Le succès pour les américains dépend de leur capacité à se sentir bien.
Par exemple, être en bonne santé pour un américain constitue une
réussite. Pour un français, le succès passe par la notoriété, le
travail, l'effort. Lorsque l'on obtient le succès (chose très bien
défini par nos valeurs sociales) on appartient à l'élite. Cette
différence s'exprime par la reconnaissance par rapports aux autres,
alors que l'américain considère son succès par rapport à lui même; ce
qu'il voulait accomplir.

I agree with your comments. The list compiled by the American students
shows that success is defined primarily by personal goals and desires.
French students tended to associate success with social importance,
fame, etc.

I think perhaps this stems back to the American focus on individuality
and independence. Throughout these word association lists, it seems that
Americans often are very focused on themselves/their personal lives,
whereas the French students show a greater emphasis on a "collective
life" more influenced by societal ideals/demands. What do others think?

I agree with Omoeleye and Gregory. The responses to the work 'success'
illustrate the difference between American and French culture. In
particular, the Americans focus more upon self satisfaction, while the
French seem to strive for recognition from society. What does this
constant striving for public approval do to ones self esteem?

It was also interesting to see that the French wrote 'academic
acheivements,' while scholarly acheivements were not at all mentioned in
the American column. Could this be because the French as a society place
more of an emphasis on education, or respect teachers more than
Americans? What do the French think of our education system?

I agree with Gregory's thoughts that in Americans don't necessarily
equate success with hard work. As far as Frances' comments involving
Americans focusing more on personal success, I disagree -- almost all of
the words on both sides seem to refer to personal achievement rather
than collective good. Also, I disagree with Xiaojie's comment that
Americans focus more on self satisfaction while the French seem to
strive for societal recognition because the things listed in the US
column -- money, car, wealth, power, etc are in some sense the primary
means of societal regonition in the US which causes people to
continually push for more money, etc, even though it probably does not
provide them with any more satisfaction.

I feel that both Americans and French have similar concepts of
"success." In general, I think that both are striving for happiness and
satisfaction in their lives. For some on both sides, the happiness and
satisfaction comes from societal recognition that is achieved through
power and wealth.

I agree with Frances. I think that for Americans, success is associated
with personal comfort and happiness. Success, for the French, is the
result of hard work and is seen as a means of improving one's social
position.

Tout à fait Aparna, je suis d'accord avec toi et avec Frances. La
réussite 'américaine' s'apparente plus à des "personal goal".

J'ai assisté, en Califorinie, à des conférences dont les thèmes étaient,
le succès, les cycles de l'argent, l'investissement, le développement
personnel... Il y a énormément de meeting de ce type aux States alors
qu'en France, il y en a très peu. C'est simplement que ce n'est pas dans
notre culture.

Vive San Diego Style !

Does Americans emphasis on personal success mean that we're more
satisfied with life and our definition of success is easier to attain? I
was surprised to see that in a 2004 poll, 93% of Americans responded
that they were satisfied with life -- is this the same in France?

I'm going to quote Brian Mullins from a forum he wrote on "Money." He
said that from a 2003 poll, 14% of French people said they were
satisfied with life, while 57% of American people said they were
satisfied with life. He thought this might have something to do with the
prospect of becoming rich - Americans are happier because of this? It's
true that I think of success as being satisfied with my life, and if the
French associate success with money at times, then money may be linked
to satisfaction with life. What do you all think of this interpretation?

Je trouve vos réponses, Megan and Marie, très interessantes. J'ai pris
également connaissance de ce sondage, et j'avoue avoir été un peu surpris.

Pour répondre à Megan, je ne pense pas que le succès soit plus facile
mais vous êtes dans un pays libéral. En France, il est plus difficile de
monter un Business que dans votre pays. Nous avons beaucoup de
contraintes !

Et effectivement, Marie, je pense qu'en France le succès est lié à
l'argent, en tout cas plus qu'aux Etats Unis. J'ai écris un message sur
ce sujet de l'argent. Si vous êtes intéressé, je vous invite à aller
jeter un coup d'oeil. Mais à mon avis, tout est question de motivation,
ne pensez vous pas ?

Vive San Diego style !