UnderstandingGlobal Cultures

Britain

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,942824,00.html

http://www.thefab.net/topics/culture_history/hg06_german-stonehenge_01.htm

Four Generic Types of Cultures

4. Vertical Individualism / Market Pricing Cultures

Ch. 13 American FootballCh. 14 The Traditional British House

Fig. 1.2. Four Generic Types of Cultures (p. 15)

POWER DISTANCE

INDIVIDUALISM COLLECTIVISM

Low

(horizontal)

High

(vertical)

Equality

Matching(interval)

Community Sharing

(nominal)

Market

Pricing(ratio)

Authority Ranking(ordinal)

Four Generic Types of Cultures

4. Vertical Individualism / Market Pricing Cultures

market pricing

found in the United States and other market-dominated nations

Four Generic Types of Cultures

4. Vertical Individualism / Market Pricing Cultures

although individualism is emphasized, so, too, is the free market

• inequality resulting from the operation of the free market is deemed acceptable

there is equality of opportunity and a level playing field

• but not equality of outcomes

Four Generic Types of Cultures

4. Vertical Individualism / Market Pricing Cultures

ethics revolves around the operation of a free market

http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1095/

Cultural Metaphors

Unit of analysis in the book = the nation or national culture

Other “units of analysis” may include:

one person (e.g., Paul Buffalo)the family (e.g., Strodtbeck)the communitya regiona culture

Culture Counts

and it counts quit a bit

Geert Hofstede (1991)

IBM study demonstrated that national culture explained 50% of the differences in attitudes in IBM’s 53 countries (p. 5)