Section 3: Research

The culture and beliefs of the two countries have been very distinct. Based on the cultural aspect, it can be seen that India and the British are directly opposed. Both civilizations have benefits and flaws, just as a coin has two sides. Hence, the concept of Indian culture is a mash-up of conventions, rituals, traditions, language, and other factors that has a variety with every part among the nation (Srivastava and Misra, 2020). Whereas, Indian culture has been noted to be one of the oldest and biggest and is a mix of many cultures. Western culture, on the other hand, is extremely evolved and open. As a result, I picked the topic of the differences between British and Indian culture since it will provide me with information from both perspectives. The cultural difference between India and the United Kingdom is significant. In contrast, Indian culture is centred on traditional values that are tied to the nation’s family and multicultural background (Baliarsingh and Mehta, 2019). British people, on the other hand, are more westernised and have an occidental culture with a minimal traditional cultural touch. As a result, choosing this topic will educate me with a wealth of information and data about both the country and the differences in lifestyle and views. I will be able to learn about the differences in their languages, greeting styles, the ideas of distinct clothes, and, most importantly, their food preferences. As a result, there are significant cultural distinctions between India and the United Kingdom.

What information did you find out? Summarise the content of your seminar contribution. Any key issues / arguments/ debates? Anything surprising?

Looking at the history of Britain and India, it can be said the relationship between these two countries has influenced their cultural aspects. However, these two countries have entirely different cultural values and ethics. By nature, western society is more individualist than India, which has weaker ties to social groups and families (Smith and Robinson, 2019). On the other note, Indian culture obtains more value, ethics, and disciplines. In other words, this culture is a heritage of ethical values, traditional ideas, social norms, and belief systems. British culture reflects the lives of Christian religions that value democracy, and individual liberty.

Evaluating the cultural differences of these two countries, it can be said that after British rule, Indian culture has faced some changes. For instance, the dressing sense of Indians has been changed as it has been influenced by the British. On the other hand, this is a matter of debate to historians as British Raj has influenced the culture a lot. The Indian culture sometimes has faced criticism for some of the social practices, such as child marriage, female infanticide, and a rigid caste system.

Britain has played a significant role in literature, engineering, cinema, technology, philosophy, music, and since. Along with these successes in every field, the British use to follow their cultural values (Maguire, 2019). For instance, they consider bargaining as a distasteful thing, and they have habits of queuing. The current situation of Britain shows that it is focusing on creating a greener future that is reflecting its action for protecting the environment. The core value of Britain includes mutual respect, which reflects British beliefs. In order to evaluate surprising or interesting factors of these two countries, it has been found out that four major religions have their birthplace in India, which includes Hinduism and Buddhism (Singh, 2022). In order to evaluate the interesting factor of British culture, we have to look at the history of Britain. The history reflects that the culture of this nation is influenced by different cultures as they ruled many different underdeveloped countries.

The history of Britain reflects that it has ruled India for a long time, so it is evident that the culture of India has been influenced by them. British Raj has made some changes in the cultural practices of India by implementing laws and acts. For instance, Governor-General Lord William Bentinck banned sati practice in Bengal on 4th December 1892 (Shamsuddin, 2020). In order to ban the sati practice, one of the Indian social reformers Raja Ram Mohan Roy had a great contribution. The sati practice reflects a bad side of Indian culture that was improved by the British government. This is reflecting the interrelation of British and Indian culture.

What went well? 

By choosing this specific topic, I was able to have a better understanding of British culture and learn more about their way of life. This enabled me to develop cross-cultural knowledge. As a result, the moment I advance in my career, this research may have a favourable impact on my future. As a result, it will provide me with the capacity to successfully communicate, engage, and lead people across cultures, which can become an essential talent (Akkan et al. 2022). On the other hand, if I ever have the chance to work in British culture, the information I have gained through this study might help me build skills and confidence in a variety of crucial areas of responsibility, such as performance measurement, communication processes, and solve the problem regarding the workforce.  As a result, knowing people’s cultures would assist me to interact with them more successfully, going above speech and language. Whereas, this topic will help me gain a deeper awareness of other people’s cultures as well as my culture, enhancing my tolerance and widening my perspective. This research, on the other hand, has given me particular data from several states around my country. As a result, it has benefitted me by enhancing my understanding about my own heritage. It will help me adjust to their culture and connect with them, which will benefit me in my professional life. In terms of cultural knowledge, it will have a good impact on my future professional career.

What could you improve on with your seminar contribution? How?

The comparison of two different cultures has increased my knowledge about cultural diversity in the world. The knowledge of Indian culture has influenced my perception regarding cultural norms and social groups. Along with that, the study has helped me to evaluate the British cultural aspects more appropriately, which has influenced my point of view towards cross-cultural differences. I think it could have been beneficial for the seminar to use cross-cultural analysis (Muthukrishna and Schaller, 2020). My knowledge of the historical and cultural background of India has increased as I evaluated the impact of British culture on Indian culture. With the use of cross-cultural analysis, the understanding of British culture and Indian culture could have increased. For example, by the use of cultural dimensions of Trompenaars theory, the study could have been more appropriate. As the differences of cultural dimensions could help to evaluate the cultural differences of these two countries in a better way. The Trompenaars theory reflects that individualist culture has a link with the ideas of the western world (based on the ideas of  Schuster, 2021).  Apart from that Hofstede cultural dimensions theory could be used for this assignment to give it more value. This theory could enhance the analysis of information of these two countries.

Overall, what have you learnt from listening to other students’ contributions and how much have you participated each week? 

After discussing with other students, I have understood the limitations of my study. Discussing with others about the topic has helped me a lot to understand the topic more specifically. I have learned that there is some more issue in Indian culture rather than their rigid caste system. For instance, there are differences among cultures in different states of India. I have learned that the culture of north and south India has a lot of differentiation.

In order to finish the research about the cultural differences and similarities of Indian culture and British culture, I have invested weeks. Apart from studying the cultural aspects of India and Britain, I tried to enhance my knowledge by communicating with others. I have questioned my friends to gather more information regarding the topic. I have even commented on their work to understand their perception of the topic in a better way. For instance, I have gathered information about the Indian caste system from one of my classmates. I have to know about the beliefs of Indians about the caste system, which increased my knowledge about Verna. I have learnt that there are four Vervans in the country, which are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishya, and Shudras (Ambedkar, 2020). While discussing with other students my knowledge about the cultural dimensions has been increased. Along with that, I have learnt about language differences and the influences of one language on others. For instance, Sanskrit used to be practiced in India, but we can see similarities in some of the words of Sanskrit and English language. This can be understood with an example as if the Sanskrit word bhatri became a brother in English.

References

Akkan, E., Lee, Y.T. and Reiche, B.S., 2022. How and when do prior international experiences lead to global work? A career motivation perspective. Human Resource Management, 61(1), pp.117-132.

Ambedkar, B.R., 2020. Who were the Shudras. GENERAL PRESS.

Baliarsingh, D.K. and Mehta, N.K., 2019. AK Ramanujan: Towards Indian Tradition and folklores. Think India Journal, 22(4), pp.850-856.

Maguire, A., 2019. Amanda Bidnall, The West Indian Generation. Remaking British Culture in London, 1945–1965.

Muthukrishna, M. and Schaller, M., 2020. Are collectivistic cultures more prone to rapid transformation? Computational models of cross-cultural differences, social network structure, dynamic social influence, and cultural change. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 24(2), pp.103-120.

Schuster, N., 2021. Cultural Influence on Mobile App Design-A Theoretical Review of Culture Theories and Their Influence on App Design in China. J Comput Eng Inf Technol 10, 6, p.2.

Shamsuddin, M., 2020. A brief historical background of Sati tradition in India. Din ve Felsefe Araştırmaları, 3(5), pp.44-63.

Singh, S.P., 2022. Self and suffering in Indian thought: implications for clinicians. BJPsych Advances, pp.1-11.

Smith, P.K. and Robinson, S., 2019. How does individualism-collectivism relate to bullying victimisation?. International journal of bullying prevention, 1(1), pp.3-13.

Srivastava, A.K. and Misra, G., 2020. An Indian perspective on understanding intelligence. In Merging past, present, and future in cross-cultural psychology (pp. 159-172). Garland Science.