I would like today to make a few remarks about culture shock, a malady which I am sure has afflicted most of us here in varying degree. We might almost call culture shock an occupational disease of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. Like most ailments it has its own etiology, symptoms, and cure. | These facts indicate that it is not a simple matter to acquaint oneself with the culture of a nation. Similarly the culture of one’s own nation is complex. It, too, differs by region and class. Americans, for instance, who go abroad in various governmental and business capacities, are usually members of the middle class and carry the values and aspirations of this class, some of which are an accent on the practical or utilitarian, work as a means to personal success, and suspicion of personal authority. Accustomed to working in large hierarchical institutions like business corporations, governmental agencies, or scientific foundations which have a life of their own and persist in time, Americans tend to become impersonal. Individuals, no matter how able, are replaceable parts in these large institutions. To Americans, personalism which emphasizes a special individual, like a political leader or a business leader or religious leader as solely responsible for the existence and success of an institution is somewhat strange. To the American it is the organization that counts and individual beings judged according to their ability to fit into the mechanism. This difference in interpersonal relationships often comes at least as a minor shock. A new pattern has to be established which has to take into consideration class society, the symbols of individual status, the importance of
