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| Try and spot the different cultures in this photo. |
The MRT is
one of the best places to observe intercultural difference since almost
two-fifth of our population consists of non-citizen1 and our citizen
population is made up of people with various religious and racial backgrounds. In some
cultures, it is normal to squeeze in the train to the extent where one is in
skin to skin contact with the next person. Unfortunately, others are not so comfortable
with such close contact. The recent incident involving the PRC scholar from NUS seem to suggest this divergence in each culture’s view of the concept of
personal space. In addition, it is observed that some people of certain culture
tend to speak excessively loudly on their phones which cause much disturbance to others.
This may have arisen due to different cultural interpretation of the concept of
voice volume. On occasions, some
commuters will directly request the person to tone down his/her volume.
However, most commuters either give displeasing looks to the culprit or simply
bear with it. Therefore, to bridge such intercultural difference, should the
minority party assimilate or should the majority party accommodate?
In my
opinion, to resolve any potential conflicts arising from intercultural
differences, both parties should first to be acutely aware of each other
cultural difference before seeking to bridge the gap. For example, I have a
friend who lives in the far western side of Singapore who joins
the rest of us in the east for gatherings. We on our part also recognize his
dietary restrictions and choose to meet at eateries which cater to his dietary
requirements. We are able to resolve our difference because we have a shared
goal of wanting to maintain our friendship. I like to call this concept of
being aware of differences and seeking to accommodate as the concept of “give
and take”. Personally I think this is
best style of conflict management.
1) Data
obtained from Department of Statistics Singapore:
http://www.singstat.gov.sg/stats/themes/people/popinbrief2011.pdf
