Microcultures in Canada

A Comparative Approach

Introduction Every society contains both a mainstream culture and many different subcultures. The mainstream culture is how one is identified as. However, microcultures consist of how we identify ourselves within the global mainstream culture. There are multitudes of ways to participate in a microculture. It could be along ethnic, religious lines, or even lifestyle. All these factors come into play with regards to the different aspects of microcultures. This paper will delve into all three types of microcultures; it will look at Vietnamese, Jewish, and Vegan cultures and compare them to mainstream Canadian culture. The subsequent comparative analysis aims at finding differences in an …show more content…

With such a long and dramatic history, there are several factors influencing those who have lived or have background in Vietnam. Having been subjected to occupation by many different parties, the Vietnamese culture has adopted characteristics from each of the ruling countries.
How the Vietnamese subculture differs from the mainstream Canadian society

As previously mentioned most Vietnamese in Canada are foreign born (statistics Canada). Therefore, when immigrating to Canada they also brought their own cultural aspects. These aspects guide them in their behaviour, values and lifestyle. The cultural differences between mainstream Canadian culture and that of Vietnamese microculture later discussed are: communication, business etiquette and values.
With regards to the communication aspect, most of the Vietnamese speak their own language, which is Vietnamese. Older Vietnamese may also speak English and French due to colonization. Spoken language is an obvious difference when compared to mainstream culture. However, there are also other differences shown when using non-verbal communication such as the context of the culture. According to the website “Adopt Vietnam”, Vietnam is a high-context culture which uses a lot of non-verbal communication. For example, when someone praises a Vietnamese, instead of saying "thank you", he will just give a smile in return. This is a modest and respectful way to say “thank