determinants of culture

8/12/2019 Determinants of Culture

1/25

Determinants of Culture


2/25

RECAP:

The ways to live are called cultures: that which distinguishes one group of people from

another.

There are an infinite number of ways to form a culture,and no culture is objectively better or worse, superioror inferior, to another.

Cultures are adaptations of a people to the conditionsof life. When these conditions change, as they have over the

centuries, cultures are put under pressure.

Still, they resist change. Today we find different cultures not only on different

continents, but also in different countries and even partsof countries.


3/25

A culture can never be all things to all people;

what is good to one observer may be bad toanother.

You cannot have one aspect of a culture that youlike without having other aspects that you maynot like so much.

When you compare a large number of culturesaround the world, you would see that

although each is different, they all share somebasic commonalities. These are called the fivedeterminants of Culture.


4/25

Culture is problematic:

Culture is not a universally accepted notion, andthere are a great many different ways to define it.Just know that culture pertains to the social

world; it determines how groups of peoplestructure their lives.

Culture is multifarious:

National Culture vs. Sub-Cultures.

There is also the question of who decides whatthe rules are for any given culture and who is thelegitimate interpreter of those rules.


5/25

Culture is malleable. It only manifests itself throughsocial action that always takes place in a changing

context. E.g., political events or technological advances can

drastically change the context in which people live, whichin turn can lead to cultural change.

Because culture is so complex and dynamic, problemsof reliability and validity make it very difficult tomeasure. The Contact Region between two culture is hard to

establish.

Value systems are implicit, and values defy consciousreflection. Persons who are members of a culture maynot be able to describe that culture to another personnot necessarily a member of the same culture.


6/25

Determinants of Culture with theirValueDimensions

Identity. Individualistvs collectivist

Hierarchy. PowerDistance

Gender. Care-oriented vs Achievement-oriented

Truth. Strong Uncertainty Avoidancevs Weak U A.

Virtue. Long-Term Orientation vs Short-Term Orientation.


7/25

1. Identity

Relationship between individual & group.

It can be seen as a spectrum ranging from

individual identity, or Individualism, to group

identity, or Collectivism.

Cultures of most wealthy countries in the world

are relatively individualistic

Cultures of the poorer countries are relativelycollectivistic.


8/25

This is also historically true; as countries have becomericher, they have also moved toward the individualist

end of the spectrum. Collectivism can be seen as anadaptation to poverty and limited resources, andindividualism, to wealth and ample resources. Wealthmakes it easier for people to take care of themselves,

to make it on their own. Yet a balance between theindividual and others is always needed.

In collectivist societies, individuals may have to represstheir individual identities, and this may prove

problematic. In very individualist societies, people mayfeel lonely and isolated, develop antisocial behaviors,or cling to illusions of group cohesion.


9/25

The issue of identity is crucial and far-reaching,and it has implications for many aspects of

communication.

Authorities on culture have called differentmanifestations of the same continuum by variousnames:

individualist/collectivist,

low-context/ high-context,

universalist/particularist,

specific/diffuse,

monochronic/polychronic cultures.

It shows how multifaceted this basic social issue is.


10/25

2. Hierarchy

The degree of inequality between the peoplethat is assumed to be a natural state of affairs.

This attribute has been called Power Distance.

In a society of large power distance, nobodythinks that people are all equal (or evenshould be) or should have the same

prerogatives. Parents are not children, leaders are not followers,

and kings are not citizens.


11/25

Measuring degree of power distance isproblematic and always relative. And it depends

on whom you consider, because power distancealso differs within countries, becoming smaller asone climbs the social ladder.

Power distance in Northern and Western

European cultures is smaller than in countries inEastern and Southern Europe. The two areas areseparated, roughly, by the former boundary of the Roman

Empire. As a country becomes wealthier, power distance

decreases.

Large power distance is easier to maintain in asituation of poverty and limited resources.


12/25

Power distance is the extent to which lesspowerful members of institutions and organizations

within a country expect and accept that power isdistributed unequally. (Hofstede page 262).

It describes the extent to which employeesaccept that superiors have more power than

them. Opinions and decisions are right because of the higher

position some has.

In countries with high power distance

subordinates are too afraid to express theirdoubts and disagreements with their autocraticand paternalistic bosses.


13/25

Countries with Small Power Distance

Bosses and subordinates work close together andconsult each other: an interdependence.

The hierarchies are flat with a decentralizedorganization and a small number of supervisorswho are expected to be accessible for theirsubordinates.

Within a company the degree for unequal

treatment is reduced to a low level. The salary range is narrow between the top and

bottom in companies.


14/25

Countries with Large Power Distance

The relation between boss and subordinate isstrictly ruled and dependent on the decisions ofthe boss.

Usually with a very centralized organization,

subordinates expect to be told what to do fromtheir superiors because they consider each otheras unequal. Inequalities & privileges are normally expected by

superiors.

Salary range is wide.

Positive emotions are expressed to superiors andnegative emotions to subordinates.


15/25

3. Gender

An unequal role distribution between men andwomen coincides with a tougher society in whichthere is more emphasis on achievement andfighting than on caring and compromise.

If men and women are more equal, the result ismore feminine qualities within society as awhole.

An equal role distribution between the genders ina culture Feminine and an unequal distribution,Masculine.


16/25

Gender Disparity in China

The first time in Europe/World when females got the right to votewas in the beginning of the 19th century in Finland.

The development has reached nowadays nearly equal rights betweenmales and females.

In comparison Chinas first law protecting women workers dates

only from 1988. Nowadays in China women are playing an increasingly important

role but they are still far away from having achieved equal rights.

Women in China cant reach/dont get positions which would beadequate for their knowledge and level of education.

In a Chinese company men dont report to women about businessmatters.

It is unacceptable in China that women take managerial positions orhave a higher status in jobs than their male colleagues.


17/25

in Finland

West has little business-life disparity in comparison.

Finland has a concrete sense of equality. Tarja Halonen has served two terms from 2000 to 2012 as the

president of Finland.

Women in Finland regard having their own job and money as

self-evident. Finish women have in general jobs and financial

independence. But still they dont get treated fully equally.

Majority in power in business and politics are still men but

the extent is smaller in comparison to other countries. Traditionally women have the same education standard as

men or nowadays even a higher level.


18/25

Alternative names are care-oriented versusachievement-oriented.

Big differences exist on this continuum evenamong countries in the same part of the world.

Cultures of the Netherlands and the Scandinavian

countries are very feminine, but those of Germany,Switzerland, and Austria are strongly masculine;

Costa Rica and Portugal are feminine, but Colombiaand most other Latin American countries aremasculine;

Thailand is feminine, but Japan is very masculine.

Britain and the United States are also rathermasculine.


19/25

4. Truth

Coping with the unpredictable & ambiguous. It is the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by

uncertain or unknown situations.

To forestall the unknown, cultures with strong uncertainty avoidancecreate formal rules and believe in their correctness.

Many people in this kind of a culture believe that what is different is

dangerous. They will avoid anything that doesnt go along with the rules and regulations

they were creating.

Because people dont know what will happen on the next day, the futureis expressed as uncertain and this uncertainty causes anxiety. Anxiety is a diffuse state of being uneasy or worried about what may

happen. As such it is closely related to stress and nervousness, and not to fear.

Anxiety has no object, fear does.

They resist in changes and worry about future.


20/25

Comparison

Cultures with weak uncertainty avoidance are open for

new things and changes. They dont have feelings of uncertainty about future.

To prevent uncertainty societies set up laws and rules.

Duties and rights (internal and external) are controlled

by authorities. Some cultures have a strong uncertainty avoidance:

In France many strict regulations are used and tasks areheavily centralized in companies.

There will be a much higher demand for details whencreating a contract.

To avoid any circumstances causing uncertainty for French.

They are rather inflexible concerning changes.


21/25

Americans and Chinese (Hong Kong) have a

lower need for uncertainty avoidance. They rather avoid too many rules and

formalities.

They are more likely to stimulate innovationsand emphasize new ideas.

They are more flexible and more acting than

reacting on changes occurring inside andoutside.


22/25

This aspect of a culture has been called:

Strong uncertainty avoidance vs weak U A. Uncertainty Avoidancevs Uncertainty Tolerance.

One-truth orientation vs many-truths orientation

Russia and the countries of the Balkans havecultures of strong uncertainty avoidance, asdo Japan, Mexico, and France.

English-speaking countries and China tend to

be more uncertainty tolerant. Singapore, Jamaica, and Denmark are very

uncertainty tolerant.


23/25

5. Virtue / Values

Choice between future & present virtue.

The issue of virtue is particularly important in Asia

and explains why non-Asians find it hard to come

to grips with this cultural concept.

Where Europeans and Americans are more

concerned with truth, Asians are more concerned

with virtue.

Both are related to a societys attitude toward

time and traditions.


24/25

Long-Term Orientation vs Short-Term Orientation.

Confucian Dynamism Michael Bond.

It indicates the extend to which a society is morefuture / long-term oriented or more past / short-term oriented.

Many countries of East Asia, like China and Japan, areconsidered to be long-term oriented.

Most European and American countries are fairlyshort-term oriented.

The Dutch, with a reputation for stinginess, are long-termoriented by European standards.

African countries are very short-term oriented.


25/25

Long-Term Oriented Values are:

Persistence;

Ordering relationships by status and observing them Stable relationships;

Saving money;

Having a sense of shameto care for others and beingloyal and emphasizing trustworthiness.

Short-Term Orientated Values are:

Openness in relationships;

No overt regard for tradition which prevents from being innovative;

Reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts is more relatedto social rituals and can lead to an increase in consumptionfavorable in Western countries with a high degree of short-term orientation.

determinants of culture

Documents