希腊文化类型分析

Style of the Greek CultureThis is a paper about the analysis of the Greek culture.We draw the conclusion mainly based on these two aspects:communication style,four-dimension model.•Communication StyleGreece is a traditional country which values tradition highly.According to our discussion, we agree that the communication style of Greece is high-context. We draw the conclusion according to the movie—“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”.The heroine in this movie is called Toula.Toula wanted to learn computer,b ut she didn’t tell her father this idea directly. It’s just the feature of the high-context communication.Their conversation was indirect, ambiguous, and understated. Besides,once Toula’s mother asked Lan,Toula’s boyfriend,if he was hungry. When Lan said that he was not hungry and he had eaten just now, Toula’s mother thought he was hungry and prepared a meal right now.in fact, Lan was really not hungry. This is the difference between American culture and Greek culture. The communication style of America is low-context, and their communication is direct, explicit, open, precise, and consistent with one’s feelings. So they couldn’t understand each other absolutely.According to above examples,we got the conclusion that the communication style of Greece is high-context.•The Four-Dimension Model1.Power distanceGreece is a country with a middle power distance.Powr distance means the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.Based on the Hofstede’s theoriey,the degree of the power distance in Greece is 60%.Compared with China and America,the power distance in Greece is a middle drgree.It in America is 40% and in China is 80%.There are some evidences supporting this conclusion.Firstly,thousands years ago,the Greeks have proposed the democratic system.They emphasized that the power was distrubuted equally.Secondly,the welfare in the Greek society is very high,which means that the Greeks own more rights than many people in other societies.However,the thousand-year-ago democratic system is mainly served for the noblemen,rather than all the people.Thus,this kind of narrow democracy still has some influences on the contemporary Greek power distance.2.Uncertainty avoidanceThe Greek uncertainty avoidance degree is extremely high.Based on the Hofstede’s theoriey, the degree of the uncertainty avoidance in Greece is 112%.This data of Greece is higher than all the other countries.The movie called “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” can confirm this point clearly.In this movie,this family leads a typical Greek style life.Everything they use and everythingthey learn is in Greek style.Even every English word is believed that it must have its own Greek origin.This is common in Greece,they always want to avoid other countries’culture.Because they are highly afraid of the uncertainty of other culture.Another truth is that the work time of the Greeks is even longer than that of the German.The German works 1429 hours every year on average,but the Greek works 2120 hours every year.Obviously,Greeks work harder,trying to avoid the uncertainty.3.IndividualismThe Greek shares the culture of individualism.Individualism,as we all know,is the value of the cultural deposits in the Greek mythology and the political culture .It emphasizes that give full play to the freedom of the individual, the power and the ability of independent thinking and action.For example,Troy's great hero Hector, in order to win a heroic reputation, fought with the enemy alone.Because of the dissatisfaction with the chief's unfair treatment,another Greek hero called Achilles refused to fight the Greek army. Although the extreme individualism is very harmful to national interests,it shows the Achille’s personal prestige and status. The individualism of heroes in Greek mythology had a profound impact on the later western individualism values.Besides,the democratic system since the ancient Greece also proves the high individualism.The idea of distributing the power equally presents the human rights.Everybody’s rights in this country are protected and respected.The individualism is emphasized greatly.4.Masculine versus feminalityGreek society is a Masculinity Dimension Society.Athens democracy is a political system that "adult male citizens are masters of the country" , democracy for women, the gentiles, the slave, is unreachable.In the movie, "MyBig Fat Greek Wedding",Toula's father, was deeply proud of their Greek descent, he even tried to find the Greek roots from each English word, he always think of himself as the absolute authority of the family.Her grandmother dressed in black is a charge, often without any reason of temper, fancies himself has been besieged, and even hidden a knife under sleeping pillow. In such a traditional family, Toula is taught the three major goals of her life: marry a Greek, a group of Greek kids, then feed everyone until the last day of life.In this movie ,we can easily find that in Greek,men act confidently, strongly, paying attention to the material success.Yet,women should be humble, gentle, paying attention to the quality of the life.ConclusionsCommunication style: high-context;Power distance: middle;Uncertainty avoidance: high;Individualism: high;Masculine versus feminality: high.。