Managing Life Overseas: Anticipating an encounter with culture shock

In the blog last week, we explored some of the negative consequences arising from the initial honeymoon experience when entering an unfamiliar cultural context. We focused specifically on the potentially debilitating encounter with the progression from overstimulation to sensory overload. This week, we will examine the concept, causes, and some of the consequences of culture shock. Finally, we shall briefly review an alternative model of cultural adaptation known as the J-Curve that highlights why entering a shock phase when living overseas is by no means inevitable.

Definition and development of the term culture shock

Culture shock includes the manifestation of a somewhat complex range of physical, psychological, and behavioural reactions to the host cultural context that varies significantly from one individual to another. The often-abrupt appearance of this experience can occur at any time during the early period when sojourners are attempting to adapt to living, working, or studying in an unfamiliar cultural context.

Moreover, the probability of encountering any potentially debilitating shock is influenced to a significant extent by the cultural distance between the home and host national contexts. Notable variations in the deeply rooted cultural value orientations between national clusters is illustrated on Schwartz the map that we evaluated in the previous blog.

Then, though a relatively recent theoretical construction, the discomfort that can arise when crossing cultural barriers has been frequently employed as a plot device in literature that goes back to the time of the ancient Greeks as exemplified by such writers as Homer.

More recently, the anthropologist DuBois referred to the term, culture shock, for the very first time as a description of the experience anthropologists face when entering new cultures, although this is self-evidently problematic in that these were often simple tribal or preliterate societies.

Finally, in 1954, Oberg expanded the DuBois concept making it applicable to all travellers experiencing unfamiliar cultural contexts by centring his exposition around the U-Curve model of the adaptation process.

Causes and consequences of culture shock

Culture shock is not just a reaction to missing all that is familiar and comfortable in the home environment, but rather a phenomenon reflecting a growing awareness that almost everything in the new context often seems inexplicably challenging even in terms of the management of basic daily routine activities. Then, shock can manifest itself in several forms though, once again, they vary significantly from one individual to the next.

First, while it is of course natural to miss familiar people, routines, and home comforts in a new host context, some sojourners can begin to feel disconnected from their immediate new surroundings making it difficult to bond with others, especially members of the local community. This in turn can understandably trigger feelings of isolation and loneliness which, if left to fester, can ultimately deteriorate to the very serious emotional challenge of homesickness. We shall explore this debilitating experience in a separate blog later in this series.

Next, the shock phase can also induce a sense of fatigue, irritability, or low motivation. This occurs due to the energy required to constantly adjust to unfamiliar situations that is also often emotionally exhausting. Consequently, the sojourner can become unusually tired and abrupt towards others while being uncharacteristically irritable when encountering even minor inconveniences.

Another characteristic is the appearance of anxiety or even panic resulting from an increasing sense of confusion when attempting to navigate the local surroundings. Then, even more frustrating, while such shock encounters can lead to a feeling of being emotionally overwhelmed, they are typically difficult to specifically articulate to others making it difficult to seek help.

At this point, a few sojourners may additionally experience a disruption to basic routines that otherwise ground people in everyday life. For example, some struggle to sleep, while others drift in the opposite direction sleeping far too much. Moreover, while there can be a loss of appetite, others seek comfort in eating a great deal more than usual. Here, the warning signal in such cases is the potential threat of oncoming depression that can require more professional support than a comforting chat with a friend or colleague.

Finally, and arguably one of the most exasperating encounters, is the difficulty in navigating everyday situations such as catching a bus, buying a train or tram ticket, shopping for basic items, or asking for assistance of some kind. This, of course, is not directly related to attitude, intelligence, or even language, but rather a reflection of the quite normal experience of the early struggle with the requirement to operate in a system that we have not yet fully learnt to master.

However, if these encounters with culture shock are not addressed, preferably with a sense of humour and proportionate balance, in a minority of cases the sojourner can further plummet towards what is called outright culture clash that we shall investigate in the next blog.

There is nothing inevitable about culture shock

One helpful practical explanation of culture shock is that it is, to some extent, a phenomenon that reflects the extent of the contrast between prior expectations when initially planning to live overseas and the new realities of everyday life during the transitional cross-cultural experience.

However, it must be emphasised, yet again, that this phase, especially in relation to more dramatic shock encounters, is far from being inevitable. For example, from a personal perspective of living overseas for extended periods on several occasions as a university educator, neither I nor any of my immediate colleagues ever once experienced anything even approximating to something worthy of the term culture shock.

In this context, an alternative model called the J-Curve explored in an absorbing and informative book ‘Managing the Dynamics of Change’ by Jellison (2006) articulates a developmental process of cultural adaptation in a less dramatic form than typically depicted in the U-Curve model.

Adapted from the Jellison's J-curve of change

First, he eloquently pictures the encounter with change as something of a roller coaster experience that initially involves a period in which there is a precipitous decline in performance. After this, there follows a ragged stage of limited progress and finally a progressive steep climb in continuous improved performance. Then, once again from a personal perspective, this more accurately describes the cross-cultural adaptation process from my experience of leading teams of educators working on extended contacts in several overseas contexts rather than the dazzle, shock, clash, bang, run away depiction.

Finally, those that learn to adapt to their new environment by overcoming early uncomfortable challenges generally continue to progress along a very progressive path, as they have built the required strong emotional resilience that is essential to any positive adaptation and mastery of life in a new host context.

To conclude, it is also sadly the case that for a small minority the experience of cultural adaptation can be a particularly disruptive emotionally, especially in relation to the more challenging manifestations such as isolation, loneliness, and homesickness. Then, unfortunately, for an even smaller number the situation can further deteriorate into outright culture clash. At this point, the rather depressing decision can arise between ‘fight’ and recover, or ‘flight’ and return home. We shall explore this phase prioritising a few practical effective recovery strategies in the next blog.

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Question 1

What factors might trigger a sudden disruptive encounter with some form of culture shock?

Question 2

Why are some sojourners seemingly untouched by any recognisable culture shock experience?

Question 3

Are there practical strategies that can promote the recovery phase when living overseas?

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We shall explore Question 3 in the next blog.

Reference

Jellison, J. M. (2006). Managing the dynamics of change: The fastest path to creating an engaged and productive workforce. McGraw-Hill.