Culture shock is a common experience for expats and immigrants. Why don’t we discuss it in modern Britain? - Vicki Robinson
What is culture shock?
Culture shock is a complex condition that arises when someone spends a significant amount of time immersed in a different culture or country. Primarily, it is the personal disorientation of an individual due to a change in situational or geographical circumstance. Unsurprisingly, it is common in expat communities. Symptoms can include feelings of anxiety, homesickness and even obsessive cleanliness. Information overload plays a big part, particularly if one is not fluent in a language. Canadian anthropologist Kalervo Oberg was the first person to identify the phenomenon, and proposed a four-stage model: honeymoon, negotiation/crisis, adjustment and adaptation/mastery.
Culture shock affected me very deeply when I moved to rural Japan to teach English following university. Although people were very kind to me, a month in, I suddenly found it very difficult to eat – swallowing my food was quite a challenge. Fortunately, I was given lots of information about culture shock when I arrived, so I was aware of what was happening.
My experience made me more empathetic to new Britons arriving from very different countries. Huge differences can exist between cultures, and navigating two or more of them contains the potential for both enrichment and difficulty. Moving from rural Pakistan to a big city in the north of England must be incredibly challenging. Though charities and communities provide support, why is culture shock seldom discussed in relation to immigration?
When new arrivals have experienced trauma, the potential for disorientation is even greater. According to official government data , the UK granted asylum to just under 16,000 people in 2018. Though help is available, including the Refugee Support Network, why do we not hear more about how people are coping?
Whatever the reasons for coming to the UK, settling in takes time. It is unrealistic to expect someone to become British overnight and challenges are inevitable. However, to create a sense of belonging, we must be clear about what being British means and what our values are. At the moment, there is a lot of uncertainty. Some of this comes from an erroneous belief that for something to be British, it must be completely unique to our country and not exist anywhere else.
Another issue is that in diverse Western societies, it is difficult to make a general statement about one’s country because there are invariably minorities doing things differently. However, countries outside the West manage this. According to the Pew Research Centre, Singapore is the most religiously diverse country in the world, with a population mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian and other backgrounds. Yet it is still known for its strict rules on manners and cleanliness, including a fine for forgetting to flush a public toilet. New arrivals are thus clear about what is expected of them.
Rather than discussing culture shock, the UK’s cultural elite paints an idealised picture of diversity. Immigration is seen as no big deal, and there is very little discussion about the actual experience of fitting in here. Many focus on the woolly concept of the ‘Global Citizen’ – an individual who never feels lost or homesick, and never struggles to integrate. Culture shock is an alien concept because, for the ‘Global Citizen’, the world is a giant cosmopolitan capital filled with familiar brands, international food and liberal-minded friends.
Not only is this attitude unhelpful, it can also be dangerous. According to Michael Winkelman in his article, Cultural Shock and Adaptation, some people are unable to accept their new culture, and therefore, withdraw into a ‘ghetto’. Could this explain, at least in part, the religious extremism in the UK, France and other countries? If attention is not paid when people struggle to integrate, extremism surely becomes a bigger risk, particularly in relation to religion – religious fervour combined with a mental health issue is a toxic mix.
All this raises the question of how much the cultural elite really understand international experience. More analysis of culture shock is surely needed in our increasingly diverse society. A TV drama would be a great conversation-starter, but is there the will to create one? At the moment, it does not seem so.
Vicki Robinson