Cultural Paper

Culture: India
Definition of Culture
Culture is a world often used to describe the differences from one society to another society.   Culture is society’s cumulative behavior or beliefs stemming from values, religion, communication and gender roles.   The values of a culture pertain to what is important and what is not important.   For example, it not uncommon for Americans to continually look at a watch or clock, Americans view time as a valuable commodity, which is just the opposite of India’s culture which values quality life and family more importantly then time.   Religion is how people communicate with the supernatural, code for how they live and celebrate life (Norris & Inglehart, 2004).   People of India place a larger role on daily interaction of religion, than Americans do.   For example, people of India do not believe in killing other living things, therefore, it is not uncommon to see wild animals walking through the streets of India towns.   Hindus believe that they are reincarnated into animals so they will not kill any animal for any reason. (Sommerville, 2000).   Communication comes in two forms verbal and nonverbal, in most Asian cultures nonverbal communication more important than verbal communication.   For example, in India and most Asian countries having prolonged eye contact is a lack of respect, the listener is trying to find the truth of the speaker.   Unlike Asian cultures in the United States verbal communication is the dominant form of communication.      
Gender roles in any culture vary from country to country.   Gender roles are unwritten rules about the responsibilities of men and women.   In India, gender roles are based on thousand year old traditions.   Women cook, clean the house and maintain the children, while the men provide the means for his family.   In the larger cities of India gender roles have changed drastically, women now work in United States offshore outsourced calling centers and provide administrative support in the computer...