A Sociological Comparison: „United States of America“ and „Deutschland“

A Sociological Comparison:„United States of America“

and„Deutschland“

What will you learn?1. Cultural differences and stereotypes.

2. How people interact with each other?

3. What do people expect?

4. How a country perceives itself and other countries.

5. Important facts about USA and Germany.

6. Learn about two German sociologists.

7. See the three social perspectives:- Social Conflict- Structural Functional- Symbolic Interaction

In GeneralOf course it is always hard to generalize.

Definitely there are true aspects to every culture and every stereotype has its true point.

In my presentation I will compare the differences between two strong but distinct societies „America“ and „Germany“.

Talking about „average“ is also more true regarding to „The Germans“.

StereotypesWhat Americans think about Germans?

What Germans think about Americans?

„Lederhosen“ clothing White sneakers and white socks!

Beer and „Wurst“ eating Coke and Hamburgers

Efficient and accurate working Trial and error

Cold in the beginning, then friends for life

interaction Friendly but superficial

Confusing: formal (Sie) and informal (du) „you“

communication Strange: informal, addressing everyone by their first name

FactsUSA Germany

name The United States of America has different names: the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States)

Official: Federal Republic of Germany (German: “Bundesrepublik Deutschland”).

government federal constitutional republic federal parliamentary republic in Europe.

states 52 and a federal district 16

capital Washington D.C. Berlin = largest city

population Third largest country with 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km2) and with over 312 million people. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries

357,021 km2. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state and the largest economy in the European Union.

economy The U.S. economy is the world's largest national economy.

It is one of the major political powers of the European continent and a technological leader in many fields.

bordering countries

2: Mexico and CanadaVirtually an island surrounded by oceans.

9 European countriesA small country surrounded by many nations.

Two Important German Sociologists

Karl Marx (1818-1883) Perspective: ConflictCommunism

Max Weber (1864-1920)Perspective: ConflictCapitalism

• Critique of capitalism• Struggle between 2 social classes in control over „means of production“1.bourgeoisie2.proletariat

•Social status dependent on control over material resources and respect to legitimate authority•Group gain power through ability to organize to accomplish back by maximizing their available resourced

Social Conflict

Government

USA Germany Representative Democracy The US uses the majority system

throughout, meaning that voters get to decide between several candidates, and a candidate needs more than 50% of the votes in order to win

Democracy Germany uses a mixture of

proportional and majority systems in order to ensure that the proportion of parliamentary seats a party receives is exactly the same as the proportion of voters favoring that party (if that proportion is bigger than 5%) while also allowing for local representation. The German system gives more power to the parties, since they can decide which candidates to place on the list from which the parliamentarians will later be drawn.

Economy

USA Germany Capitalist

The individual performance drives the economy. Money rules the world!Rags to riches belief, anyone can become successful! Minimal government interference.

Socialist

The social market economy (German: “Soziale Marktwirtschaft”)

The German mixed economic model relies on private enterprises and the government., regulation to establish fair competition, maintaining a balance between a high rate of economic growth, low inflation, low levels of unemployment, good working conditions, social welfare, and public services, by using state intervention.[

Social ConflictViews society as a constant struggle for power and resources

“life is a competition for power + resources”

USA Germany

Who has them? Top 1% of population 20% of population

Who wants them? Everyone everyone

How/where/why are they fighting?

From mainstreet to wallstreet contentious fight over wealth and entitlements.

Population is using social institutions (e.g. labor unions) to fight for their rights and benefits and would like to get more and more.

Who is winning? The rich; poor loosing and getting larger, middle class shrinking.

The rich, but government ensures basic support for all classes.

Social Conflict

Summary

The largest social conflict is over wealth in both countries. In the US the individual needs to fight for the resources while in Germany the government protects the individual rights to equally support all people.

Structural Functional

Freedom/Security

Freedom Security For “The Americans“ it is

very important to have freedom and feel free. A very good example is using the “right to bear arms” (to have a gun) mentioned in the constitution.

For “The Germans“ to feel secure is the most important.

If Americans see the police they feel safe, if German see police they know that s.th. happened.

Gesellschaft/Gemeinschaft

USA Germany A community, often urban, that

is larger and more impersonal, with little commitment to the group or consensus on values.

The idea of „Gesellschaft“ is lived in the US.

Individuals is #1!

A close-knit community, often found in rural areas, in which strong personal bonds unite members.

The idea of „Gemeinschaft“ is lived in Germany.

Group is #1! Germans are interested in the common „good“.

Bureaucracya component of format organization that uses rules and hierarchical ranking to achieve efficiency.

USA Germanyvery user-friendly (easy

tax-forms)inefficientuniversally hatedtreat people like

customers

user is not welcome: impolite

extremely efficientuniversally feared treat people as a

nuisance

Optimism/Security

USA Germany

Americans are very optimistic.

Baby showers are celebrated months before birth in order to receive a lot of gifts.

Birthday wishes given before actual birthday is very common. Birthday is not so important.

Germans need security.

Never have a baby shower before the baby is born, bad luck!

The same with birthday wishes. To say it earlier brings bad luck. It does not matter if the person will turn 80 or 8 years old.

Structural Functionalviews society as a machine whose parts must be working together

“Thinking of society as a living organism in which each part of the organism contributes to its survival in a reflection.”

Structural FunctionalUSA Germany

How do they work? Social class plays an important role.

Try to obey the laws.

How do the parts work together as a whole?

Need immigrants to do unpopular and lower paid work.

People do what they are supposed to do.

What is the function of social interaction as a whole?

Work for their own benefit. Work for the common benefit of the community.

Structural FunctionalUSA Germany

What are the manifest (intended) latent (side-effects) dysfunctions (problems)?

•Government does not take care of poor people.•Reliance on private charities to provide safety net for poor•Reliance on strong individuals to shape social and economic power•Has to deal with a lot of (illegal) immigrants.

•Unemployment rate is high.•Prices are very high because of high taxes to support the system.

How does the structure adapt?

Globalization involves the worldwide integration through the trade and exchange of ideas

Symbolic Interaction

NationalismUSA Germany

Flag and pledging the flag is very important

This is done every where and every day in school. You can see the American flag everywhere and it seems that „The Americans“ are really proud of it.

The American flag is very popular also on clothes and accessories.

„The Americans“ know their pledge by heart.

Flag and nationalism is not so import because of a “dark spot in German history.

After the Soccer World Cup 2006 the German flag was suddenly visible everywhere.

To love Germany means to love the history but of course history needs to be treated with a special sense because of some dark sides.

Soldiers wear uniform with the German flag.

„The Germans“ have a hard time to remember „die Nationalhymne“.

Wedding Ring

USA Germany

Americans wear the wedding band on the left hand side because it is closer to the heart.

Germans wear their weeding band on the right hand side because of Roman Catholic religious origin (dexter) to be on the righteous hand of God.

Eating Habits

USA Germany You use knife and fork Precut everything Eat with fork in the right

hand and have the left hand on the lap under the table.

You use knife and fork Cut while you are eating Eat with knife and fork at the

same time and have to have the hand on the table.*

(*This comes form the old times in order to show that you do not have a weapon in your hand under the table – still valid nowadays).

Language

USto know

German

„wissen“ and „kennen“

one word in English two words in German for

to know

1. „wissen“to know a fact

2. „kennen“to be familiar with

For Germans it is more important to be specific.

Saphir Whorf HypothesisThe idea that the language a person uses shapes his or her perception or reality and therefore his or her thoughts and actions.

Symbolic InteractionViews society as the sum of all personal interactions based on the

interpretation of meaning

Communication is symbolic not exactYou don’t know what people think

Sum of personal interactions based on the interpretation of meaning

.

Symbolic InteractionUSA Germany

What do they mean? A symbol represents an idea.

A symbol represents an idea tied to religion (Christianity) and history.

Everyone agree on meaning?

No, because the USA is a melting pot with a lot of different cultures.

Yes, Germanys have a lot of traditions which are kept through a lot of generations.

How does the interpretation shape the way people interact with each other?

Common unspoken knowledge that help facilitate interaction. Symbols are a efficient communication tool.

Are interactions changing on this issue?

The world is becoming closer and closer through globalization and it is hard to keep traditions, which are sadly, not so important anymore