On Cultural Difference In Divorce Between China And America

This paper compares divorce in China and America through different cultural dimensions. Divorce is the legal dissolution of marriage. It terminates a valid marriage for a cause that arises after the marriage has taken place. Divorce is generally expected to resolve a disturbed marital relationship by terminating it, ending marital conflict and allowing new and better life adjustments for the individuals involved. Divorce as a social phenomenon has become increasingly common both in China and in America, and culture serves as a significant influencing factor of it. The divorce rate in China is much lower than in America. Traditional disapproval and prohibitions, to a large extent, still hinder Chinese people making decision to terminate their marriage. However, in United States people hold a more liberal attitude toward divorce. The thesis focused on the different major cultural values and patterns attributing to different divorce phenomenon. Although much has been written about factors leading to divorce and the divorce process itself, the literature is relatively sparse as to the impact of different cultural patterns on divorce. Besides legal regulations, gender roles, family structures, marriage characteristics and brief case histories of divorce following a statement of some basic assumptions, this article gives special attention to such impactsThis thesis enables people to have a general idea of different divorce phenomenon between china and America as well as a better understanding of main cultural patterns of these two countries. It gives a brief but clear account of the history and present state of divorce in these two nations, and devotes the bulk of its space to introducing the specific features of two different cultures, so as to provide people with a suitable approach of understanding cultural influence on divorce. By taking cultural influence into consideration, it sheds new light on the different divorce phenomenon. The study intends to help people to be better informed of the different divorce phenomenon and reduce cross-cultural communication obstacles by providing a profound cultural besides social and legislative review of this issue. It raises people's awareness of and promotes intercultural communication.Cultures are extremely complex and consist of numerous interrelated cultural orientations besides beliefs and values, including attitudes, norms, and material aspects. These orientations are collectively called cultural patterns. They are the conditions that contribute to the way in which a people perceive and think about the world, and the manner in which they live in the world.Dominant American cultural patterns include individualism, liberalism, hedonism, equality, and etc. individualism is the single most important pattern in the United States. American culture attaches great importance to individual interest, even in a family. It concerns the right of each family member and supports every individual to pursue his own happiness. With regard to it, when a marriage no longer provides one with love and happiness, it loses its value and thus there's no use to maintain it. Traditional Chinese culture, on the contrary, promotes collectivism, harmony, stability, golden mean thought, and etc. Individual interest should be sacrificed in order to achieve the greater good. It applies to the family as well. Each family member should strive to keep the whole family together; even it makes their own life miserable. Therefore, it's against the Confucian teaching if one chooses to tear a family apart which may result in the unhappiness of the rest of the family members, such as their children and their parents. Whoever challenges it would suffer from criticism from the public.Divorce rate in America is much higher than in China. Besides social, economic and legal issues, divorce in China and the United States are greatly influenced by the dominant cultural patterns of these two countries. Cultural patterns are the conditions that contribute to the way in which a people perceive and think about the world, and the manner in which they live in the world. Divorce is one way people live in the world. Collectivism is the dominant cultural pattern of China while individualism is that of America. These two cultural dimensions exhibit quite contrary characteristics. Different cultural values attribute to different divorce phenomenon in these two nations. To understand these differences in divorce we have to gain a general idea of cultural patterns.