12年gre作文要求：写作资料句子32

6.The No-Status Society

In a status society, people learn their places and gain some dignity and security from having a place in the social order. Americans, however, are taught not to recognize their places and to constantly assert themselves. This can manifest itself in positive ways—hard work, clever ideas—but also in ongoing dissatisfaction.

As an American is always striving to change his lot, he never fully identifies with any group. We have no expressions such as in China “the fat pig gets slaughtered,” or in Japan, where “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” Here, everybody is trying to stick out, which limits closeness between people. We say, “It’s the squeaky where that gets the grease. According to Alan Roland, author of In Search of self in India and Japan, in the United States “a militant individualism has been combined with enormous social mobility,” leaving very group identity.

Roland psychoanalyzed Americans, Indians and Japanese and discovered that the two Asian cultures had no concept of the strong inner separation from other that is characteristic of Americans. Because our society is so competitive, we feel in the end that we can only rely on ourselves.