Handouts 9 Comparing cultural values

9Handouts 6 Comparing Cultural Values–Basic values1. Five Basic Values of Mankind Orientation适应 5 Basic Values1. HumanNature BasicallyEvilMixture BasicallyGood2. RelationshipTo Nature HumansControlsHarmony NatureControls3. Sense ofTimeFuture Present Past4. Activity Being —Who you are Growing —becomingDoing —whatYou are doing5. SocialRelationship Hierarchy阶级组织Group IndividualI. Time and CultureInformal Time Text (P244,251 Unit 7)The rules for informal patterns of time – general pace of life, punctualityExample: How late is “late?Britain & America -- 5 minArab countries -- 15-30 min is normalItalian –2 hLatin America –expected to arrive late to appointment as a sign of respect1). Past, Present and FutureThe use of time is related to how people look at time.People see different aspects方面of time as important: past, present and future.This influences their pace and way of life.PastBritish, ChineseIn past-oriented societies, the cultural memory is rich and deep. People emphasize on tradition.Past-oriented people are often more cautious谨慎in making decisions and respect traditions.2) PresentFilipinos菲律宾, Latin, Islamic伊斯兰In present-oriented societies, the past and present exist side by side. People pay attention to what is going on here and now. They enjoy the present time and whatever they have.Present-oriented people are more concerned about their present life and often enjoy a casual, relaxed lifestyle.3) FutureAmericansFuture-oriented societies control plan for the future. They often have great faith in the future.Future-oriented people are constantly pressed by the urge to move forward and are always in a rush.Low tolerance for extensions and postponements延期.M-time & P-time (p271)Monochronic-time时间的单一性a tight schedule, punctuality, one thing a time, time lineal, segmented, manageablePolychronic-time时间的多样性no schedule, no sense of punctuality, many things a time.Linear and non-linear time(线性,非线性)Linear“Do this now”Time can be wastedFocus on transactions执行Keep to scheduleNon-linearIt’ll get done when it gets doneTime is infinite无限and cannot be wastedFocus on relationshipsDon’t insult by endingAmerican Concept of timeTime flies.Time waits for no one.PunctualityAmericans are expected to arrive to meetings on time, and usually even early.They arrive late to parties and dancesLateness is interpreted as a lack of interest, arrogance or a sign of poor time management.If you’re more than 10 or 15 minutes late, apologize and give the reason.Arriving early will probably surprise the person you’re meeting and imply that you’re anxious or have nothing better to do.Invitations to social engagements state the “real”time that you should arrive.Don’t show up half an hour or 45 minutes late.Arriving early to a social gathering is inconsiderate.Your host or hostess will probably be arranging things right up until the last moment and will not be fully prepared to entertain or serve you.British Concept of TimePunctuality is important to the British, but they’re not obsessed困扰with it.They’re averse反对to people who constantly rush around, one eye glued to their wristwatches.Arriving within a few minutes of a scheduled appointment is generally acceptable for most business meetings.Chinese concept of TimeAn Aversion厌恶to DeadlinesAppointmentsIn China time walks. People don't feel as pressured. They would rather take it easy than live a busy life.But in China, to not arrive on time for a business meeting would cause the host to "lose face".Chinese businesspeople are beginning to realize that appointments are not only a matter of convenience, but also of respect.Japanese Concept of TimeBeing on time is important, but senior executives and other important figures are expected to be five to seven minutes late —to reflect their “busy” schedules. No one should be more than 10 minutes late.2. Cultural Dimensions 容积Eastern cultures Western culturesCollectivism IndividualismLarge power distance Small power distanceMasculinity FemininityStrong uncertainty avoidance Weak uncertainty avoidanceHigh context背景Low contextHigh contact联系Low contactBeing DoingPast orientation Future orientationShame羞耻Guilt内疚Indirectness看不见的Directness看得见Eastern cultures: Eastern cultures generally include Asian cultures as well as Israelite以色列的and the Arab world. But here the emphasis is placed on Chinese, Japanese and Arabian cultures, esp. Chinese culture.Western cultures: Normally, most European countries and North American as well as Australia and New Zealand belong to Western Cultures.Individualism (个人观):In some countries, people are most likely to value individual identity, which means the social unit is the individual and the interests of the individual are considered to be more important than those of the group. These countries are individualist cultures, and can also be described as “I” cultures.Collectivism (集体观): In other countries, people tend to place high value on group identity rather than individual identity, which means quite the contrary to the individualist cultures; the interests of the individual are less important than those of the group. The social unit is the group. These countries are collectivist cultures, and can also be desc ribed as “We” cultures.Power distance (权力差距): In all cultures some people have more power or higher status than other people. There is no society in the world in which everyone is precisely equal to everyone else, hence the power distance. The power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. (Hofstede page 262). The contrast value put forward by Hofstede is an attempt to measure cultural attitudes about inequality in social relationships.Power distance tableLarge power distance（较强的权力差距感): In some countries, there exists the emotional and social distance between people who occupy different places in a hierarchy, in other words, people’s different social positions are considered to be natural and important. People are unequal by nature. So these countries are large power distance cultures.Small power distance (较弱的权力差距感): In other cultures, people believe that everyone is by nature equal to everyone else. There are differences in power and status in these countries, but people think these should be eliminated or minimized. These are low power distance cultures.Masculinity (男权意识) and Femininity (女权意识)refer to the distribution of roles between the genders(性别). There are differences between women and men in the societies. According to Hofstede, there aren’t so many differences in women’s values as in men’s values t hough. What’s more, the masculinity differentiation also varies in different cultures, for “men's values from one country to another contain a dimension容积from very assertive维护and competitive竞争, maximally different from women's values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to women's values on the other” (Hofstede).High masculinity (较强的男权意识)---Low femininity 较弱的女权意识):In some countries, there is a high degree of gender differentiation. Men tend to be competitive, assertive and powerful; they tend to dominate a significant portion of the society, whereas women tend to be modest and caring, and controlled by male domination.Low masculinity (较弱的男权意识--High femininity 较强的女权意识): Some other countries have a low level of gender differentiation and discrimination, females are more likely to be treated as equal to the males in the society. Males tend to be as caring and modest as the females.Uncertainty avoidance (避免易变因素的意识): According to Hofstede, it deals with a society's tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity, and can be defined as the level (high /low, strong/ weak) of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within surprising, uncertain or unknown situations i.e. unstructured situation, quite beyond recognition.High (Strong ) uncertainty avoidance (有较强的避免易变因素的意识):In some countries, people try “to minimize the possibility of such unknown situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures; and on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute Truth”( Hofsted, “A summary of my ideas about national culture differences”) People are also more emotional and motivated by inner nervous energy. These countries can be described as high (strong) uncertainty avoidance cultures.Low ( Weak ) uncertainty avoidance (有较弱的避免易变因素的意识):In some other societies, people have more tolerance for various opinions, with less concern about ambiguity and uncertainty. They are more ready to accept changes and likely to take more and greater risks. These societies are defined as low uncertainty avoidance cultures.Context (setting背景, 环境): Context is the influences and events that help cause a particular event or situation to happen. Different people are living in a context containing a variety of religious rituals, customs, habits, behavior codes, language codes and etc. On the whole, people in all cultures use both relatively high and relatively low context communication.Low context (较弱的背景意识): As the American anthropologist Edward T. Hall puts it, low context is communication that occurs mostly through language. The mass of information is vested or placed in the explicit code. Messages sent through non-verbally are not quite emphasized, like the clear verbal message is. Therefore, people in low-context cultures focus on what others say rather than their behaviors, their social roles, the situation, and the other factors that constitute the context of the words.High context (较强的背景意识):In high context cultures, people communicate not only through verbal messages, but also through non-verbal messages which are implied in the context such as the speaker’s social role, the settings, and other social expectations. So in these cultures, the speakers tend to expect listeners to take more responsibility for interpreting the meaning of messages, rather than the messages themselves. It is up to the listener to interpret the meaning of words by paying attention to the context in which they are said.High contact cultures (有较强的接触意识的文化):The American anthropologist Edward T. Hall classifies some cultures as high contact and low contact based on the theory of multisensory space, which means spatial boundaries extend to all the senses--- hearing, vision, smell, touch, kinesthetics (身势学) or movement.In high contact cultures what people sense when close to a person or object is highly valued; in other words, tactile space or touch space is most important. In these cultures, people seem to be quite accustomed to getting closer to each other to show their care and warmth for one another. In this way, people can easily smell others in public settings. For example, bathing the other person in one’s breath is a common practice in some high contact cultures as Arab countries.Low contact cultures (有较弱的接触意识的文化):According to Hall, in low contact cultures such as European cultures, people rely more on sight, and especially sight at a far distance. That is, people are most likely to stand a certain distance away to get the whole picture, without actually feeling or sensing the other person’s body heat or subtle smell. So in low contact cultures as America, one is taught not to breathe on people. However, this visual space seems unfriendly and indifferent to those from high contact cultures, which favor tactile (touch) space. Therefore, when people from a high contact culture go to a low contact culture, they tend to feel they are being treated with a cold indifference, a lack of human warmth, because they are always kept at a distance aw ay from the other person. And they don’t feel they are paid much attention, because their communicators’ eyes always move quickly away from their own eyes.Whereas in the world of high contact cultures such as some Arab countries, people from a low contact culture, like America, are likely to feel that their space is being intruded into by receiving too much personal touching from the others. Moreover, they might find the intensity and sensuality overwhelming and uncomfortable, when standing in such close proximity of another person; and experience difficulty focusing on what is being said or discussed.Being cultures (静态文化):In being cultures, people’s actions express who they are, and theirsocial status or position can be told from their behavior. Therefore, people often behave in ways considered suitable to their social roles; that is social status and position may be more significant than what the person does.Doing cultures (行动文化): In doing cultures, people consider activities as well as a person's achievements to be important, usually more important than their social status or position. There is often a sense of urgency about getting things done. Deadlines are important, as is the schedule. However, a person doesn’t necessarily accomplish any m ore than someone from a being culture. People are active everywhere.Time dimension (时间观): It is one of the values studied by Florence Fluckhohn. She considers that all societies have some conception of the past, all have a present, and all give some kind of attention to the future time-dimension (p. 348). In other words, all societies are similar in dealing with time and have a sense of the dimensions of time. But there exists the different dimension people emphasize: past, present, or future.Past orientation (过去观): In some cultures, people stress tradition, experience, and traditions. They focus on the past (the time before now) and believe that understanding the principles and truths of the past can guide current and future experience. People in these cultures often look back to a period when their culture was at the height of its power and glory and may quote respected philosophers, leaders as well as celebrities from the past as a guide for action in the present. Chinese cultures mainly fall into this category.Present orientation (现在观):In some other cultures, people stress the present (what is now), and value accommodating ( 适应性的) changes in beliefs and traditions. As Kluckhohn described present-oriented cultures, "they pay little attention to what has happened in the past, and regard the future as vague and a most unpredictable period" (p. 348). What they focus on is the current situation, the way it is.Future orientation (未来观):In other cultures, people emphasize the future (the time to come), planning ahead, and seeking new ways to replace the old. In these societies, there is a strong belief in progress, so usually the schedules are made, goals are set and predictions about future consequences are made. In a word, people look forward and believe that the future can be controlled if you plan well and act properly today. The dominant American culture emphasizes the future-orientation, the life in America is filled with a future-oriented perspective that looks ahead.Guilt cultures (内疚感的文化): In guilt cultures the person is expected to know the difference between right and wrong, and to feel guilty if he or she does or even thinks something wrong, whether or not anyone knows about it.Shame cultures (羞愧感的文化):In shame cultures, the good is an ideal everyone hopes to realize but may not be possible to achieve in every situation. What is important is that you meet your obligation to be a model of virtue for a particular group of people to whom you have such a responsibility.Directness and Indirectness:Cultural beliefs differ as to whether directness or indirectness is considered positive. In some cultures, people favor direct instead of indirect communication style while those from other cultures prefer indirectness in communication. So it is not surprising that misunderstanding might occur in intercultural communication based on different beliefs about directness and indirectness.Directness: In some countries, like the mainstream American culture, being direct rather than indirect is considered the ideal form of communication style, for there is an important belief that “ honesty is the best policy”. There are several expressions i n English that emphasize the importance of being direct: “Get to the point (直说) ! Don’t beat around the bush(绕弯子)! Let’s get down to the business( 言归正传, 说正经的)!”Since directness is strongly related with honesty in communication in America, Americans may judge members of other cultures that value indirectness as not being assertive (果断的) enough. To them, these people seem to be “beating around the bush”, and they are “playing games”( deceiving 欺骗).Indirectness: In other cultures, such as some Asian countries as well as some Latin American countries, people value indirectness in communication. They try not to hurt, embarrass or shame the others while giving criticism, making requests and expressing opinions. In other words, with the face value, they would try to maintain harmony by saving the other’s face and not to cause him or her to “lose face”. In China, fo r example, the most common expression when offering opinions or advice will be quite indirect: “希望…会更好…”(…hope that …will be better ) which implies that someone else does have some weakness in certain ways and needs to be improved; quite different from the English ways of speaking. Therefore, the listener or the receiver might not feel too emb arrassed and experience “losing face”. Thus, to many Chinese people, some Americans sound too impolite or rude by directly giving criticism without considering the other’s face.4. American Values and their Contrastive OnesAmerican Values and their Contrastive对比Ones1.Personal control over the environment:People can alter nature, and to a large extent, can determine the direction of their lives.Contrasting value - Fate: what happens in life is a result of a grand plan or destiny.2. Change: Change is healthy. People stagnate if they don't make enough changes.Contrasting value - Tradition: preservation and emphasis of rituals, customs, and beliefs from the past.3. Control over time: Time flies. People are pressured and constrained by time because they are trying to control it.Contrasting value - Time walks. There is no need for people to feel so pressured. They should take it easy.4. Equality and egalitarianism: All people are created equal.Contrasting value - Hierarchy, rank, status: People's roles are defined in terms of their relationships to other people; people are mostly either subordinate to or superior to someone else.5. Individualism and privacy: Individual needs are considered primary.Contrasting value - Group orientation: The individual sacrifices his or her needs to those of the group.6. Self-help: People can and should try to improve their own lives. Many middle- and upper-class Americans have the belief that people can " pull themselves up by their own bootstraps." Contrasting value - Birthright inheritance - People are born into either wealth or poverty; they can't change their status in life.7. Future orientation: Look to the future and not to the past.Contrasting value - Past or present orientation - People should live for today or for their ancestors; they should live according to tradition.8. Action and work orientation: Work often defines (characterizes) a person; identities come from what they do.Contrasting value - " Being" orientation - Work is not the center of a person's identity; it is acceptable not to focus on work, accomplishments, and achievements.9. Informality:First name usage. ("Just call me Bob."), casual clothes, and the lack of formal rituals are typical in American life.Contrasting value - Formality - Use of titles and last names are common. People are restrained and polite with each other.10. Directness, openness, and honesty: Honesty is the best policy.People should express themselves openly. It is not considered good to " beat around the bush." Contrasting value - Indirectness and "saving face": People should consider one another's feelings when deciding what to say. Honesty is not always the best policy.11. Materialism: Tendency to be more concerned with material than with spiritual or intellectual goals.Contrasting value - Spiritualism - The philosophy that all reality is spiritual and that nothing material is as important.。