Abstract

Chinese and American family lives are quite different from each other because of the effects of collectivism and individualism. Chinese family lives pay much attention to collective benefits and the Chineses tend to sacrifice a lot of personal desires for the collectivity no matter in family structures, family membership, family activities, the education of children or their outlook on marriage. Americans concentrate on personality. They put more emphasis on the quality of independence, personal feelings and individual bebefits in every aspect of family lives. This paper is written from the perspective of cultural differences to compare Chinese family lives with American ones in order to absorb the virtues of different family lives and make contributions to the world communication.

Key words: collectivism; individualism; Chinese family; American family; cultural differences

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction-1

2.Literature Review-1

3.A Brief Understanding of Collectivism and Individualism-2

3.1 Collectivism and Chinese culture-2

3.2 Individualism and American culture-3

4.Chinese Family Lives Under Collectivism-3

4.1 Chinese family structures-3

4.2 Chinese family membership-4

4.3 Chinese family activities-5

4.4 Chinese family education-5

4.5 Chinese outlook on marriage-7

5.American Family Lives Under Individualism-8

5.1 American family structures-8

5.2 American family membership-8

5.3 American family activities-9

5.4 American family education-10

5.5 American outlook on marriage-11

6.Conclusion-12

Works Cited-13