Culture And Values In America And Australia

Introduction

America and Australia both nations highly value individual freedom as a significant price. Due to this concept, Australia had been the ally of the Americans for years. Both countries appreciate the idea of democracy that the government should be governed by the people and for the people. But there are certain differences in the culture, in the habit of eating and drinking, different manners of driving vehicles, different sports ethics, and differences in the values of both nations. In the research paper, we will discuss certain differences in both the nation’s cultures and values.

Discussion

In the United States, people drive the car on the right side of the road, whereas Australians, on the other hand, drive on the left side of the road. The steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car in both cultures as compared to one another. Due to this difference, many people may get confused when they visit a different country, e.g., when Australians visit America, they may face this problem. Regardless of this, there is a difference in the spelling of these two countries. American use the word ‘z’ instead of the word ‘s,’ while Australians use the word ‘s.’ For example, American use organize, while Australians use organize (Biddle, 215-232). There is a difference in writing the date in both countries as the Americans write the date as month/day/year, while the Australians write it as day/month/year. Moreover, there is a difference in many words, spelling like behavior instead of behavior and color instead of color, which makes it difficult for many students residing in different countries to study.

Additionally, the cost of living and the exchange rate in Australia is very much high compared to America. For example, in Australia, the prices of gas are very much low. In Australia, they even call the gas as petrol. There is much more difference in the sports that are being played in both countries. In America, people often play football, basketball, and baseball, whereas in Australia, people often play cricket and rugby. In America, college sports are much more important and more popular as they are broadcast live on television, whereas, in Australia, college sports are not that popular as they are not often broadcast live. Moreover, American call the university a “college,” but Australians call it a university or “uni.” Furthermore, the Americans swear allegiance to the flag and the country, whereas the Australian people swear allegiance to mateship, which is most sacred to them, instead of patriotism. In the American business, they view labor as an economic means of production used for the achieving of the profit. According to Australian values, they consider the laborers as a fellow Australian who has the right to live a decent life instead of their economic bargaining power and contribution.

Cigarettes in the United States are much cheaper as compared to Australia, and smoking is allowed in bars and clubs. While in America, smoking is not allowed in public places like bars, beaches, and bars. Moreover, in America, people use biscuits as breakfast items, while Australian uses them as sweet food. Unlike Americans, Australians’ culture of eating dinner is different, as one needs to hold the knife and fork in the hand. There is no putting the fork down, no cutting, and no putting the fork back in hand, and also Australians often combine their food on the fork instead of eating separately as Americans do. Australians are much more relaxed as compared to Americans, who want things to happen immediately (Stratton, 124-158). Rather, Australians wait for things, as they wait for the buses without even complaining that it is late. Australian people have values like the things will be fine in the end. Whereas, the American people have a hurry for everything and will complain if the buses or even the food is late as they prefer that time is much more important.

In America, the voting is considered as optional. It’s up to a person to either cast a vote or not, but in Australia, there is a strict rule for voting. Everyone who has the age of vote should need to cast a vote. Otherwise, there will be a fine on them. The Australian government wants everyone to get involved in the process of selecting their candidates for the government. Moreover, there is a significant difference in the currency of both of the countries. The color of the currency notes in America is the same, whereas, in Australia, every currency is of a different color. For example, the 20$ currency has a red color, whereas 50$ has a yellow color. Moreover, the coins in Australia increase in size with value, while in America, the size of coins is confusing as some smaller value coins have a higher size than the large value coins. In the American culture, there is no metric system, as they use Fahrenheit instead of Celsius, feet, and inches instead of meters. Moreover, they use gallons instead of liters and miles instead of kilometers. Additionally, in America, there are no electrical switches, whereas Australians have electric switches in their houses.

Australians have a friendly and casual attitude, as is one who can even call their professors by their names. In Australia, everyone is treated equally, and everyone is respected regardless of their gender, sex, background, and occupation. Whereas Americans often treat people differently, and they have certain discrimination towards different races of society, as they consider themselves superior and more civilized than others. In the Australian culture, shopping hours are much more limited as compared to the United States. In Australia, the shops open at 9 in the morning and get closed at 5 pm, however on Thursday and Friday nights shops remained open up to 9 pm.

While in the United States, the shops and malls remain open even at night as well. Moreover, the minimum wage in America is low as compared to Australia, due to which it is customary to always tip in the American culture. Their people often tip the waiters and hairdressers. In Australia, the minimum wages are high due to which most people don’t give a tip to the waiters and even to others like hairdressers. Moreover, there is a diiference in the tax system of both of the countries. In Australia, the tax is included in the price of an item, due to which makes it becomes easier to determine the cost of that thing. Whereas, in America, the price of the item does not include the tax on it, which makes it very confusing to determine the exact cost of any item.

Conclusion

Americans and Australians possess different cultures due to differences in their regional setting and in their historic background, which results in the alteration of their norms and values. Their living style, driving habits, eating habits, separate political prospective, election procedures, variations in the business values and in attitudes are all different due to their background and their regional setting.

Work Cited

Stratton, Jon, and Ien Ang. “Multicultural imagined communities: Cultural difference and national identity in Australia and the USA.” Continuum 8.2 (1994): 124-158.

Biddle, Nicholas, and Hannah Swee. “The relationship between wellbeing and Indigenous land, language and culture in Australia.” Australian Geographer 43.3 (2012): 215-232.