Culture shock

Introduction:

The phenomenon of culture shock can be traced back to the existence of first human being on the earth

and it existed in one or another way however, in literature the concept of culture shock was first coined in

1958. The term culture shock was first mentioned by Kalvero Oberg in 1960. Culture shock refers to the

situation where a person moves from a culture which is familiar to an unfamiliar one resulting in new

experiences and causing distress and discomfort or sense of loneliness. It does not mean that only a

person who moves into a new country will experience culture shock. Someone entering into a new

neighborhood can experience culture shock, a person going to a new city with in the same country can

face culture shock or even college students experience culture shock in the initial days of college.

Culture shock can be comprehensively understood as “the personal disorientation a person may feel

when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration or a visit to a new country or to a move

between social environments also a simple travel to another type of life”.

Literature Review:

The concept of culture shock grabbed the attention of researchers and sociologists because of its

interesting nature and its need to be diagnosed and treated for somehow its severe consequences.

People living in a particular society share somehow common culture. They may not have the same

culture but later on start to adapt to that culture. They will more likely perceive things same in broader

term and their thinking pattern start to act alike to major issues and stimulus. According to a study

conducted by Hallowell, people with different cultures will perceive things differently because they have

been selectively sensitized to certain arrays of stimulus rather than others as a function of one cultural

group rather than other (Hallowell, 1951). This means that they start to act in such shared patterns

unknowingly. Opposite is the case with cross-culture connection where the respondent is an alien in the

community thus faces culture shock. In addition to traditional behaviors and customs, culture includes a

conceptual style i.e. organizing things or putting things in a specific way. People try to match external

stimulus with internal conceptual patterns, if they don’t match people will start feeling stressed and

discomfort and that will result in a cultural shock (Price-Williams, 1980). Culture shock has also been

studied in context of colleges and universities. Horn did a study on American first-generation students in

1998. His concludes that about one-fourth of the first-generation students who enter a four-Year

College in U.S. do not return for the second year because of the culture shock to which they fail to adapt

(Horn, 1998).

Scope of the study:

The essay is limited to culture shock from a university student’s perspective explaining how culture shock is faced and encountered by a student coming to a new university/college and what its consequences are? Also it does not serve the whole population and scenarios i.e. cannot be generalized because personalities differ from person to person. It means that an event may be a reason of culture shock for one person but it may not cause culture shock to another person.

Significance:

This essay will be an addition to the existing literature which can be used in future researches. It can also be used as a guide by the new students to have the knowhow of culture shock, which is faced by almost every new student. This research work can be used also by the faculty of the host colleges to minimize the effects of culture shock.

Discussion:

Culture shock is not a one go situation but it should be treated as a complete process from the start phase to the final phase where culture shock is finally encountered. Theory describes it in a process of 4 stages i.e. Honeymoon stage, crises stage, recovery stage and adaptation stage. Honeymoon stage starts with the day when a student gets admission in a new college/university. This stage is dominated by enthusiasm and fascination about the host college. The student is delighted as well as curious about the new friends he will meet, new teachers and whole new environment. Honeymoon stage is followed by the crisis stage. This is the basic stage where culture shock actually happens. The student may counter language barriers, failure in making new friends, inability to adjust to the new community and culture etc. This will result in anxiety, stress and frustration. The crises stage is followed by the recovery stage. This is the stage where the student recognizes his problems and starts to cope up with the new culture. He will start making friends in the host college, working on his language barriers and other adjustments. Anxiety and frustration vanishes and is replaced by confidence and acceptance of the host values. Now the student becomes functional and gets functional with the system. The final stage is adaptation/adjustment stage. In this stage the student fully adapts the new culture which is no more alien or a nightmare to him.

It is of immense importance to know what causes culture shock to a new college student. One of the major causes is the mismatch of expectations. The student might have some expectations or standards set in the honeymoon stage which unfortunately do not meet with the actual and thus results in cultural shock. Another reason can be the newness of the environment. This newness may comprise of the modernity in the new college. Here important to know is “backwardness” can also be the reason of culture shock. Changes in educational system can also be a cause for the shock. It includes the complexity in the syllabus, tough teaching methods etc. Cultural shock can target a student if he/she does not have prior knowledge about the new college.

It may be very difficult to know if a person is in the crises stage however there are some symptoms that may give a clue. The student will feel homesickness where he will talk and remind more about his friends and family at home. He will also feel pity over himself and start considering himself weak and unhealthy. Anger can be another symptom and it can range to highly harmful. She will no more trust her friends and will have a sense of mistrust. She will look stressed and strained and will be in deep depression. She will have no confidence in herself. She will be getting more introvert and shy to express her point of view thus resulting in agreeableness to everyone. These were some of the symptoms that are apparent and may have lots of other indications as well.

Conclusion:

The likelihood of culture shock is very high. It is the distress and frustration caused when we go to a place with a new culture. Culture shock as like in other ways can also affect a student when he goes into a new college. The crises stage is most important stage where actual culture shock happens. Culture shock may be because of lack of knowledge about the college, environment and new teachers. It is indicated by the distrust, frustration, homesickness, grief and anger. How long will it last varies from person to person depending on their personalities, backgrounds and mental conceptions. It may lead to high turnovers for colleges as indicated by Horn’s study which exerts that about one-fourth of the four-year college students do not go to the same college in their second year. However it can be reduced or avoided if students seek prior knowledge about the new college, administration arrange proper orientations, being helpful and finally set same medium of communication.

Possible solutions, suggestions and recommendations:

Here are few solutions which we think can be of use if applied.

a. Students should have enough knowledge i.e. through reading about his/her college to avoid/minimize the effect of culture shock.

b. There should be proper orientation sessions for the new comers to know more about their new college.

c. Staff and administration in the new college should be lenient and try to help the new-comers to adjust.

d. Medium of communication should be same for all the students.

References:

Hallowell. (1951). cultural factors in the structuralization of perception. social psychology at the

crossroads .

Horn. (1998). Stopouts or Stayouts? Undergraduates who leave college in first year. Waashington: US

department of education.

Kim. (1988). COmmunication and cross-cultura. Multi lingual matters .

Tinto, V. (2000). Taking retention seriously: Rethinking the first year of college. NACADA Journal, 19(2),

5–10.

Zapf, M. K. (1991). Cross-cultural transitions and wellness: Dealing with culture shock. International

Journal for the advancement of counselling , 105-119.

http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/counselling/