Not all cultures are like this. I had a German coworker who would always complain about how much time we spend socializing at work (while socializing with us).
He would tell us, "In Germany, we come to work, we put our heads down for seven hours and work, then we all go out and spend two hours drinking beer together before we go home to our families".
Definitely not the case here in Berlin. All of my jobs here had plenty of post-work socialising, some even obligatory.
During work itself, people also tend to spend a lot of time in "kitchen area" or browsing Facebook, chatting on WhatsApp etc.
The "put our heads down for hours" thing is not something I have ever observed.
Maybe the culture has shifted since then.
British work culture: spend 7 hours at work socializing, 2 hours at the pub after
French work culture: spend 2 hours at work socializing
Japanese work culture: spend 12 hours at work with your head down not working, then 5 hours at the pub
>> we all go out and spend two hours drinking beer together before we go home to our families
and
> in comparison, american work culture feels extremely centered around social interactions
I mean, when I worked at eBay in San Francisco, going around to bars after work -- more than once a week -- was the expected way to socialize with your coworkers. I didn't participate, but that meant I didn't connect to the rest of the team. I didn't find the idea that people in Germany do the same thing to be much of a stretch.