Il semble que nos conceptions soient assez similaires sur la notion de "Réussite", mais vous semblez plus l'axer sur le "Travail professionnel", alors que nous il s'agit d'une réussite plus globale, puisqu'elle englobe le pouvoir en général.
Pour vous, peut il y avoir une "réussite" en dehors du domaine professionnel?
Dans votre conception, peut on "réussir" sans gagner de l'argent?

Sophie, Julie et Stéphane

je ne suis pas d'accord, nous avons presque tous associé le mot "argent" à la réussite, alors que les étudiants de MIT ont plus axé sur le bohneur en général (happiness).

I would agree with Benoit here - your responses indicate that most of you associate success with material gains, such as money and power. While these are also goals for many Americans, the word associations indicate that Americans (perhaps only MIT students?) think of success more as a process than an end. Thus we find expressions like hard work, speed and brilliance which deal more with how we achieve success than what we get from it.

I noticed that one of the words posted for success was love. None of the MIT students mentioned love. Do you consider part of being successful being in love and if someone is not in love are they not considered to be a success?

I was really intrigued by the occurrence of "power" in your responses (and its absence in ours!). Some of us answered with "fulfillment", "contentment", "satisfied," which suggest that success is personal and relative. Is success in France a social phenomenon? If somebody has a decent job, a good family and a nice apartment - is this success/happiness? Or do you have to be a top politician or a rich businessman, no matter whether you are divorced, you hate your parents, etc.? Can we have success without social recognition?

What do you mean by "bonheur", "joie", and "bien-etre"? What are the typical things that make people happy or content? Do you generally associate these things more with family, community, work, or personal accomplishment? I think for many Americans, success is a balance of these things. They want to have a happy, healthy family, to be comfortable in their community and feel that they are safe, they want to be valued for their skills. They want to have a job or career that provides enough financial stability to support themselves and their family without having to worry about money from week to week.

Salut Michal,
Plus précisement en associant l'amour à la réussite j'ai voulu parler de la réussite sur le plan privé (famille, mariage, enfants...). Mais réussir sa vie sans trouver l'âme soeur. Tout dépend des objectifs de chacun.

Nous pensons qu'en France, le mot "réussite" est alors compris de la même façon que chez vous. En effet, on englobe aussi la famille, le travail, la réussite personnelle. C'est également une balance entre ces différents termes: c'est la conjugaison de la réussite personnelle et professionnelle. Mais, en effet, pour certaines personnes françaises, le mot "réussite" ne prend en compte que la réussite professionnelle. Peut être que c'est parce que ils n'ont pas encore trouvé le bonheur dans leur vie affective?
Julie et Armelle