Question

Arnett makes a distinction between developing and developed countries. Explain this difference, and identify 5 ways in which developing and developed cultures differ. What makes the U.S. unique amongst developed cultures? How is this uniqueness likely to affect our culture?

Answer 1

Developed and developing countries differ in the following ways - unemployement and poverty, living conditions, growth and distribution of income.

Developed countries have low unemployment and poverty, good living conditions, high industrial growth and equal distribution of income whereas it is the opposite for developing countries, they have high unemployment and poverty, moderate living conditions and they rely on developed countries for their growth. They also have unequal distribution of income.

As per Arnett, emerging adulthood is the distinction between developing and developed countries. Emerging adulthood is many people having stable work during their early 20s. This is changing and many people even in developing countries have work instability that age or are even pursuing their education.

In America, people are free and believe in living for today. They do not believe in saving and spend a lot. They do not have stigma attached for anything and a person in his late 40s can quit his job to take up a new education or an entirely new career. They respect each other's privacy and value theirs too. This is unique of US, making it different from other developed countries. This culture is likely of being adopted in other cultures too.