Individualistic, legalistic America v. communitarian, Confucian Asia

SEOUL, South Korea -- I've finally reached my limit for listening to people harp on the notion of a deep East-West cultural split.

"The United States is being torn apart from within by individualism and legalism. Asians, unlike Americans, do not feel the need to resort to litigation for all their problems. They find other, more harmonious ways to settle disputes."

Obviously, you can tell I'm not a fan. I'm not even sure how much truth there is to such claims. I recently came upon what I consider a perfect example: adultery law. In Korea and Taiwan, adultery is prohibited by criminal law and a penalty that can be up to two years in prison. Although a criminal matter, it is not the State, but the spurned spouse who must bring the charge against the adulterer and the interloper. That is to say, the system encourages spouses to co-opt the law as a form of revenge to deal

with an intimate family problem.

In the U.S., by and large, adultery laws has been almost completely repealed or simply lapsed. While I am aware of certain exceptions, including a gentleman who was fined $250 in our own Commonwealth, it is fair to say adultery law is mostly a thing of the past.

Despite our reputation as the most litigious place on earth, we have decided that this is an area where social mores, rather than law, should regulate behavior. The Korean supporters of the adultery law (who are becoming fewer and fewer over time) claim that, if adultery laws ceased to exist, marriage would cease to have any meaning and infidelity would become rampant. As of

January 2009 and October 2008 respectively, 25 percent of American men and 68 percent of Korean men cheat on their wives (rates for women, interestingly, are similar in both countries: 15 percent). Is it too presumptuous of me to say then, that this

claim is a difficult one to justify?

-- TB

Anthony Bessette is studying abroad at Yonsei University for the spring 2009 semester.