You are on page 1of 2

Disclaimer: This paper is written purely for academic purposes (only).

Any use or misuse of this document will be entirely at the readers own risk. The author does not warrant the accuracy nor the validity of this document.

Culture
by Christopher Low
Everyone has his own definition of Culture and when this word is used, generally, most audience has a rough idea of its meaning. However, when asked for a definition, many will keep mum or pretend to be in deep thought. Out of a number of definitions, offered by sociologists and experts on culture, we picked the one written by Geert Hofstede as an example. He defined Culture as the collective programming of the mind of members of a group which is reflected in its particular assumptions, perceptions, thought patterns, norms and values. One of the key words in this definition is collective because culture refers to a group of people and not a single individual. And, a culture is strong if the programming is broad as well as deep. Once programmed, at a young age, members of a particular culture will retain this programming throughout their life, and often, they aspire to pass on as much of this programming as possible to their next generation. This is often manifested in parents hope that their children will marry spouses who are from the same dialect group, race and religion. Unlike an object with physical properties like dimensions of size, weight, colour and texture, culture is difficult to quantify. Hence, comparing different cultures will require a set of common yardsticks with indices the magnitude of which are represented by numerical values. Amongst the many models advanced to allow for cultural comparisons and to provide us with a better understanding of cultural differences are those from Hofstede and Trompenaars. The dimensions listed in Hofstedes model are: Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism, Masculinity and Confucian Dynamism. The meaning of these dimensions are somewhat intuitive except for Masculinity which refers to the cultures degree of preference for material wealth and achievements whereas Feminism (on the other hand) refers to the cultures inclination towards emotional and social wellbeing. The dimensions listed in Trompenaars model are: Universalism versus Particularism, Individualism versus Collectivism, Affective versus Neutral, Specific versus Diffuse, Ascription versus Achievement, Sequential versus Synchronic and Control versus Controlled by. There is minimal direct overlap of the dimensions from these two models except for the dimension of Individualism. Very detail descriptions of these dimensions can be found in Trompenaars book, Riding the Waves of Culture. A good way to get a more complete perspective of cultural comparison would be to use a combination of two or more models, to derive a deeper understanding and to get additional insights. A key component of Culture is the language used by the culture. A language provides its users with the facility to articulate certain concepts and cultural values easily. Each language has a unique structure which reinforce and contribute to its users worldview and cultural beliefs.

Disclaimer: This paper is written purely for academic purposes (only). Any use or misuse of this document will be entirely at the readers own risk. The author does not warrant the accuracy nor the validity of this document.

For example, languages such as Spanish immediately differentiate between formal and informal relationships with different forms of the word for you. In the Chinese language, very specific terms are used to define seniority and hierarchy within a family, distinguishing the rank of a person by gender and the order of his/her birth relative to his siblings (within the context of the rank of his father & mother (wife/concubine) and so on). Maternal and paternal relations are also clearly differentiated. As the traditional Chinese culture is fairly chauvinistic, paternal relations are thought to have a higher rank or significance. In this case the (Chinese) language provides strong evidence for the high Power Distance attributed to the Chinese culture. Based on the studies of Hofstede, Trompenaars and others, the wide spectrum of cultural diversity that characterize the various cultures in the world is not showing any clear signs of convergence. The forces which are thought to drive cultural convergence include the universal urge to modernize, the economic advantages of specialization and globalization (which leads to global trade and greater inter-cultural interactions) and the rapid advancements in modern transportation and communication (which facilitates greater cultural intermingling). On the other hand, there are factors which reinforce cultural inertia and divergence. They are the deep seated distrust and ideological differences between religious groups (such as the Hindus and Muslims in India & Pakistan; the Jews and Arabs in the Middle-East) and the irreconcilable political differences (for example between North and South Korea representing different sub-cultures). Another factor contributing to cultural divergence is historical enmity the wars fought between China & Japan resulted in scars so deep that even with decades of normalization, the war-time memories still haunt both countries (& cultures). (747 words)

You might also like