英語畢業(yè)論文-中美婚姻觀的跨文化對比研究

1、<p>　　編號： </p><p><b>　　畢業(yè)設計(論文)</b></p><p>　　題 目： 中美婚姻觀的跨文化對比研究 </p><p>　　A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Concepts</p><p>　　about Ma

2、rriage between Chinese Culture </p><p>　　and American Culture</p><p>　　院 （系）： 外國語學院 </p><p>　　專 業(yè)： </p><p>

3、;　　學生姓名： </p><p>　　學 號： </p><p>　　指導教師單位： 大學外語部 </p><p>　　姓 名：

4、 </p><p>　　職 稱： 講 師 </p><p>　　題目類型：√理論研究 實驗研究 工程設計 工程技術研究 軟件開發(fā)</p><p>　　2012年 5月 25日 </p><p>　　Declaration</p><p>　

5、　I, , the undersigned, hereby declare that this dissertation does not contain any material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any institutions of higher learning and that, to the

6、best of my knowledge and belief, this dissertation does not contain any material previously published or written by another person, except when due reference is made in the text of the dissertation.</p><p>&

7、lt;b>　　Signed: </b></p><p><b>　　Date: </b></p><p><b>　　摘 要</b></p><p>　　在跨文化交際中，由于不同文化圈的人的思維方式，宗教信仰，價值觀念，社會制度等的不同，交際的過程充滿矛盾和障礙。人類是情感的動物，其情感的表達方式與其生

8、活的文化環(huán)境密切相關。本文以跨文化交際理論為依據，發(fā)現價值觀念系統(tǒng)的若干重要方面對中國人和美國人的婚姻觀有著重要影響。</p><p>　　家庭是社會的基本組成體，夫妻又是家庭的最主要要素?；橐鲫P系是人際關系中最密切最長久的一種。但由于地理環(huán)境、歷史背景、文化，發(fā)展過程及其他方面的不同 ,各個國家，各個民族又有其獨特的婚姻觀念，婚嫁習俗。與具有五千多年悠久歷史的中華民族相比 ,美利堅民族僅僅走完二百多年的歷史征程

9、 ,中美文化自然會有相去千里的個性。美國社會張揚“個性”,重視個人的權益和自由 ;而中國社會注重倫理生活 ,注重人與人之間的相互依存關系。所以相對的，中美之間的婚姻文化也會有所不同。</p><p>　　通過對本課題的研究，其目的是增加中美兩國人民對對方文化的了解，架起溝通的橋梁，使中美兩國人民能夠互相學習，拉近中美民族的距離。</p><p>　　本論文主要分為以下幾個方面：</p

10、><p>　　一．首先主要介紹跨文化交際理論和本論文研究的目的。</p><p>　　二．第一章主要介紹中美婚姻觀的三個不同之處，即結婚目的不同，擇偶方式不同和夫妻關系的不同。</p><p>　　三．第二章主要介紹導致中美婚姻觀不同的原因，主要有幾個因素，那就是價值觀和經濟方式和生存環(huán)境的不同，其中價值觀的不同還包括文化方式，個人主義和集體主義，還有宗教的不同。<

11、;/p><p>　　四．第三章，總結全文。</p><p>　　關鍵詞：婚姻；跨文化；中美文化；夫妻關系；價值觀</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　In the process of cross-cultural communication, because people from d

12、ifferent culture have different ways of thinking, religious beliefs, values and social systems, the communication process is full of contradictions and obstacles. Humans are emotional animals; their expression of feeling

13、s is closely related to the cultural environment they live in. This paper is based on the theory of intercultural communication, discover the value system has an important impact on the concept of marriage betwe</p>

14、;<p>　　Family is the basic component of society, and husband and wife is the main element of a family. The marriage tie is the closest and longest relationship in the interpersonal relationship. Every nation has i

15、ts unique marriage ideas and wedding customs because they have the different environment, history, culture and develpment. Compared with Chinese nation with more than 5000 years of history, United States just completed h

16、is journey of 200 years; it is no wonder that these two countries have the</p><p>　　Through the study of this subject, people will gain a better understanding to these two countries’ marriage ideas and learn

17、 from each other.</p><p>　　This paper is divided into the following aspects:</p><p>　　First, firstly is mainly introducing the theory of intercultural communication and the objective of this the

18、sis.</p><p>　　Second, the first chapter is mainly introducing three differences in the concepts of marriage between Chinese culture and American culture. And the three different aspects are the purpose of ge

19、tting married, the differences of selecting a spouse and the differences in the husband-wife relationship.</p><p>　　Third, the second chapter mainly focuses on the factors which cause these differences. And

20、the factors are the values, cultural patterns, individualism, collectivism, religion and economic way and living environment.</p><p>　　Fourth, chapter three is the conclusion. </p><p>　　Key word

21、s: marriage; cross-cultural communication; Chinese and American culture; husband-wife relationship; value</p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　Introduction1</p><p>　　1. D

22、ifferences in the Concepts of Marriage between Chinese Culture and American Culture1</p><p>　　1.1 The Differences in the Purpose of getting married1</p><p>　　1.1.1 The Purpose of getting marri

23、ed in China2</p><p>　　1.1.2 The Purpose of getting married in America2</p><p>　　1.2 The Differences of Selecting a Spouse3</p><p>　　1.2.1 How Chinese People Select a Spouse3<

24、/p><p>　　1.2.2 How American People Select a Spouse4</p><p>　　1.3 The Differences in the Relationship between Husband and Wife in Marriage4</p><p>　　1.3.1 The Chinese Husband-Wife Rel

25、ationship.5</p><p>　　1.3.2 The American Husband-Wife Relationship5</p><p>　　2. The Factors contribute to these Differences in the Concepts of Marriage between Chinese Culture and American Cul

26、ture6</p><p>　　2.1 Differences in Values6</p><p>　　2.1.1 Differences in Cultural Patterns7</p><p>　　2.1.1.1 Individualism versus Collectivism7</p><p>　　2.1.3 Differ

27、ences in Religion8</p><p>　　2.2 Differences in Economic Way and Living Environment9</p><p>　　3. Conclusion9</p><p>　　References11</p><p>　　Acknowledgements12</

28、p><p>　　Introduction</p><p>　　Intercultural communication is the process of people from different religion, society, ethnic group, and educational backgrounds engage in communication. Intercultural

29、 communication has the same meaning with cross-cultural communication. In this sense it seeks to understand how people from different countries and cultures act, communicate and perceive the world around them. It studies

30、 situations where people from different cultural backgrounds interact. Aside from language, intercultural communi</p><p>　　With the passing of the time, intercultural marriage is becoming incresingly popular

31、 both at home and abroad. However, the differences in the culture, environment, background, development and values between China and America result in the emergence of various problems. This paper will integrate the prev

32、ious studies to analyze the differences in the concepts of marriage between Chinese culture and Ameriacn culture and try to find a solution, and this study is based on the theory of cross-cultural</p><p>　　I

33、n brief, the thesis tries to study the following questions:</p><p>　　(1) What are the differences in the concepts about marriage between Chinese culture and American culture?</p><p>　　(2) What a

34、re the factors that contribute to the differences in marriage between China and America?</p><p>　　1. Differences in the Concepts of Marriage between Chinese Culture and American Culture</p><p>

35、　　1.1 The Differences in the Purpose of getting married</p><p>　　Both man and woman want to reach a certain expected result through the establishment of marriage relationship. And the differences in the conc

36、epts of marriage between Chinese culture and American culture are firstly manifested in the purpose of getting married, which is completely different in China and America.</p><p>　　1.1.1 The Purpose of getti

37、ng married in China</p><p>　　Chinese people pay attention to the interdependent relationship with their friends and relatives. In their eyes, marriage is not only a joining together of two individuals, but a

38、lso a union between two families. In ancient China, parents would choose a wife for their son. On the surface, they seemed to do this for their son; actually, they did this for the whole family. In traditonal Chinese soc

39、iety, marriage is a family event. When a girl officially became a family’s daughter-in-law, the first </p><p>　　In today’s Chinese society, this kind of traditional marriage has undergone great changes. Inst

40、ead of getting married with propagating the family race as the main purpose, young people tend to choose “l(fā)ove first” marriage. But it is still not a simple matter for love to become the primary purpose of marriage in a

41、highly traditional society like China. According to a survey about the quality of marriage conducted by Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences in Shanghai, Guangdong, Gansu and Harbin, one</p><p>　　1.1.2 The Pu

42、rpose of getting married in America </p><p>　　The purpose of getting married in America firstly is for the affection between the lovers to achieve a perfect result. Secondly they want to look for a long-term

43、 heterosexual partner to satisfy their psychological and physical needs. Western society attaches great importance to the development of personal independence, and people there have a strong sense of independence and sel

44、f-centeredness. In western society, individualism is extremely popular, people think marriage is just the combination o</p><p>　　Therefore, we can learn that, to get married in America is the right of indivi

45、dual, and Chinese marriage is more like to fulfill their obligations.</p><p>　　1.2 The Differences of Selecting a Spouse</p><p>　　According to China Youth Daily in 2009, several teachers and stu

46、dents of Nankai University recently completed an interesting survey. They selected some spouse-seeking advertisments in Tanjin and Boston’s local mainstream newspapers to study the differences of selecting a spouse in th

47、ese two cities. The survey showed that the words and sentences often appeared in men’s advertisments in Tianjin newspaper were “have a stable job”, “no bad habbits” and “responsible”; and women’s advertisments always<

48、/p><p>　　1.2.1 How Chinese People Choose a Spouse</p><p>　　China has a feudal history of more than 2000 years; the feudal ideas attached great importance to kinship. It’s a commom phenomenon that c

49、hildren will rely on their parents until they graduated from school. And parents are taken care of by their children when they are old. “To arrange a match by parents’ order and on the matchmaker’s word” is the tradition

50、al way of selecting a mate, which has been popular for thousands of years. This ancient way of choosing a mate is also reflected by Chinese pe</p><p>　　There are two impartant traditional standards to choose

51、 a spouse in China. Firstly the girl must come from a clean background, and secondly the groom’s family and bride’s family must be well-mached in social and economic status. The bridegroom’s family usually request that t

52、he bride is from a clean background. When choosing a spouse for their son, the first thing the parents do is to investigate whether the girl is from a clean family, because they believe that only a girl with a clean ba

53、ckgro</p><p>　　Nowadays, Chinese young people’s standard of selecting a spouse does not strictly abide by the principles of clean background and well-matchedness in social and economic status, but is still u

54、nder its influence. Today most of the Chinese young men will look for a virtuous and innocent girlfriend. NetEase conducted a survey on Valentine's Day in 2009, which was about Chinese people’s standards of selecting

55、 a spouse (NetEase, 2009). There were 38 options designed for the participants. According to</p><p>　　1.2.2 How the American People Select Spouse</p><p>　　Being free to choose a spouse is the mo

56、st important thing in marriage for American people, who are well-known throughout the world for their “individualism”. The Americans pay great attentions to the development of personal independence, their children have m

57、ore freedom and equality. They can disscuss questions with their parents, and choose school and job freely. They will leave home to work or take part-time jobs when they are 18. If they still live with their parents when

58、 they are twenties, t</p><p>　　American people have their own standards to select mates, the most important thing is compatibility, and other elements like family background and education level may probably

59、not be taken into consideration (郁龍余,1992). So it is not rare to see a girl born with a silver spoon will probably choose a boy whose class background is significantly different from hers in the process of looking for he

60、r Mr.Right, and the reason can be simple as she is just attracted by his humor. </p><p>　　1.3 The Differences in the Relationship between Husband and Wife in Marriage</p><p>　　Husband-wife relat

61、ionship is the most important relationships in all the family relationship as all the others derive from it. It is the key link in the family chain, closely related to the family structure and family function. Therefore,

62、 this chapter focuses on the husband-wife relationship, discussing the division of family responsibility, the distribution of the household work and the changing of gender roles in both the mordern Chinese families and A

63、merican families.</p><p>　　At the present time, traditonal families are disintegrating, and family structure and family values are changing, too, which, doubtlessly, is the unavoidable result of the scientif

64、ic-technical revolution and the social development. Meanwhile, change in family structure and family values’ are greatly influencing the economic and social development. What is more, family problems differ due to the di

65、fferent social systems and traditional ideas in different countries.</p><p>　　The husband-wife relationship in both Chinese and American marriage and families has their profound cultural roots. Feudal ethics

66、 with Confucianism as its core are the main cultural roots of husband-wife relationship in Chinese family, while diversity as a result of foreign influence is the cultural root of husband-wife relationship in modern Amer

67、ican family.</p><p>　　The husband-wife relationship in the two nations will be more egalitarian in the future along with the social development and the international communication despite their differences.&

68、lt;/p><p>　　1.3.1 The Chinese Husband-Wife Relationship.</p><p>　　In Chinese traditonal marriage, the husband is always in a dominant position, while his wife is in a subordinate status. This kind

69、of marriage structure is due to the traditional family division of responsibility, according to which, it is usually the husband who works and the wife stay at home. Husband is the head of family, and undertakes the ma

70、jor economic responsibility for the whole family. And the wife’s main job at home is doing housework, serving her in-laws and teaching her children. </p><p>　　In modern Chinese society, the status gap betwee

71、n men and women in mariage does not seem so wide as before. Today, many women go outside to participate in the social work. Even so, most wives still need to or are willing to depend on their husbands. After the implemen

72、tation of reform and opening-up policy, people’s economic condition have improved greatly than before, some wives choose to come back home to be full-time housewives, and supported entirely by their husbands. Many people

73、 envy those </p><p>　　1.3.2 The American Husband-Wife Relationship</p><p>　　Westerners believe that, husband and wife should be equal partners (瑪麗安娜卡尼戴特斯曼，喬安克蘭德爾，愛德華N卡尼,1999). Since the Industri

74、al Revolution, the continuous growth in the demand for labor in industrial society forced a large number of women entered the labor market. Women plunged into more and more fields outside their families to participate in

75、 the work. Because women gained the oppotunity to make a financial contribution to the families, they naturally asked for the corresponding enhencement of their s</p><p>　　Similar to that in the modern Chine

76、se families, the husband-wife relationship in the American families has been more and more equal. The change of the women’s economic status in society was bound to bring about the reform of the husban-wife relationship w

77、ithin the family. But compared with Chinese families, American couples have more personal space and they put great emphasis on their personal privacy. And referring to finanial, in China, when two people get married, the

78、ir finance will be put to</p><p>　　2. The Factors contribute to these Differences in the Concepts of Marriage between Chinese Culture and American Culture</p><p>　　There exist many differences

79、in the concept of marriage in China and America, which is underlined by the cultural differences between these two nations, and such differences are mainly reflected in values, cultural patterns, individualism and collec

80、tivism, religion and historical background.</p><p>　　2.1 Differences in Values</p><p>　　Values are the core in the intercultural communication. Values are intangible. People speak of the same va

81、lues in marriage but seldom express what their values are. The word value comes from the Latin valere, which means “to be worth”. Values tell us what is good, what is bad, what is right, what is wrong, what is true, what

82、 is false and how we will behave and evaluate behavior. </p><p>　　Values are taught at home, often unconsciously, and reinforced by society. So we can say that values are generally culturally determined. Whe

83、n values are once formed, they will instruct people’s behavior, attitude, and faith. People of different cultures, while having he same fundamental needs, like eating and sleeping, may have not only quite different wants

84、 like social and psychological but also quite different ways of perceiving their needs. Both are convinced of the rightness of their ways, </p><p>　　2.1.1 Differences in Cultural Patterns</p><p>

85、;　　Culture is a critical issue in intercultural communication. We have to do the cultural comparison when we are engaging in the intercultural communication study. Chinese culture is a typical Eastern culture. There are

86、various definitions on ‘culture’ both at home and abroad. Larry, Richard, and Lisa in their book Communication between Cultures give their definition: “We define culture as the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs,

87、values, actions, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, no</p><p>　　Cultural patterns are a term that helps us to talk about these orientations collectively. It helps us to understand a society culture

88、on the whole and enables us to make comparisions between different cultures. People in different parts of the world, especially those in the East and those in the West do differ profoundly in their cultural patterns beca

89、use they have different culture, social customs, economy, language, geography, etc.</p><p>　　2.1.1.1 Individualism versus Collectivism</p><p>　　Individualism is the most important value orientat

90、ion in the West. Broadly speaking, individualism refers to the doctrine, spelled out in detail by the seventeenth-century English philosopher John Locke, that each individual is unique, special, completely different from

91、 all other individuals, and the basic unit of nature. American people advocate individualism, they believe that everyone is unique; they have the right to pursuit freedom and happniess. In a group, American people will p

92、ay great a</p><p>　　Collectivism is characterized by a social framework that distinguishes between in-groups and out-groups. People count on their in-group such as families, relatives or affiliations to look

93、 after them, and they believe they owe loyalty to the group. H.C.Triandis gives us a summary of this situation: “Collectivism means greater emphasis on (a) the views, needs, and goals of the in-group rather than oneself;

94、 (b) social norms and duty defined by the in-group rather than behavior to get pleasure; (c) </p><p>　　2.1.3 Differences in Religion</p><p>　　Different religious beliefs can be a cause of confli

95、ct in marriage, not only because the partners may not be in agreement on where and how to worship as a family, but because so much of what people do and believe, their attitudes about what is right and wrong, and their p

96、hilosophy of life stem from their religious background.</p><p>　　In any marriage, problems can arise when religious beliefs differ or when one partner’s behavior conflicts with the other’s beliefs. Mutual re

97、spect for each other’s religion is a must for a compatible marriage, but often it is not enough.</p><p>　　For those couples who encounter religious conflict there are three possibilities: one partner convert

98、s to the religion of the other; both partners keep their own faith and try not to interfere in the practices or beliefs of the other; or both partners drift away from their own religion and either join a third religion o

99、r refrain from adhering to any formal religion at all. In many cases both of the spouses have already distanced themselves from their cultural heritage, and religious practice is </p><p>　　In Chinese mainlan

100、d most people don’t have any religious belief, but in America, many people are Christians. So in Sino-American intercultural marriages, the religion issue may cause many conflicts. Mrs. He marries an American husband, a

101、pious Christian. Her husband spends a lot of time going to church, and advises her to join Christianity, but she think going to church just is wasting time. So they have quarrelled with each other on this issue for many