Political Crossfire Forums

The biggest and most important cultural differences between the average Westerner and these groups is the intra-family economy and saving habits. All of these groups invest heavily within their family unit, and all of them tend to save their money alot more than we do. Want to start a business? Forget going to the bank and paying high interest rates, you simply ask your aunts and uncles, your parents and grandparents, and they will loan you money from their substantial savings. In turn, they stick by you when times are tough and profits are lean, and everyone helps out economically, furthering the good of the family while profiting themselves. They also put their kids to work. Whereas Westerners view childhood as a time for play, these groups tend to view it as the formative years when you will either learn good spending, saving and working habits, or you will become spoiled and self-indulgent. Their kids aren't coming home from school and crashing out on the couch, they are going to the variety store or the Chinese restaurant or the property maintenance company and working, often for no pay other than, in the future, being able to rely upon them when you want to get started or go to school or whatever.

Yea, I think that falls under the impulse control category that Chia mentions as one of her three pillars. I also think her second pillar, insecurity, is what drives many of these groups to become extremely educated which is obviously going to pay huge dividends as an adult.

The pillar that interested me the most was the superiority complex one. That almost strikes me as counter-intuitive as these groups often seem unconfident, humble, and diligent compared to most Americans who come off as supremely confident and self assured, regardless of station or ability.

To me, the difference is what you derive your confidence from. Westerners place a huge premium on individuality - what makes you superior is your sense of self. We derive some pride from the successes of our family members, and a bit of pride from our nationality or religion, but not to the degree that these other cultures do. A Jew or a Mormon identifies as a member of a lineage, and they take great pride in past accomplishments by people they didn't even know. This is why "honor" tends to matter so much in these cultures - it isn't that you are insulting a person, you are also insulting their background, their community, etc. They don't view themselves just on their own. They are a product of their past.

The average Westerner might identify with a family name or a particular place, but they don't often concern themselves with historical social identity. What matters is the present, whereas these cultures put a huge emphasis on the past as well as the future. So when you are talking to a member of these cultures, you are often struck by how humble they are - but when you get them talking about past family members, or the accomplishments of people within their lineage, they take HUGE pride in it, and it really shows under certain circumstances.

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It has been shown that people are most influenced by their peers and the people around them. This makes it incredibly beneficial to be part of an immigrant community that values the disciplines like hard work, education and in the case of the Iranians a knack for setting up lucrative,shady used car and jewelry businesses with questionably legal financing options.

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what about Norwegians? the ones I knew all seemed pretty successful.