Culture shock

Kalervo Oberg, a Canadian-American anthropologist, is widely credited with introducing and popularizing the term “culture shock” in mid‑20th‑century applied anthropology and intercultural training. He used it to describe the disorientation and anxiety experienced by people who move into a new cultural environment—often expatriates, diplomats, students, missionaries, or development workers—when familiar social cues and routines disappear. Oberg discussed the phenomenon in a talk and subsequent publication aimed at helping Americans and others understand predictable stages of adjustment abroad, framing culture shock as a normal, temporary response to cultural transition rather than a personal failing.

As a standalone phrase, “culture shock” names the psychological and social jolt that occurs when one’s habitual ways of interpreting behavior, etiquette, and meaning no longer work. In Oberg’s usage, the term is both descriptive and practical: it identifies a common pattern of stress (confusion, irritation, homesickness, hostility, idealization of home) that can arise from everyday interactions—language, gestures, norms, and values—rather than from dramatic events. The concept’s significance lies in shifting attention from “strange foreigners” to the traveler’s own learned expectations, encouraging empathy, self-awareness, and deliberate adaptation as part of cross-cultural competence.