Culture and Economics

Friday evening, I did a conversation class, with one student, for which the topic was People and Culture. I was curious to hear what the student thought about American Culture. Specifically, I wanted to know if he thought America had a strong cultural influence on modern China. I expected him to talk about things like American pop culture especially its music and movies. But all the student could fixate on was Economics and American economic power.

I had put a series of definitions on the whiteboard about the word culture saying it, among other things, shared customs, habits, beliefs and values. When the student kept talking about American economic power like it was a bullying sort of thing, I had to point to the board and ask him what any of this business talk had to do with customs and habits. He replied that was what he thought America was all about.

I could only shrug and later I wondered after talking to some other foreigners about this whether the student had a point. Some said that American economic power had a role to play in the influence of its culture, but I could think of examples like in Canada or France where American culture is universally derided and yet people choose it over their local fare.

I wanted to talk Blue Jeans and Hollywood with this student and all I got back was Wall Street!