American and Chinese Culture
Introduction
The term culture is an umbrella term that encompasses the norms and social behavior that is found in human societies. It is also made up of the beliefs, knowledge, customs, laws, habits, and capabilities of the people who are in these cultural groups. Human beings tend to acquire culture using the learning process. This process mainly involves socialization and enculturation, which is primarily shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. As a matter of fact, a cultural norm tends to codify acceptable conduct in a community, and it also acts as a guideline to the way people behave, dress, speak and deal with a situation (Chung et al., 2014). It also acts as a template for e the expectations that a social group has. A monoculture is a social group that can bear risks, and it also shows the lack of functional responses to the change. Different nations have different cultures. American and Chinese have several different approaches to creativity and innovation.
American Approach to Innovation and Creativity
The American culture has used a tolerance of risk and failure to promote innovation and creativity. America’s culture has been the advantage that the nation has had. It has continued to enjoy the fact that the nation has been competitive in terms of innovation and creativity when compared to other countries. Other countries, such as China, Finland, Colombia, and Dubai, have been pursuing different innovation strategies to try and get to the top. Venture capital, Science that is driven by purposes, incubators, and even social innovation, has been spreading globally at a massive speed. The elements of culture to promote innovation have been more difficult to transfer across different boarders (Hirschman, 2013). The American culture is based on forgiveness of failure as well as tolerance of risk. For instance, there is a saying in Silicon Valley that states that if a person has not failed twice or thrice, it means that they have not tried doing something hard enough. Tolerating risk has been important in improving the entrepreneurial speed, and this has been a critical determinant of competitiveness. It has also created a willingness to listen to ideas even though they are outlandish. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
The diagram below shows how research and development have had an impact on the nation’s spending as the government promotes creativity (Sabochik, 2011).
Additionally, the American idea has also been inextricably interwoven with the notion of frontiers. This has been a form of the historical complex that still has figures in people’s imaginations, and it has also been viewed to be a continuously self- refreshing horizon of possibility as well as opportunity for the people. The idea has helped the American people to see themselves as pioneer’s further promoting innovation. One importance of the American frontier culture was the barn- rising. It was also based on the belief that the newcomers could expect to get a day’s labor from his neighbors to construct his or her barn and that there could be an expectation to reciprocate ideas for the next newcomer (Swierad, Vartanian & King, 2017). The spirit of barn- rising was alive, and it also played a huge role in the hotbeds of American innovation whereby, the newcomers were supported, and connections were made. This continued to make America as a nation to grow through innovation and creativity.
Hope has also been restored in education. Educational policies have contributed to improvements in education. Reevaluation of the American educational system has also been done to ensure that it creates a massive number of success stories for the people. The education has promoted creativity and innovation since the students have been given the freedom to have envisioned for their future, and even create new things that could be useful to the society (Toutkoushian, 2009). The government has organized fairs where the things that have been created have been taken to, and people have exchanges ideas on how these things are being done. People also go creative lessons to give the students the freedom to innovate the things they choose.
Chinese Approach to Innovation and Creativity
China is a nation that has had a long history of creative endeavors. This has been evidenced by the innovative pursuits and products that are present. China is a country that has been rich in beauty, art, history, and even culture. Innovative interventions have been common in the country. Some of its greatest innovations have been mainly on printing, gunpowder, papermaking, and development of the compass (Xu & Hamamura, 2014). These innovations aid in displaying the abundance that China has and the inventive and innovative history that is present. Creativity and innovation helped china‘s evolution, and it also helped the modern world.
The graph below shows how innovation has improved China compared to America in terms of ventures (Barrera, 2017).
Much of the Chinese culture is based on Confucianism. The culture has been proven to have a counterproductive as well as a strong influence on the development of creativity in the nation. It states that even though a person needs to have the cognitive ability for him or her to be creative, the person’s creativity may not flourish if the culture does not value or encourages creative expression and growth. However, modern China has advocated more on creativity and innovation. Creativity has been encouraged by removing the cultural blocks that inhibit creativity (Darling-Hammond, Flook, Cook-Harvey, Barron & Osher, 2019). The cultural foundation of Confucianism has created different perspectives that accompany the practices and attitudes of the Chinese educational institutions, and this has had a deep impact on creativity. Innovation and creativity among the Chinese are considered to be a progressive improvement, adaptation, and modification (Varum, Huang & Borges Gouveia, 2007). It has been mainly focused ion perfecting an existing idea and then improving it slowly. Contrarily, novel ideas and products that are unique and valuable are also present among the Chinese.
The image below shows the Chinese policy innovation institutions (Varum, Huang & Borges Gouveia, 2007).
How These Different Approaches Can Affect The Level Of Innovative Output Between Your Chosen Two Countries.
America and China have different approaches to the level of innovative output. Chinese believe that creativity is progressive. It means that it never stops. Once a creative person comes up with an idea, the idea is to be advanced by different people who are innovative and share a similar vision to that of the other individual. China has turned out to become an innovative society. In the year 2006, the Chinese leaders came up with a plan to transform China to become an innovative society by 2020 (Hu, Chen, Zhang, Yu, Peng & Liu, 2018). The plan was to succeed through the development of science and technology. It has shown that the government believes in the people of China, and that is why there has been an improvement in their publications, online creativity, and even expenditure. It has created a breakthrough for Chinese initiatives to make China innovative. The approaches can increase the level of innovative output in several ways. The Chinese have become one of the most developed countries, especially in terms of its infrastructure due to innovation. For example, the nation’s creativity has led to the development of silk roads that have facilitated transport.
In addition to that, the American people have also been described as innovative. The education system has been created to accommodate the different individuals who have come up with innovative designs that may help improve society. The people are aware that there are risks, successes, and even failures in creativity. It means that they do not lose hope even when they come up with an idea, and it fails. They take failure to be a way of telling them that they should improve the way they do things, and they should involve other people who help improve the plan that they have. The Americans are united when they agree on doing something. Currently, they are considered to be among the most advanced nations. The country has come together to promote innovations. The approach by the Americans increases the level of output since it has been a form of uniting the American citizens in improving their way of life. Innovation and creativity can also improve the interaction that people have with each other since they come up with new ways of solving conflicts.
Conclusion
In summary, it is evident that culture is very important in the community. Culture is the way of life of a group of people. It shows how they should behave and even the practices that they should take part in. There is a difference in American and Chinese culture based on innovation. The Americans believe that creativity and innovation should be used in tolerance of failure and risk. This aids in promoting creativity and innovation. The American culture is the advantage that the nation has, and it continues to enjoy the fact that it is competitive with nations such as Finland, China, Dubai, and Colombia. Innovation has mainly been witnessed in people’s social lives, venture capital, and science. The notion of frontiers has also helped in increasing innovation in the country. The education system has restored hope for innovation, and educational policies have helped in the creation of new things. The Chinese believe that creativity and innovation are progressive. It also promotes modification and adaptation. Nonetheless, innovation among the Chinese has increased the level of output since it has helped them come up with valuable and unique produces. The country’s infrastructure has also improved as a result of innovation.
References
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