Abstract

 Different attitudes of privacy is the basis of this study. It is quite normal that people from different cultural backgrounds may understand privacy differently, which was influenced by different cultures, history, social norms and values. The divergence sometimes becomes the obstacle in cross-cultural communication. In order to avoid those embarrassing situation, the origin and development of privacy and the different cultural background among the countries are focused in this paper. It also proceeds to explore different cultures of privacy in China and America, as well as the causes of these differences. Certainly the meaning of privacy should be clarified during the comparison. Additionally there are lots of standpoints considered and plenty of examples used in this thesis, including culture, history, society and family. Besides that, it is also mentioned that people’s attitudes towards privacy have changed with time. This thesis aims to arouse people’s awareness of privacy and put forward some reasonable suggestions. As for English learners, it is useful for them to enlarge the cross-cultural background and develop their cross-cultural ability.

Keywords: privacy; difference; cultural background; communication

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1.Introduction1

2.Literature Review2

3.The History of Privacy .3

3.1 Privacy developed in America.4

3.2 Privacy developed in China 5

4.Comparative Study of Privacy.6

4.1 Similarities6

4.2 Differences.6

5. Conclusion9

Works Cited.12