagery, as well as a very generalized way of describing the behavior of Japanese and Americans in certain typical interactive situations.
Quite obviously the model, taken by itself, would be a very poor instrument of prediction of the actual behavior of a particular Japanese with Americans. It is apparent that there would have to be a considerable knowledge of situational variability, amount of social learning, and many other factors before all the major variants of Japanese social behavior in America with respect to status could be understood. While there is no need to seek complete predictability of individual behavior, some attempt may be made to show how the social behavior of the Japanese subjects of research did vary in actual social situations in America, and to see if these variants followed a consistent pattern.
Here is a list of values that some visitors from other cultures have noticed are common to many Americans:
Informality (being casual and down-to-earth) Self-reliance (not looking to others to solve your problems) Efficiency (getting things done quickly and on time) Social equality (treating everyone the same) Assertiveness (saying what's on your mind) Optimism (believing that the best will always happen)
SEVEN STATEMENTS ABOUT AMERICANS
Here is a list of comments a non-American might make about an Americans:
1. Americans are always in such a hurry to get things done!
2. Americans insist on treating everyone the same.
3. Americans always have to say what they're thinking!
4. Americans always want to change things.
5. Americans don't show very much respect for their elders.
6. Americans always think things are going to get better. They are so optimistic!
7. Americans are so impatient!
Reasons some cultural anthropologists have offered to explain why Americans may appear the way they do to people from other cultures.
1. Americans are always in such a hurry to get things done!
Americans often seem this way because of their tendency to use achievements and accomplishments as a measure of a person's worth. They're in a hurry to get things done because it's only then that they feel they have proven their worth to other people. The more Americans accomplish, the more they feel they are respected.
2. Americans insist on treating everyone the same.
Americans do this because of our cultural roots as a free nation (e.g., "All men are created equal"). Americans have a deep cultural instinct toward social equality and not having a class system. Ibis is a reaction to the European class system as well as the feudal system that existed in Europe. In cultures where inequality between social classes is more accepted, American insistence on egalitarianism, or social equality, may be annoying.
3. Americans always have to say what they're thinking!
Americans believe that being direct is the most efficient way to communicate. It's important to "tell it like it is" and "speak your mind" — to say what you mean and mean what you say. Being direct is often valued over "beating around the bush." Americans value "assertiveness" and being open and direct about one's droughts and feelings. Not all cultures have this same value. In some cultures, the "normal" way to disagree or to say no is to say nothing or be very indirect.
4. Americans always want to change things.
Americans mink things can always be better, and that progress is inevitable. The United States is just a little more than 200 years old, and American culture tends to be an optimistic one. Older cultures are more skeptical because they have been around longer, have experienced more, and have been in situations in which progress was not always made. In American businesses, being open to change is a strong value, because things really do change quickly, and it is necessary to adapt. Many Americans believe it is "good" to initiate change and "bad" to resist it.
5. Americans don't show very much respect for their elders.
Americans believe people must earn by their actions whatever regard or respect they are given. Merely attaining a certain age or holding a certain position does not in itself signify achievement.
6. Americans always think things are going to get better. They are so optimistic!
America, because of its resources and successes, has always had a culture of optimism. Americans believe that they are in control of their own destinies, rather than being victims of fate. Many Americans tend to believe that "the American dream" can be achieved by anyone who is willing to work hard enough. Many Americans believe mat the only obstacle to things getting better is "not trying hard enough." Americans also believe that a personal lack of determination or effort can be "fixed." Other cultures may believe more in fate ("what will be will be"). When something bad happens, some members of these cultures believe it was fated to happen, must be accepted, and cannot be changed.
7. Americans are so impatient!
Americans believe that if things take a long time to do, they won't be able to do enough of them. Many Americans believe that more and faster is better. They do not like to stand in line and wait, and they originated "fast food." Americans believe that "getting things done" (and doing them quickly) may be more important than other things. Many other cultures believe that slower is better and that building and maintaining relationships takes priority over "getting things done" at the expense of relationships.
Americans are. . . (students of different countres)
What response would you give to these students? Do you consider their observations biased? naive? limited? unfair? interesting? useless?
Student No.1-from Saudi Arabia: "I have learned three important things about Americans since I came to the United States. First, I have learned that all Americans are lively; they move and speak quickly, because time is very important to them. Second, Americans are the same as the machine, they do their work worthily but without any thinking, they just use the instructions even if it is not completely right. Finally, they do not know anything except their job, they do not know what is happened in their country."
Student No.2-from Venezuela: "I have observed that Americans are polite, pragmatic, and organized. Wherever you are in the United States you can hear words of friendship and cordiality like, "May I help you?", "Excuse me", "Have a nice day.", "Thank you", and many others. Another characteristic is their pragmatism. Along years, Americans have worked a lot in order to create many devices which have made their life more comfortable. These devices not only save time but they also make things easier. Last, but never least, Americans are very organized. Perhaps, for the same fact that they are very pragmatic people, they have developed different ways of organization that assure them better services. "
Student No.3-from Japan: "I have been learning about Americans since I came here last September. First, Americans don't care what other people do or what happened. For example, when I come out of my room my roommate never ask me where you are going or where I went. Second, Americans are friendly and open-minded. When I went to my roommate's home, I was welcomed by her family. Her mother said to me immediately: "Help yourself to everything in my home," and I was surprised to hear it. I thought that the words indicated friendliness. In Japan we never open refrigerators or use my friend's things without permissions, because to serve is a virtue in my country. Third, Americans like cards, sometimes I can find cards are delivered to my American friends without special reasons. As far as I look at Americans, they seem not to care what other people do as a whole, while they think it's important to keep relation-ships between them and their friends and them and their parents."
AMERICANS AND MONEY
MARY'S FEELING BLUE
Mary Rathbun, 57, spent a restless night in the San Francisco jail thinking about the "magical cookies" that she baked to add to her fixed income. "The police wouldn't let me have one before I went to jail," she said. "I might have slept better if they had." Mary started her home baking business six months ago after a back injury forced her to quit her job as a grave-yard shift waitress. "I was a waitress for 43 years. I was good at it."
Mary's dozen magical brownies, which were baked with a lot of marijuana, were taken Wednesday night from her apartment, along with 20 pounds of pot and large amounts of sugar, margarine and flour. Mary, who has no previous criminal record, admitted doing a great business out of her home selling her "health food cookies." She said that she wouldn't give away her special recipe.
Mary advertised her "original recipe brownies" for $20 a dozen. Her lack of carefulness, especially taking orders over the phone from anyone amazed and amused the police officers who arrested her. "Life is a gamble.
I played by the rules for 57 years. Then I gambled and lost."
True, Americans enjoy money and the things it can buy. But in defense of the so-called materialistic American, one expert in American culture points out, ". . . however eager we are to make money, we are just as eager to give it away. Any world disaster finds Americans writing checks to relieve distress. Since the war we have seen the spectacle of the United States sending billions and billions of dollars' worth of goods to countries less fortunate than we. Write some of it off, if you will, to a desire to buy political sympathy; there is still an overplus of goodwill strictly and uniquely American. Generosity and materialism run side by side."
The average American is also accused of being "rough around the edges" -that is, of lacking sophistication in manners and understanding of things cultural. He tries hard to polish those edges through education and travel. But no matter how much he learns and sees, his interests are less with the past than with the present and future, less with the decorative than with the functional. He may be bored by medieval art but fascinated by modern engineering. Foreigners will find him always ready to compare cultures, though he may conclude that American methods are more efficient and therefore better. In expressing his views, he may be blunt to the point of rudeness. He admires efficiency and financial success. Eager to get as much as possible for his time and money, he is sometimes impatient, tense, and demanding. Often, he is in a hurry and unable to relax. His intensely competitive outlook is probably his greatest fault. But one must give him credit for his virtues: he is friendly, spontaneous, adaptable, efficient, energetic, and kindhearted. All things considered, he is a likable guy.
Whose American Dream?
"All men are created equal," says the Declaration of Independence.
This statement does not mean that all human beings are equal in ability or ambition. It means, instead, that all people should be treated equally before the law and given equal privileges and opportunities, insofar as government can control these. In practice, this ideal often does not work perfectly. There have always been those who would deny the rights of others for their own self-interest. There are times when the American people need to be reminded that any denial of basic rights is a weakening of the total system. However, equal treatment and equal opportunity for all are ideals toward which American society is moving ever closer.