17. Culture I - Dimensions of Culture

Question 1

Representation of WEIRD countries in literature

Answer 1

Overrepresented (95% of literature)

Question 2

Emic vs etic approaches to studying culture

Answer 2

• Emic approaches: emphasis on specificity ( grounded in specific cultural context, no claim to generality or attempt to compare)
• Etic approaches: emphasis on universality

Question 3

Hofstede’s four dimensions of culture

Answer 3

(levels of each vary depending on the culture)

• Power distance (PD)
• Uncertainty avoidance (UA)
• Individualism (vs. Collectivism) (IDV)
• Masculinity (vs. Femininity) (MAS)

Question 4

Masculinity (MAS) vs Femininity (FEM)

(Hofstede, 1967)

Answer 4

Masculinity

• Masculinity (MAS) -> preference for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material success
• Femininity (FEM) -> preference for relationships, modesty, caring for the weak
• Highest in MAS: Japan, Austria, Venezuela
• Lowest in FEM: Sweden, Norway, Netherlands

Question 5

Criticisms of MAS (Hofstede)

Answer 5

• Masculinity - terrible term to use
• Masculinity differes across cultures - in some it is associated with toughness, in some tenderness

Question 6

Individualism (IDV)
vs Collectivism (COL)

Answer 6

• Assessed by items about work goals
• IDV: personal time, freedom, challenge
• COL: training opportunities, physical conditions, use of skills
• Individualism -> look after yourself and your family
• Collectivism -> look after the ingroup (extended family) & oppose outgroups
• Correlated with economic development
• Highest: USA, Australia, Great Britain
• Lowest: Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama

Question 7

Power distance (PD)

Answer 7

• Do people accept that power is distributed unequally?
• E.g. employees afraid to disagree with managers
• Negative correlation with IDV
• Highest: Malaysia, Guatemala, Panama
• Lowest: Austria, Israel, Denmark

Question 8

Uncertainty Avoidance (UA)

Answer 8

• Do people feel uncomfortable with uncertainty / ambiguity
• High UA -> people support beliefs and institutions promising certainty
• Highest: Greece, Portugal, Guatemala
• Lowest: Singapore, Jamaica, Denmark

Question 9

Power Distance (PD)

Answer 9

• People accept that power in institutions and organizations is distributed unequally
• Highest: Malaysia, Guatemala, Panama
• Lowest: Austria, Israel, Denmark

Question 10

What is the ecological fallacy?

Answer 10

• Robinson’s (1950) paradox: It was found that different types of analysis yield dramatically different results
• E.g. A study on US states: %immigrants and %literacy (r =.526) VS a study on individuals: immigrant status and literacy (r = -.118)

Question 11

Concerns about Hofstede

Answer 11

• Item content - all job-related questionnaire items (applicable to other social scenarios?)
• Translation and survey procedures
• Sampling of individuals and societies
• Historical change
• Inconsistent data and “expert ratings”

Question 12

The Chinese Culture Connection (1987)

Answer 12

Found a new dimension:

• confucian work dynamism
• renamed to Long-Term Orientation (LTO)
• then renamed to Monumentalism vs Flexibility (Minkov, 2018)
• monumentalism: self is stable
• flexibility: self is unstable