Liberia Culture Vs American Culture Essay

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As we compare the US and Liberia’s cultures values, we must understand the origins of the cultures. US birthed Liberia in 1821-2 through the American Colonization Society (ACS) during an unjust time in US history. Liberian constitution and flag were modeled after the US, yet, geographical separation and the influences from the surrounding countries has played a huge part in their development (or lack of) over the past hundred years.

Free African-Americans voluntarily emigrated to Liberia. Many of the early settlers where educated in American culture. The majority of these settlers married within the colonial community. Over time, natives also intermarried within the colonialist. This was the beginning of a new culture that had indigenous tradition integrated with American notions of politics and religion. Today, Liberia’s primary language is English, and the primary religion is Christianity (at an 85%).

40 years later, the US civil war broke out. As messy as the civil war was, it was the beginning of the industrial revolution for the US. At this time, the US, did
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As we look at “classical” cultural proverbs from both the US and Liberia, you see the strong presents of IDV and Industrial/Information Age establishment from the US proverbs. However, looking at the Liberia proverbs, you can see a correlating parallel with the “Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions” research.* So when you look at Cultural Dimensions with the cultural surroundings, we can agree that the area has a high PDI (Power Distance) “which means that people accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification.” As started earlier, the culture has a low IDV, which means they are a “collectivistic society” that places loyalty higher than most laws and regulations. Final, their MAS (Masculinity) focus is on “working in order to

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