It will be over simplifying to say that a nation's identity can be reduced to a single characteristic, as it is unethical to rely on stereotypes to describe anyone. Yet some comedians may refer to a single word to pinpoint to beliefs that may be representative of a culture.
In various stand up comedy shows I have heard Canadians to be generally well-known for their politeness, Americans for their sense of patriotism, Germans for their precision, Japanese for their harmony, Indians for their hard work, and Iranians for letting their emotions to guide them.
One may well never be able to reduce the complexity of cultural identities to a single item. Within the same culture, there are way too many exceptions, and too many individuals that are each different from another. But I wonder if, leaving such items as the culinary, clothing, etc. aside, there are some habitual particularities that mark some cultures and affect the behaviour of individuals within it leading us to do things the way we do them. What can possibly be the causes and effects of such particularities at a national level? To what extend would it affect the individual within that culture?
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