Culture Reaction: Asians Essay (Reaction Paper Sample)

Cultural Reaction paper: The perspective of Asians
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Introduction
Asians are a group of people originating from the Asian continent. Asia is the largest continent in the world in terms of landmass and probably in population as well. Though considered an ethnic group in other locations, Asian community had many sub ethnics that make it the most diversified ethnic group in the world. Due to characterization with many sub ethnic groups, it is expectable that Asians exhibit various cultural behaviors. The variation depends on the side of the continent that a person originates. However, the Asian sub ethnic groups have some common cultural practices that lead to their identification in collective manner as Asians.
Sociopolitical Histories
Since the Asian community encompasses many sub ethnic divisions, it is expectable that they have different political ideologies. The political history of the Asian ethnic group characterize with monarchial structures and dictatorial political ideologies. The group also preferred small government structures that provide services to the public (Ebrey, Wathall & Palais, 2009). Society in the historical Asian community is a combination of families glued together with principles of collectivism. Society was important and contained greater value than individuals contain. The interest of the community surpassed that of individuals.
Asian Worldviews
The Asians traditional worldview considers universe with the entire cosmos belonging to a single organism. All parts of the cosmos have a role to participate in the process of generating life in the world. The worldview advocates that human beings find a harmonious way to live and coexist with the nature. Ebrey, Wathall and Palais (2009) report that majority of the Asian sub ethnic groups view the world with a collectivist lens. The general Asian ethnic emphasize family cohesion and respect among its members. The group also advocate for obedience to the authority and respect for the elders. Personal discipline and self-control are of utmost importance among the Asians. Families and individuals should interdepend on each other. The group also recommends shaming for controlling behaviors. The group or community in the Asian worldview is always superior to individual interests.
Cultural Identity
Cultural identity is one of the most controversial aspects of the Asian ethnic group. The fact is attributable to the discrimination faced by the people of Asian origin who migrate to America. Identification with culture among Asians is easier in Asian dominated states or towns. In such settings, Asians tend to identify with their specific mother countries when expressing their cultural believes. The strength of the ethnic community that a child grows in affects their identity. Children growing within ethnic communities that are cohesive, and participate in co-ethnic activities such as a churches or peer groups identify with their national origin such as Japanese-American among others (Collet & Lien, 2009). Asians who live in the open American societies with other ethnic groups have the tendency to immerse in the American culture. Such individuals learn English and adopt full American cultures. Social discrimination especially in public places is the reason that many Asians within America shun their cultures and want to identify as Americans.
Religious Practices
Asian Continent is probably the origin of most of the world religions. The continent identifies with many religious practices, and has not attachment to one set of religion. Religious practices are somewhat specific for the sub ethnic groups. For instance, most Indians practice Hinduism as some practice Buddhism. Some other communities practice Christianity and Judaism religions. The Japanese are mostly Shinto and Buddhist, collectively estimating at 84%. The Philippines are ardent followers of the Roman Catholic, which is a division of Christianity (Abazov, 2007). In that line, it is difficult to decipher a specific religious practice to cover for the entire Asian ethnic group even in America. In fact, statistics by the America Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) of 2008 showed that majority of Asians do not identify with any religion. In fact, the group with no affiliation to any religious group was the largest and standing at 27%.
Cultural Norms
The Asian community practices nearly similar cultural norms. Many sub ethnic groups place masculine gender above the feminine gender. In some extreme practices, male children have great authority over their mothers when determining certain aspects of the family (Collet & Lien, 2009). In the Asian culture, avoiding direct starring when talking to someone is a sign of respect. The practice is especially required when a young person engages with an elder. Most Asian communities encourage descent-dressing codes, which do not expose much of the body parts as done in the Western communities. Women dresses should not expose the breasts, and cover better parts of the body.
Childrearing Practices among Asians
Child parenting is stricter within the Asian ethnic group. To understand the model of parenting, it is important to consider the organization and structure of family. The Asian ethnic group considers the family and society as the epicenter of individuals’ life (Ebrey & Wathall, 2014). The community teaches its generations the significance of loyalty and obligation to the family. Each individual has an obligation to care for others. In that respect, parents tend to spend more of their time attending to the children and training about good morals. The parenting style is strict and sometimes involves physical punishment to reinforce adherence to the moral conducts. Even though both parents play important roles in parenting, mothers have the greatest responsibilities as they usually remain near children as fathers go to work to sustain the family dynamics.
According to Abazov (2007), Asian parenting style demands that children accept the top-down communication system. When parents talk, children have an obligation to maintain silence and receive instructions. Talking back is usually a show of disrespect to the elders. In traditional Asian community, fathers do not start direct conversations with their children but maintain distance. Fathers only engage directly with the children in case involving misbehavior that...