Culture Shock 🤯 | All About ! Definition, Stages & Solutions

Often, people travel from one country to another, either for the purpose of tourism, or for the purpose of settling, studying, or working in these new countries, or for various reasons. However, the matter does not stop at the geographical transfer alone but extends beyond it to include the transition from one culture to another, and from one society to another. This is accompanied by social and personal pressures, perhaps the most famous of which is known as cultural shock, which is very known in sociology sciences. That's why guys we will try to define cultural shock in this article, give you some Culture shock examples, methods to deal with and finally some of its stages!

📌 what is cultural shock ?

Cultural shock: in order to answer the question: What are the types of culture, we must pay attention to the concept of cultural shock, which means that state of anxiety and confusion that an individual faces when engaging with a cultural pattern that is different from the prevailing cultural pattern in his own culture or community environment, and this case comes from Trauma is the result of the variation in social, cultural, and ethical standards between one society and another. What is acceptable in a specific societal environment may be rejected in another societal environment, and the most vulnerable to cultural shock are those whose circumstances forced them to move from a cultural environment to an environment Another cultural search for a job or living stability.

culture shock stages

He has a new identity: “The stranger!” Isn't that enough to create a psychological crisis? Cultural shock! Yes, the consequences of that transition are natural to be shocking to one, and therefore it is imperative to understand the nature of this crisis, which goes through stages:

•  Honeymoon stage

In the beginning, everything is new, a new atmosphere unlike what one is used to, another language, people's forms, and temptations are exciting. Even food is of a different kind, transportation is different and stores have another schedule. This diversity and difference arouse curiosity, and the immigrant may be overwhelmed with joy and happiness for the simplest of matters such as the weather, or for example, he believes that people in his new place are more kind and courteous ... etc. But like every month honey must go.

• Crisis stage

 After the honeymoon, which may reach a few months, depends on the person, the features and cultural shock symptoms of the crisis begin to appear as symptoms of anxiety about the possibility of failure due to the difficulty one finds in the differences, which may develop into frustration and fatigue, causing sleep disturbance and excessive thinking. Even the stomach falls effortlessly because it must adapt to new types of bacteria in a new food that you are not used to.


Here, the difficulty factor in communicating (not only in language) with members of a different new society emerges as the most direct factor in this crisis, causing one to feel isolated and nostalgic for the homeland.

• Adaptation stage

After months, the acclimatization phase begins, which varies in its forms and degrees, from one person to another. Either the total assimilation of the new culture or the total rejection of it and these two are a contradictory party. As for the middle matter, it is an attempt to acclimatize positively and a positive meaning that accepts the other and retains the inheritance. The latter is a psycho-social condition in which many immigrants and their children live, especially the second generation, with varying degrees. They are called dual culture or what is called a term (Bicultural).

how to deal with culture shock abroad? 

There are a number of ways that may limit cultural shock when traveling abroad; by following them you can spend times of fun and well-being besides studying and working; including:

• Trying to be with a group of friends who have the same culture and language as the traveler, in order to have fun and joyful times that help them overcome the feeling of loneliness and homesickness.

• Work to make new friends in the new country, as it contributes to accelerating the process of adopting and adapting to the new stage.

• Working on cooking some simple meals that a person used to eat for many years in his country from time to time, in order to feel intimacy.

• Accept the new life with everything in it, and work to adapt to it, despite the cultural and civilizational difference, in order to pass that stage in peace.

• An inner desire to reduce those negative emotions that may befall an individual when they are traumatized by cultures, such as depression, tension, nervousness, and boredom.

• A culture shock experience

We will try to show you here some culture shock examples, and I'd like to talk about my own experience where I've Traveled To France for one week, it was an amazing experience because I have founded a totally different culture than my own country: because of the different language, habits, food, architecture... which makes you feel a little bit strange as it deprives you as well from belonging to that place! but in fact, I was feeling awesome and all these differences did not bother me at all, because finally, I used to it quickly!

• culture shock movies

these are the most famous movies of the culture shock, especially the 2003 lost boys of Sudan.