Understanding Global Cultures

1. UnderstandingGlobal Cultures Cultural Metaphors

2. http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1095/index.html#texthttp://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1095/index.html#text

3. Cultural Metaphors • Unit of analysis = the nation or national culture • “national character studies” • The Chrysanthemum and the Sword – Ruth Benedict

4. Cultural Metaphors • Other “units of analysis” may include: • one person (e.g., Paul Buffalo) • “life histories”

5. Paul Buffalo Meditating Medicine http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/Buffalo/Intro-Temp2.html

6. Sharon Gmelch Nan: The Life of an Irish Traveling Woman, Revised Edition. Long Grove: IL: Waveland Press, 1991. (ISBN: 0881336025) http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3635/cetexts.html#Nan

7. Cultural Metaphors • Other “units of analysis” may include: • one person (e.g., Paul Buffalo) • the family (e.g., Strodtbeck, see later) • the community • a region (“culture area”) • Mesoamerica • The Northwest Coast (of North America) • The Upper Midwest • The Mideast • “Sub-Saharan Africa” • Aran Islands

8. John C. Messenger Inis Beag: Isle of Ireland. Long Grove: IL: Waveland Press, 1983. (ISBN: 0881330515) http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3635/cetexts.html#InisBeag

9. Cultural Metaphors • Other “units of analysis” may include: • one person (e.g., Paul Buffalo) • the family (e.g., Strodtbeck, see later) • the community • a region (“culture area”) • a culture • “Irish” • “Chinese” • “Mexicans” • “Bedouins”

10. Cultural Metaphors • but cultural metaphors can be derived for ethnic groups within and across nations • e.g., Anishinabe (Chippewa; Ojibwa) • e.g., Rom (Gypsies) • e.g., Irish “Travellers” • sometimes incorrectly called “Gypsies” • e.g., Kurds • e.g., Basques

11. Mark Kurlansky The Basque History of the World. NY: Penguin Books, 1999. (ISBN: 0140298517) http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth3635/cetexts.html#BasqueHistory

12. Cultural Metaphors • Unit of analysis = the nation or national culture • applies to a group, but not to every individual within it

13. Cultural Metaphors • Unit of analysis = the nation or national culture • because a good amount of evidence suggests that there are commonalities across regional, racial, and ethnic groups within each of them that can be captured effectively by cultural metaphors

14. Cultural Metaphors • Unit of analysis = the nation or national culture • Understanding Global Cultures contains 28 metaphors • there are approximately 200 nations in the world • 193 according to The Times World Atlas (2004)

15. Communication Ken Livingston, mayor of London England, indicated that there were over 300 languages spoken in London. (Following the terrorist attack of July 2005)

16. Communication How many languages are spoken in St. Paul Minnesota ?

17. Culture Counts and it counts quit a bit

18. Constructing Cultural Metaphors • Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck • Edward T. Hall • Geert Hofstede • Cultural Metaphors include, in addition, the items on p. 11 . . .

19. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • religion • early socialization and family structure • small group behavior • public behavior • leisure pursuits and interests

20. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • total Lifestyle • work / leisure / home and time allocations to each of them • aural space • the degree to which members of a society react negatively to high noise levels • roles and status of different members of a society

21. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • holidays and ceremonies • greeting behavior • humor

22. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • language • oral and written communication

23. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • nonoral communication • body language • kinesics (motion) • proxemics (space)

24. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • sports • as a reflection of cultural values • political structure of a society • the educational system of a society

25. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • traditions and the degree to which the established order is emphasized • history of a society • but only as it reflects cultural mind-sets, or the manner in which its members think, feel, and act • not a detailed history

26. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • food and eating behavior

27. Cultural Metaphors include . . . • social class structure • rate of technological and cultural change • organization of and perspective on work • such as a society’s commitment to the work ethic, superior-subordinate relationships, and so on • any other categories that are appropriate

28. A Four-Stage Model of Cross-Cultural Understanding • four-cell typology of process / goal orientation • more specificity • inclusion of other “etic” of culture-general dimensions along which specific cultures have been shown to vary • cultural metaphors are employed for understanding a culture • they build on the “etic” understanding provided by the approaches used in the first three stages

29. Emics / Etics emics • from “phonemics” • viewing a culture from the inside etics • from “phonetics” • viewing a culture from the outside More on the “emics” and “etics” later

30. “Four-Stage Model” One variable of the “Four-Stage Model” is the degree to which process such as effective communication and getting to know one another in depth should precede discussion of specific goals

31. “Four-Stage Model” Another variable of the “Four-Stage Model” is the degree to which a culture fosters and encourages open emotional expression

32. Fig. 1.1. Process, Goals, and Expression of Emotions (p. 12) More on the “Four-Stage Model” later

33. Cultural Metaphors “Metaphors are not stereotypes” – Martin J. Gannon Why?

34. Geert Hofstede (1991) • IBM study demonstrated that national culture explained 50% of the differences in attitudes in IBM’s 53 countries

35. “Given such studies, it seems that culture influences between 25% and 50% of our attitudes, whereas other aspects of workforce diversity, such as social class, ethnicity, race, sex, and age, account for the remainder of these attitudinal differences.”

36. “Frequently, when a foreigner violates a key cultural value, he or she is not even aware of the violation, and no one brings the matter to his or her attention.” • once a visitor makes a major mistake it is frequently impossible to rectify it • and it may well take several months to realize that polite rejections really signify isolation and banishment

37. “Even genuinely small cultural mistakes can have enormous consequences.”

38. “. . . Knowing a country’s language, although clearly helpful, is no guarantee of understanding its cultural mindset, and some of the most difficult problems have been created by individuals who have a high level of fluency but a low level of cultural understanding.”

39. “Moreover, members of a culture tend to assume that highly fluent visitors know the customs and rules of behavior, and these visitors are judged severely when violations occur.”

40. Cultural Metaphors • Understanding Global Cultures describes a method for understanding easily and quickly the cultural mind-set of a nation and comparing it to other nations

41. Cultural Metaphors • In essence the cultural metaphor involves identifying some phenomenon, activity, or institution of a nation’s culture that all or most of its members consider to be very important and with which they identify closely • the characteristics of the metaphor then become the basis for describing and understanding the essential features of the society

42. Cultural Metaphors • each metaphor is a guide or map that helps the foreigner understand quickly what members of a society consider very important • but it is only a starting point against which we can compare our own experiences and through which we can start to understand the seeming contradictions pervasive in most, if not all, societies

43. Cultural Metaphors • book describes a dominant, and perhaps the dominant, metaphor for each society • but other metaphors may also be suitable

44. Constructing Cultural Metaphors • Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck • Edward T. Hall • Geert Hofstede • Plus items on p. 11 . . .

45. Constructing Cultural Metaphors • Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck • note that each society has a dominant cultural orientation that can be described in terms of six dimensions

46. Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck • “What do members of a society assume about the nature of people, that is, are people good, bad, or a mixture?” • These kinds of beliefs are sometimes called “existential postulates”

47. Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck • “What do members of a society assume about the relationship between a person and nature, that is, should we live in harmony with it or subjugate it?” • These kinds of beliefs are sometimes called “normative postulates”

48. Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck • “What do members of a society assume about the relationship between people, that is, should a person act in an individual manner or consider the group before taking action?” • individualism vs. collectivism (groupism) in terms of such issues as making decisions, conformity, and so forth

49. Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck • “What is the primary mode of activity in a given society, that is, being, or accepting the status quo, enjoying the current situation, and going with the flow of things; or doing, that is, changing things to make them better, setting specific goals and accomplishing them within specific schedules, and so forth?”

50. Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck • “What is the conception of space in a given society, that is, is it considered private, in that meetings are held in private, people do not get too close to one another physically, and so on; or public, that is, having everyone participate in meetings and decision making, allowing emotions to be expressed publicly, and having people stand in close proximity to one another?”