Cultural and Social Differences between India and Canada

Running Head: Sociology
Sociology
Report
System04104
4/3/2019

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Introduction
Culture and society differ from one country to another country and it is universal truth
that no culture can be the same. Even I can say that culture, norms, religion, and values of
people also differ from one region to another region. The same concept applies to Indian and
western culture. A few years back, I moved to Canada from India and I saw and experience
various cultural and social differences between these two countries. The Indian culture differs
in many aspects from the western-culture, such as cultural differences, family relations,
religion, marital life, working style, clothing, and social life etc. (Patel, 2014). The present
work shows the social and cultural differences between India and Canada.
The cultural difference between India and Canada
Indian culture is known as the oldest culture in the world while Western culture is
known as the modern culture. People in India mostly believe in religious aspects of life and
share a strong bonding with other family members. People in India share a great bonding
among family members whereas it is absent in the Canadian culture. Indian people normally
believe in a joint family relationship while the Canadian people believe in small family units.
I observed from my experience in both the countries that Canada and India have
different culture and living style. One of the major cultural differences in Canada and India
can be experienced in the form of openness. I experience that the Canadian people are more
open in compare to the Indian people. Although, social mixing is a common part of the
western lifestyle, but these things are not approved in the Indian culture. If I consider the
dressing style, the Indian culture is not known for revealing dresses while it is more common
in the western dressing style where people wears more revealing dresses than Indian people.
When I moved to Canada, I experience that people may become fiend very soon here and
they are more friendly, but they cannot take it as a commitment. A person takes some time to
committed to another person, but in Indian, people become committed very soon and they are
taking too much time to friendly with other person or with an unknown person. The Indian
people are very shy in nature and having low esteem of their skills while in Canada, people
have a high esteem of their skills and they openly admit their skills in public. However,
Indian people want some other people or source to boost their own skills. If we considered
the status of women in the Indian and Canadian culture, it can be said that women are treated

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equally with male in western culture, while in India Gender inequality is still a major
problem.
Work Culture Differences
Work culture is also different between India and Canada. Work culture can be
determined as the rules and regulations, policies, value, beliefs, and traditions of the
organisation and it is very much inspired by the local culture, norms, and standards of people.
I have observed that my father is working in Indian Railways and he is only permitted a
single holiday in the week. Indian companies mostly prefer six days of working in a week,
while in Canada and other Western countries, people are used to working only five days in a
week and they enjoy remaining two days of the week with their family members. Although,
in the era of globalisation and technological advancement made the business enterprises to
work across the borders in various countries. This helps in providing a cross-cultural
environment to both the organisation and employees (Tindall, 2014).
A decade ago, the work culture in India was vast different in compare to other
countries like USA, Japan, and Canada etc. Especially, Canadian and American business
organisations provide a large number of opportunities and facilities to its employees, but in
India, working conditions were not as suitable as Canada and other western countries have.
However, now a paradigm shifts due to enormous growth in IT and BPO's sector in India,
where due to globalisation and technological advancement people are working across the
border (Mudey, Ambekar, Goyal, Agarekar, & Wagh, 2011).
In Canada, people are more adhere to the work timings and they are very punctual.
People work eight hours in a day and also attend the meetings on time. I have experienced
that one of my friend Raman has to join an urgent meeting in his company, but he arrived at
meeting one hour late. I have observed that people in India are not very punctual but they are
hardworking people. The Indian people are normally found to be late in the office. Although,
Indian people are usually working 10-12 hours in a day and sometimes it has been seen that
people are working on weekends as well. People always negotiate about the extension of
deadlines and sometimes, scheduled meetings are cancelled due to the absence of key person
(Coward, Hinnells, & Williams, 2012).
One major difference between the working cultures of these two countries is the
work-life balance. People in Canada give more importance to their personal life and do not