2。Literature Review

Samovar and Porter have analyzed the Chinese and American family lives under collectivism and inpidualism from the aspect of family roles。 In China, parents play the role of servants and teachers。 When there are some decisions to be made, the man in a family usually plays the critical role。 The objects of Americans of giving birth to a child is to foster them to be an independent and intact person having sense of responsibility。 So parents are just the mentors of children。 In their family, democracy is advocated。 When they make some decisions, they often use the method of family votes。 Fan Yue has made an analysis of the influences of social problems on family structures。 He thinks the family types are very perse in the US because the porce rate is increasingly high。 There are more and more juvenile delinquencies 。 It affects the family life around。 Then, more and more families are breaking up。 

The paper is to analyze the Chinese and American family lives influenced by collectivism and inpidualism from the respects of family structures, family membership, family activities, the ways of nurturing and educating children and their outlook on marriage。 It is different from Samovar and Porter’s analysis because it is not written from the respect of family roles。 Similarly, it is distinguished from Fan Yue’s analysis as it analyzes the influence of collectivism and inpidualism on family structures instead of the influence of social problems。 This essay is written from the perspective of cultural differences。 By analyzing and researching it, much more about cultural differences can be know。 People can understand different kinds of families well and make some changes in terms of current problems。

3。A Brief Understanding of Collectivism and Inpidualism

3。1 Collectivism and Chinese culture

Collectivism is a kind of value which takes mass benefits as a springboard (Knapp 157)。  It places mass benefits above personal ones。 For people living under the background of collectivism, all the personal jobs, personality and benefits belong to the collectivity。 When there is a conflict between personal benefits and national benefits, the personal ones should give way to the national ones。 Therefore, there is a viral saying going in China: put the interests of the whole above anything else。 It affects Chinese mentality, manner, ways of living and so on。 In China, civilians are researched as a whole。 The effects of the whole on collectivity are emphasized。 In addition, the mutual dependence and the mutual cooperation between the inpidual and the society become the features of the modern Chinese societies (Knapp 159)。文献综述

Our behaviour is the product of millions of years of evolution (Samovar and Porter 17)。 We all konw Chineses are affected by collectivism。 Actually, China lags behind relatively。 Chinese absolutism and centralization of authority make the collectivism more obvious ( Li & Zhang 12)。 For a very long time, Chinese society is always a closed country。 Chineses think they should do everything to contribute to the country。 All these realities and historical reasons make the collectivism have its place in China。

3。2 Inpidualism and American culture

For the majority of Chineses, there is a misunderstanding of inpidualism。 They usually stereotype it as selfishness。 However, this understanding has twisted the true meaning of inpidualism。 Actually, inpidualism is a kind of independence which is established on the basis of fairness and inviolability。 It extends inpiduality, advocates personal rights and emphasizes democracy and fairness (Wang 205)。 The spirit of development, self-reliance, living independently are all what inpidualism means。 People who live under the basis of inpidualism consider personal wellbeing as the most important thing, because they think only by pursuing personal benefits can the society make progress。 Besides, inpidualism also means being more confident and assertive。 They respect personal value and dignity。 As a result, Americans tend to be more assertive as a whole。 Americans are more likely to be risk-takers。