There is a piece in the Star and Tribune last year (Sunday, August 30, 2015) by a Russian immigrant. You can read it here:
http://www.startribune.com/immigration-tale-a-russian-meets-america/323276891/
It is a fine essay on his experiences in coming to the USA 25 years ago. He is a very perceptive and reflective individual. I have been researching cultural differences for about 15 years now – since my first experience in Africa. This author, Oleg Voskresensky, has perfectly captured some of the differences between the US “world view”, and the one he grew up with in Russia. It’s nicely done, and it is very helpful to understand a bit what is going on in Russia.
If you have been following my writing here at all, you know that I am persuaded that some of the world’s problems come from the fact that the world view that we grow up with is very, very difficult to change.
http://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2014/03/culture-is-key-to-development.html
When things were static and stable, that was not much of a problem, in fact, it was a benefit. Our system of belief, our world view was formed over millennia, and it was tailored to help us survive. Those who embraced it survived, the outliers did not. But with today’s rapid change in economics and trade and technology, an outdated world view is a problem, an obstacle to economic growth and development, and to personal freedom and growth. But, by design, this world view does not change rapidly. That was the whole idea when our brain was evolving and changing. A rapidly changing world view is not going to come from our genetics. We need to choose it, and educate our children to learn how to adapt to it.
I highly recommend that you read the essay itself. I would like to further develop just a few of the cultural differences he identifies.
Personal Space – In my humble experience, folks from northern climes tend to have a larger personal space, Germans, Scandinavians, etc. I know Italians have less, so I thought it was related to climate. But apparently, Russians do not honor it much either.
Self Focus – He talks about how little we in the US know about the geography of the world – especially Russia. A person he met asks if he knows a friend of his from Prague. Really. This is not a world view, except it is. I have had this experience with French and German and Chinese friends. They know more about US history, literature and geography than we do about any other part of the world. I think their education system works in that respect better than ours, but there is also this self centered focus. We are, after all, the most powerful, richest, etc. -whatever superlative you want. We are much more focused on our stuff than on any other culture. Clearly, we need to get out more, and understand that we are not the best, greatest anything anymore – except in military expenditures. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should watch the opening sequence from The Newsroom – you can find it here:
https://youtu.be/q49NOyJ8fNA
I think the best investment we could make in our own country is to require our young people to dedicate 2 years of their lives to some socially redeeming work – preferably in another country and culture. Mormons do it – and Salt Lake City has the largest population of foreign language speakers in the nation. The Germans used to do that, and they had some benefits.
http://www.dw.com/en/germany-launches-program-for-youth-to-volunteer-abroad/a-2763919
http://www.dw.com/en/germany-plans-massive-volunteer-abroad-program/a-2309164
Independence Education Focus – Most of the world’s education system focuses on providing information to students. They are expected to learn things that are delivered to them. They are generally not taught how to find new information, or how to research. And most are not taught how to think about things, or assess the value of the information they are fed. That is one small product of our own cultural “independent” focus. We are much more independent, less collective, than any other culture. See Hofstede on this one (Cultures and Organizations). We are not driven to march lock step, one with the other. We are praised when we can develop a different track, a better way, a new idea. That also means that we have a lot of arguments and disagreements about how to proceed. Which eventually lets us develop something new on the planet – at least that is the hope. But it also helps us understand how difficult change is in other cultures.
Relationships - Russians see relationships as long lasting, requiring a lot of work, and not easily severed. We tend to view relationships as something to accomplish and to move on. The author sees this in personal friendships, but my guess is that it also applies to his sense of history. The Ukraine was “always” part of Russia. It should be reunited. End of discussion. No, we are not giving back California and Alaska.
Sense of Time – I have not experienced every culture on the planet, but some of the ones I have seen also share this Russian sense of time. Time is not really measured in Italy and Nicaragua and Eastern Africa. Things do not have specific start and stop times. In the US we are driven by our clocks – not our lives. I tend to like it, as it does provide order and structure, and is more efficient at getting things done. But it is not the way of many parts of the world. If you don’t learn that, you will have some problems. And if you think that your effort to help people from other cultures requires that they learn your sense of time – let it go. It is not going to change in any hurry.
This also is reflected in the value we place on old things versus new. In many parts of the world, the elderly, the tradition, the “way it has always been done” has much more power than the new, the innovative.
Community Minded – Individual Responsibility – This is the best insight of the essay, and it took the author a while to understand it. In my humble experience, most of the rest of the planet, outside of northern Europe and US and Canada, does not have any sense that they are in charge of things. In East Africa, no one is responsible for things. In Nicaragua, someone else has the responsibility to make changes. That seems to be the Russian view as well. The US one is clearly that we are in charge of our lives, of what is going to happen. That carries over to our national aspirations and efforts around the globe as well.
He puts the primary emphasis on communitarian versus individual, but I think it is also hierarchical – the Russian people think their leadership has the responsibility to do things, to make change, to decide. The common folk are charged to follow along, not to dissent. That sense of hierarchical leadership is deep in our genes, and the cultural bent to support it is quite common, even in northern Europe. It would help us understand a bit why the Russian people are so supportive of Putin, despite what he has done to their democratic institutions. I think that same cultural mind set is deeply operative in the entire Arab world – Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. They are absolutely dependent on their strong leaders. Even after a major revolution, they tend to look to the new strong leader – not to a shared democracy.
So . . . there’s a lesson here. Learn to understand those cultures. Do not put a lot of your focus on changing that world view. It is not going away. Learn to work with it.
Addendum
By the way, this author has at a few other pieces published which show a similar insight into Russian thinking. It would behoove our fearless leaders to learn more about this as we try to resolve these world problems.
http://www.startribune.com/russia-and-the-u-s-and-so-we-grow-apart/305572181/
The Russian disrespect for law and order is deep seated. Corruption is not going away in any hurry. Their regard for authority is deep as well.
