Understanding the Cultural Differences between Russia and the United States in a modern world.
Today there is a lot of political controversy surrounding the United States and Russian relations. Today I want to help you gain a better understanding and push the politics aside. Russia is a beautiful country and has been on my bucket list for many years. There are many unique cultural differences ranging from social, political, and every day. My friend Irina immigrated to the united states from Russia just 5 years ago, I was able to sit down with her and discuss the differences face to face.
She gave me bullet points and told me to take notes on these key issues she was very adamant that these were the stories to be shared.
Russia was once a Soviet nation, where there was no freedom of expression and no individuality. Personal expression was just that personal, only to be shared amongst others in private. Today in America we smile when we make eye contact with one another or with strangers when we cross paths. That’s taboo in Russian culture, it’s a very personal thing, there is no eye contact and no smiles. This is a direct result of the years of oppression, Irina told me that the youth are friendlier but this will take decades even a century to overcome. There are no expressions or questions everything is very no-nonsense and business. Only your close friends ask you are doing and say hello. There is a focus on more negative stories than positive.
Business is quite different in Russia as well, Russia is heading toward being one of the top country when it comes to the highest number of business owners. More women than ever before are in positions of leadership. The field that has the most women so far is the technology sector. That is something the United States should adopt. When speaking to Irina she said in the big cities you will see more people. However traditional business is still very sexist and demeaning according to Irina. Women are to be seen and not heard, expected to dress up everyday, and do their job quietly and quickly. This is one of the reasons she decided to become an American citizen, the freedom to be herself wherever she words.
Cultures change a little bit everyday, some for the better others not so much. As always there are positive aspects worth adopting and others to let die. Russia is changing hopefully for the better until then we should keep encouraging acceptance and freedom.
Moran, S. V., MA, Moran, R. T., Ph. D., & Abramson, N. R., Ph. D. (2014). Managing Cultural Differences(Ninth ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
I loved reading your blog this week. When you hear the name Russia anymore it never has a good story behind it. It is almost always something negative on the news. I wanted to thank you for your post about the other side of Russia, it’s wonderful people. I think so many people naturally think of politics when it comes to Russia and never stop to think about the country, it’s culture and the people that live there. I have to admit that before this week and reading your blog I was one of them. The readings this week have really opened my eyes up to why the Russian’s culture has the belief’s they do and how those beliefs were influenced by Easterner Europe. I loved reading about Russia’s business culture and how it is empowering women to take leadership positions which is the opposite of our culture right now. I think we could learn a lot from how they are growing small businesses. I think we can be too quick to judge another culture’s by what the media is portraying them as and not stopping to talk with others that have either lived or experienced those cultures first hand. Thank you for sharing your friend’s amazing insight on Russian culture.