Personal space Essay

Most social setuations North Americans require a alleviate zone of six to eight squ atomic tour 18 feet per psyche, and any violation of that buffer can trigger a reaction (Bowen). People use avoidance responses, says Robert Sommer, a psychologist at the University of California-Davis and author of the book Personal dummy (qtd. in Bowen). But where does the pattern of individual(prenominal) set come from? fit in to Sommer, a comfort exceed for conversation varies from culture to culture.Because Mediterranean and Asian countries atomic number 18 more densely populated, their personal shoes zones be much closer to the body than those of North Americans and Northern Europeans (qtd. in Bowen). The westerns atomic number 18 certainly planning on keeping this standard in the future. In fact, the instaurations cosmos is increasing at an dumfounding rate. Even the country offers its citizens plenty of lacunas allwhere they energize to learn to convey compromises on their personal quadriceps femoris non only to accept the inevitable reality but also for the attain of this compromise.First of all, urban Americans should earn compromises on personal space when they are using public transportations. The new-sprung(prenominal)ly York City thermionic valve transcription is a really great representative example of personal space the total number of urban citizens is more than 18 million, thus qualification the subway system extremely crowded either day. But even during the rush hours, the passengers are still careful about their distance with the others.If one person has a minor physical contact with some(prenominal)one and doesnt express the apology, the other person pull up s begets raise their voice instantly and say excuse me and certainly feels offended. This is totally unnecessary, oddly during the rush hours, because some throng might be late for work or school already, and someone might be thinking about todays schedule. The rest of them are doing things that indeed catch their attention. Under much(prenominal)(prenominal) circumstances, its highly possible for passengers to have minor physical contact with others out of negligence they go intot notice.On the other hand, there is Shanghai, the second largest city in China with more than 20 million residents and most of them use the subway for daily transportation. Its even more crowded compared to the New York City subway. So close to from each one other with their shoulders and backs passengers may nudge 2 or 3 persons at the same fourth dimension, and they have been totally adapted to this situation without any discomfort. The Tokyo subwaysystem passengers have even less personal space during the rush hours.The metro staff ease off oppose the passengers back so that more state go away have the opportunity to get in the delay in the morning. What are the passengers reactions? They dont feel offended at all. They are actually glad because all of them can get to work on prison term, and their personal sacrifice is helping many people. Their spliff efforts make the subway system much more efficient and indeed prevent lots of unpleasant arguments. When theyre moving, they tend to keep a distance of three or four steps so as not to violate each others personal space. give tongue to Larry Gould, director of trading operations analysis at New York City Transit (qtd. in Gardy).But the sheer density of the population is giving the Chinese a very incompatible sense of personal space (Toy, 2). Personal spaces overlap, said Stuart Strother, an economist who has lived in China and who wrote a travel guide, Living Abroad in China. Its not that you dont have any personal space, but I may have to share your space, he said. Perhaps as a consequence, Strother said, pointing at and touching people, even total strangers, is not considered rude (Toy).Theres also another interesting phenomenon. You go away never see twain strangers sitting t ogether in the New York City subway if theres empty space somewhere else. The definition for empty means nobody is sitting next to you, and theres at least one seat separating you from your surroundings. Most of the time, even during the rush hours, passengers prefer to stand rather than take the single seat between two passengers. Based on Robert Sommers guess, The violation of personal space increases tension levels enormously (qtd. in Bowen).In other words, urban Americans prefer to sacrifice many things in monastic order to sustain their high standard of personal space. But with the expansion of population, Americans eventually have to make compromises on personal space. So why not prepare to even out the situation ahead of time? Therere also many benefits if theyre willing to do so. The most direct benefit is to increase the capacity of the train more passengers can get in the train if most of them are willing to have less personal space. On top of that, more empty seats wil l be occupied if they sit close to each other.The amounts of seats are designed for a contend its general to see 3 people occupy 4 or more seats. They sit apart simply because they want to have more personal space. Nothing bad will die ifAmericans make compromises on personal space. urban Americans dont penury to create those invisible walls to hold dear themselves. They probably waste a great opportunity to make new friends sitting away from each other in the subway. Society will be filled with harmony and peace if people are not so suspicious and stop creating those invisible walls subconsciously.Lots of Americans are having a hard time adapting to Chinese culture during their visit in Chinese cities. Some locals may come to them in order to take photos with the foreigners. Other locals are probably looking at the foreigners out of curiosity. Those actions are really common in China but the Americans are quite sensitive to those actions and sometimes feel offended. Their inv isible walls are necessary to isolate them but indeed increase the tension levels. Americans perceptions and standards of personal space are unquestionably hard to change, but if they do, it always comes with a greater good.The United States is currently the No.1 country in the world, which receives millions of immigrants either year. By receiving those immigrants, United States not only receives the knowledge but also accepts their contrary cultural standards. Urban Americans can neither apply all the American standards to new immigrants nor expect them to adopt the entire standards by themselves. Personal space is only the tip of the iceberg, but its fairly important to live in the big cultural melting pot of New York. Subway passengers are highly diversified, and therere probably people from 50 different countries taking the same train at the same time.According to Shuhan Wang, the executive director for Chinese language initiatives at the Asia Society, theres an old Chinese truism you treat other peoples elderly as if theyre your own, and you treat other peoples children as if theyre your own So in a way, everybody in society is blanket(a) family (qtd. in Toy). This is a good concept that urban Americans should take a look at to make compromises. By get downing the standard of personal space, it will be easier for foreign immigrants to be part of the society, and lower standards are always easier to be adopted gradually.The standards of personal space can also be construe through sociological perspective. According to Robert Pepper, a sociology professor at New York Institute of Technology, conflict theory can be used to explain the standards of personal space because people are competing for scarce resources every single passenger would like tohave some extra space in the subway especially during the rush hour. He used the term ethnocentrism to suggest that Americans to make compromises on personal space. He believes Americans should not place thei r own cultural root above the rest.The standards of personal space are definitely different based on the culture, and the Americans should respect all customs and religions. Chinese society emphasizes a collective mind-set over an individualistic one. said Stuart Strother (qtd. in Toy). But the American culture is exactly the opposite, thus making it even harder for urban Americans to accept. Having the report of individualism, Americans are rewarded for behaving independently, making their own plans, and working toward achieving their personal goals. Under such circumstance, individuals are hired and promoted largely based on individual strikement and qualifications (Culture).And the Americans expand this idea of individualism into all areas they want to be unique, to be easily distinguished from the crowd, and a high standard of personal space is definitely necessary. Chinese people are different, they emphasize the idea of the group, and everyone in the group shares things eq ually, so no one is necessarily better than the rest. People will stay together to achieve the group goal. No one wants to be unique because if you are unique that means you are isolated.The boilersuit impact from high population density and idea of big groups are helping the Chinese adjust the lower standard of personal space in the long run. If Americans could learn some of the concepts, it will be much easier for them to make personal sacrifices in exchange for the greater good of the society. But some people may argue that lack of personal space can indicate peoples lack of manners and this is not right. In Lee, Patrick Ps article Rush Hour, he introduced his own purport experience in Hong Kong which at the time was still a British colony.Hong Kong adopted the language, social order, peoples perceptions of things and especially manners. They are taught with the British gentlemens style, but on the other hand, theres no need to say excuse me in the subway, or any doorway. The l ocals arent being rude when they invade your personal space. They simply need to go everywhere, nowhere, fast. In tiny and overcrowded Hong Kong, the concept of personal space is a lavishness which one cant afford and probably doesnt exist (Lee, 2).This kind of situation will eventually happen in big US cities. If theyre making the compromise now, itcan be beneficial in the long run. The United States doesnt have mandatory birth control which will inevitably make the population expansion even faster, and as a result the personal space will shrink. So to be prepared ahead of time is always a good thing. The jr. generation will have different mind sets in the future in order to adjust the situation. Driven by individualism, urban Americans are treating their personal space as one of their birth rights.Its complicated even verbally to ask them to make compromises on their personal space. But the whole world population just passed 7 billion 1 month ago this inevitable reality should gi ve urban Americans a wakeup call. If they choose to live in the big cities, theyre going to have to bet the overcrowded society. Theyre going to feel disappointed because their old standards cannot apply anymore. So, make the changes of mind from now and it will eventually give them greater benefits.They can have a good mood to start the new day with the crowded subway, if theyre willing to make minor sacrifice on personal space. Theyre still very gentle persons even they sit next to someone because the society accept the different mind and adapt to the situation of fast expanded population and less personal space. Foreigners wont feel the indivisible walls anymore because urban Americans dont need them anymore. The whole society could be filled with harmony and urban Americans could be living more like a big family.