Intercultural Communication:

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Working on cultural differences, the first question will be to define culture. It is astonishing that there are so many different definitions about culture and that's why I decided to look for cultural differences to define culture.

1. The most common approach defines culture as a summary of its components.

E.B. Taylor, a nineteenth century anthropologist, describes culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." (1)

2. A second approach focuses on the social heredity of people, its fundamental ideas, practices and experiences, which are transmitted from one generation to the other, usually from parents to children. In this approach one becomes a member of a culture not by birth, but by a process of learning.

3. A third approach is called the perceptual or subjective culture approach. Harry Triandis defines culture as "a cultural group's characteristic way of perceiving the man made part of its environment. The perception of rules and the group's norms, roles, and values are aspects of the subjective culture."(2)


This approach emphasises that culture is a shared set of ideas and practices that exist in a people's mind as a form of "mental software" .

4. A forth approach highlights how people practice their culture in their every day's life. Donal Carbaugh defines culture from this view as "a system of expressive practices fraught with feelings, a system of symbols, premises, rules, forms, and the domains and dimensions of mutual meanings associated with these."(3)

5. Myron Lustig and Jolene Koester look for a definition which links communication and culture together. They define
"Culture as a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, and norms, which affect the behaviours of a relatively large group of people."(4)
This definition corresponds largely to the third approach and is used for this work.


(1) Taylor, B."The Science of Culture", Culture and Consciousness: Perspectives in Social Sciences, ed. Gloria B. Levitas (New York: George Braziller, 1967) 47.
(2) Harry C. Triandis, The Analysis of Subjective Culture (New York: Wiley, 1972) 4.
(3) Donal Carbaugh, " Intercultural Communication," Cultural Communication and Contact, ed. (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1990) 151-175)
(4)Myron W. Lustig, Jolene Koester, "Intercultral Competence", p. 30

 

III.2 Cultural Differences

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Cultural differences are developed and sustained by a complex system of influences.
A complex system is characterised not only by a huge number of elements, but also by an intensive interaction between the elements, who are changing all the time. The main characteristic is the dynamic.
"Im Gegensatz zu den komplizieren Problemen, mit denen sie die Vielzahl von Einflussgrössen und die starke Verknüpfung teilen, sind komplexe Probleme durch Dynymik charakterisiert. Art und Intensität der Beziehungen können sich verändern, Einflussfaktoren dazustossen oder wegfallen. Das Muster der Zusammnenhänge - die Vernetzung - ist diesem Wandel unterworfen. " (1)
Because it is impossible to work with an infinite number of elements, I will work with the assumption of six elements as the main spheres of influence:
- Ideas,
- History
- Ecology
- Technology
- Institutional network
- Interpersonal communication pattern

1.Ideas in Greek the word means appearance, shape, form. Platon describes it as an archetype to see, to recognise, in general the creative thought (schöpferischer Gedanke), the imagination.
Ideas are mainly influences by Philosophy and Religion. The influence of Confucianism on the way of thinking of Chinese people, the influence of the philosophy of the enlightenment, for example of Emanuel Kant for German culture are important for the system of value of a certain society, the influence of Sigmund Freud, of Karl Marx and so on. To understand for example theWest-German society and the difference between West and East Germany, you must know about the strong influence of the " critical theory of the Frankfurter philosophical school"(T. Adorno , M. Horkheimer and Herbert Markuse and Habermas) on the student movement in the 60th and the so called 68th generation.

2. History
One of the strongest influences on culture is certainly history. Revolution, wars, prior events, change in political systems, unification, religion practice, for example had strongly influenced the development and maintenance of a culture. You can only understand the German fear of inflation, when you know about the currency reform in 1923 and 1948 and it's dramatically devaluation of money.
You will understand more easily the German extreme compartmentalisation, if you know, that Germany is a very young country, it was unified as a country only in 1861 under Bismark and before it was ruled by many different kingdoms and "Duodezfürstentümer"
"You have to know what people have been through to understand what people want and what they don't want. That's the nub of it. And what people have been through is what we call history." (2)

Ideas and History are the components which influences the inside world, the world of thinking, of recognising and there is always an effort to create the outside world after the idea what this world should be.


3. Ecology
The external environment in which a culture lives is the culture's ecology. That means weather conditions, the climate, availability of resources, for example, energy, water, forest, space; your culture will differ if you are living in the Sahara, or near the Northern Sea; in a country with a lot of space like Australia or in the Netherlands.
"High- contact cultures tend to be located in such warm-weather climates as the Middle-East, the Mediterranean region, Indonesia, and Latin America, whereas low-contact cultures are found in cooler climates such as Scandinavia, northern Europe, England, portions of North America and Japan." (3)
The system of value, as well as beliefs and norms, can also be influences by the availability or unavailability of certain goods: in the Sahara for example water has a quite different value as in Northern Europe, and beliefs will be related to this as well as the norms.

4. Technology
Changes in technology, as inventions of the wheel, the loom (Webstuhl), railway, telephone, automobile, printing art (Druchereikunst), planes, microelectronic have undoubtedly changed our culture. If we consider the possibilities of modern media technology to communicate across time and space, there is also an influence about people's perception of the other cultures.


5. Instititional network (Social, political and economic system = Ordnungsrahmen)
A society's decisions how to organise social, political and economical life, the framework of institutions has also an important influence on cultural patterns. For example the different economic and political system between East- and West Germany from the end of world war second until 1989 have influenced the culture in the two parts of Germany. The responsibility of the individual for the personal development in a capitalistic system is much higher, team orientation and the responsibility of the state for the risks in life is considered as normal in a socialistic system.


6. Interpersonal Communication Patterns

Interpersonal communication patterns can be defined as the coding system, face-to-face verbal and non-verbal communication, how to show emotions, the relationship between children and parents, students and teachers, employers and authority figures and other social contacts.
These interpersonal communication patterns have been described in the chapter on Transactional Analysis.


These different elements are all interrelated. Each force affects and is affected by all of the others. Altogether it is a system of high complexity, because there are a lot of components which are very important and all these components are dynamic, that means they are changing in time.

Thinking about how these main cultural elements develop, I belief in some areas there will be a convergence in intercultural differences, that means, that differences tend to become less pronounced, because of the technological development......
But if there is a development to less intercultural differences, there will be perhaps a need for cultural identification, as a countervailing power, too.
Development in societies never will be to extrapolate, because the increasing influence of one power can cause other unexpected movements. And it is not to predict, what and when things will happen.


To point out the interrelationship of the different elements, we can relate ideas and history to how we perceive the world, ecology, technique and institutional networks as the real existing world and the interpersonal communication patterns as the emotional era, how we feel. In terms of Transactional Analysis the perception of the world is stored in the parent-ego, the real existing world will be expressed in how we solve problems, that means in the adult-ego and how we feel in the child-ego

Interrelation of the elements which influences culture




(1) Peter Gomez und Gilbert Probst: Die Praxis des ganzheitlichen Problemlösens,Verlag Paul Haupt, Bern, Stuttgart, Wien, 1995, S. 22)
"Nichts ist so stark wie eine Idee, deren Zeit gekommen ist. "
(J.M.Keynes)
Nothing is as strong as an idea, which time has come.

(2) McCullough, David: 1994 Commemcement Adress at the university of Pittsburgh, qtd. In Chronicle of Higher Education, June 8, 1994, B2,

(1) Andersen, Peter A., Cues of Culture: The Basis of Intercultural Differences in Nonverbal Communication, Intercultural Communication, a Reader, 8th ,ed. Larry A. Samovar and Richard E. Porter, Belmont, CA: Wadsworth,1997 244-256,
Edward T.Hall, the Hidden Dimension, New York: Doubleday, 1996

 

III.3 Components of Cultural Patterns

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1. Beliefs

"A belief is an idea that people assume to be true about the world. Beliefs are therefor a set of learned interpretations that form the basis for cultural members to decide what is and what is not logical and correct...
Discussing culturally shared beliefs is difficult because people are usually not conscious of them."
The problem is what you consider as real must not correspond to the reality of people of other cultures.

2. Value System

The Value System are the desired characteristics or goals of a culture, that mean what is considered to be right or wrong, good or bad, fair or unfair, appropriate or inappropriate, kind or cruel, sociable or unsociable. That does not mean that the society's behaviour is really like this, usually there is a gap between what you are thinking is right and what you are actually doing. We call it cognitive dissonance.

There are a lot of differences concerning the value system of different cultures.
This can be demonstrated on the value types developed by Schwarz.(1)
For example, if "power" is a dominant value in a certain society, the culture probably focus on social status and prestige.
If conformity, tradition and security are the very important values in a society, political systems will be rather conservative.
Self direction, stimulation and Hedonism favourite a society open to change.

Value Type	Characteristics	Representative
Values Power	Social status and prestige, control of dominance over people and resources	Social power, wealth, authority
Achievement	Personal success through demonstrating competence according to social standard	Successful, capable, ambitious, influential
Hedonism	Pleasure of sensuous gratification for oneself	Pleasure, enjoying life
Stimulation	Excitement, novelty, and Challenge in life	Daring a varied life, an exciting life
Self-direction	Independence in thought and action - choosing, creating, and exploring goals	Creativity, freedom, curious, independent, choosing own
Universalism	Understanding, appreciation, tolerance, and protection for the welfare of all people and of nature	Social justice, world at peace, broadminded, equality, wisdom, unity with nature, a world of beauty, protection for the environment
Benevolence	Preservation and enhancement of the welfare of people with whom one is in frequent personal contact	Helpful, forgiving, honest, loyal, true friendship
Tradition	Respect, commitment, and acceptance of the customs and ideas that one's culture and religion impose on self	Accepting my portion in life, devout, respect for tradition, humble, moderate
Conformity	Restraint of actions, inclinations, and impulses likely to upset or harm others	Obedient, self-discipline politeness, honouring parents and elders
Security	Safety, harmony, and stability of society, of relationship, and of the self	Family security, national security, social order, reciprocation of favours, clean

It is possible to form 4 archetypes of society:
- Conservative society
- Society of Self enhancement
- Society open to change and
- Society of Self transition



Relationship among Schwartz?s Value Types




3. Norms

The outward manifestations of beliefs and values are norms, which are socially shared expectations of appropriate behaviours. Norms can vary within a culture in terms of their importance and intensity, like values do. Good manners and social routines are based on norms.
And of cause, norms can change over time. The norms of the generation of my mother are quite different from the norms we agree today. For example, a couple living together without being married was not well seen in my parents generation, nowadays, moral has changed and most of the couples live together before marrying. Another example are the greeting behaviours of people. The hand kiss is very old fashioned today.

"Norms are the surface of characteristics that emerge from the culture's beliefs and values. Because norms are evident through behaviours, they can be readily observed. People are expected to behave according to their culture's norms, and therefore come to see their own norms as the 'right' way of communication. Norms, then are linked to beliefs and values to form the pattern of a culture" (2)


(1)Scharz,...
(2)Lustig, 84

 

III.4 Characteristics of Cultural Patterns

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Cultural differences can be obvious or subtle. Obvious different is the way we dress and eat, subtler different are the less visible things that are taken for granted within a culture.

This chapter is about the subtler differences in culture, we can call shared perceptions, which lead to actions that are regarded as appropriate and effective behaviours.
Cultural patterns are defined as such unseen but shared expectations, that exist only in the mind of people.
Cultural patterns are made up of peoples beliefs, values and norms, that influence our way of thinking what the world is like. It is a sort of mental programming, usually taken in a very early age, you will easily identify the parent ego.
If you want to communicate with somebody of another culture, you must know about the differences in cultural pattern, that means you must know about your own perception (awareness), which is very often unconscious and about those of the other ones and the interaction between both.

An overview of cultural patterns are based on a set of similarities underlying all cultural patterns:
The work of Florence Kluckholn and Fred Strodtbeck (11) is quite useful for a framework of cultural patterns.

Every culture has to solve the following problems:

1. What is the human orientation to activity?
2. What is the relationship of humans to each other?
3. What is the nature of human beings?
4. What is the relationship of humans to the natural world?
5. What is the orientation of humans to time?

Each culture in his unique way, must provide answers to these questions in order to develop a coherent and consistent interpretation of the world.




III. Approaches of cultural pattern:

To identify differences is the condition of intercultural communication!

1. Kluckholm and Strodtbeck's (1)approach

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck assume that a culture has to select their solutions from a range of available alternatives. Thus, a culture's orientation of the importance and value of activity can differ from passive acceptance of the world (a 'being' orientation). A preference for a gradual transformation of the human condition ( a 'being in becoming' orientation), or more direct activity ( a 'doing' orientation).
The following table summarises the Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck value orientation theory:

Value Orientation

Orientation	Postulated Range of Variations
Activity Relational	Being Linearity	Being-in-becoming Collaterally	Doing Individualism
Human nature Man-nature Time	Evil Subjugation to nature Past	Mixture of good + evil Harmony with nature Present	Good Mastery over nature Future

An overview of cultural Patterns:

Self Orientations
1. How should people form their identities?
By themselves	with others
2. How changeable is the self?
Changeable	unchangeable
Self-realisation stressed	not stressed on self-realisation
3. What is the source of motivation for the self?
Reliance on self	reliance on others
Rights	duties
4. What kind of person is valued and respected?
Young	aged
Vigorous	wise
Innovative	prominent
Material attributes	spiritual attributes

World Orientation
1. What is the relation of humans in relation to the world?
Separate from nature	integral part of nature
Humans modify nature	humans adapt to nature
Health natural	disease natural
Wealth expected	poverty expected
2. What is the world like?
Spiritual-physical dichotomy	spiritual-physical unity
Empirically understood	magically understood
Technically controlled	spiritually controlled

Time orientation

1. How do people define time?

Future

Present

Past

Precisely measurable	undifferentiated
Linear	cyclical
2. How do people value time?
Scarce resource	unlimited
Fast pace	slow pace

2. Hall's approach of high- and low-context Cultural pattern

Hall(2) organises cultures by the amount of information implied by the setting or context of the communication itself, regardless of the specific words that are spoken. Hall agues that every human being is faced to so many perceptual stimuli - sights, sounds, tastes, and bodily sensations - that it is impossible to pay attention to them all. Therefore one of the function of culture is to provide a screen to indicate what perceptions to notice and how to interpret them.
High-context cultures prefer to use high context messages in which most of the meaning is either implied by physical setting or presumed to be part of the individual's beliefs, values and norms.
People with close personal relationships and extensive information networks among families, friends, colleagues, and clients used to be high-context. As a result, for the normal daily transactions they do not require much in-depth background information, because they know already about everything having to do with the people around.
(Japanese, African American, Mexican and Latino, French)
"
A high context communication or message is one in which most of the information is already in the person, while very little is in the coded, explicit, transmitted part of the message." (Hall, 1997, p. 6)

Low-context cultures prefer to use low-context messages, in which the majority of the message is vested in an explicit code.
People as Germans, Swedish, European American, and English
compartmentalise their personal relationship, their work and other commitments, that's why each time they interact they need more background information.
"Within each culture, of course, there are specific individual differences in the need for contexting - the process of filling in background data. But it is helpful to know whether the culture of a particular country falls on the high or low side of the scale since every person is influenced by the level of context.
Contexting performs multiple functions. For example, any shift in the level of context is communication. The shift can be up the scale, indicating a warming of the relationship, or down the scale (lowering the context), communication coolness or displeasure - signalling something has gone wrong with the relationship. In the United States the boss might communicate annoyance to an assistant when he shifts from the high-context, familiar form of address to the low - context, formal form. When this happens, the boss is telling to the subordinate in no uncertain terms that she or he has stepped out of line and incurred disfavor. In Japan moving the direction of the context is a source of daily feedback as to how things are going. The day starts with the use of honorifics, formal forms of address attached to each name. If things are going well, the honorifics are dropped as the day progresses." (Hall, 1997, p. 7)
High context people are apt to become impatient and irritated when low context people insist on giving them information they don't need. Conversely low-context people are at a loss when high-context people don't give them enough information.

Space-Orientation

"Every living thing has a visible physical boundary - its skin - separated it from its external environment. This visible boundary is surrounded by a series of invisible boundaries that are more difficult to define but are just as real. These other boundaries begin with the individual's space and terminate with her or his 'territory'.
The territoriality can be defined as the space which is regarded as 'mine',
the house, the garden, the hedge around the garden, the automobile, the office or the position of the office.
The personal space is another form of territory. It is like an invisible bubble you need to feel well. This 'bubble' depends of the relationship to another person, the emotional state, but also of the cultural background. In the north European countries this space is much larger than for example in the South European countries. For a German or Swedish person Italians or Spanish get too close. It is interesting to see that this personal space need is connected to the greeting rituals of a culture. Northern people usually feel comfortable within a distance to shake hands, French need a nearer contact to kiss each other.

Time orientation

Two different time systems are important in the international business world:
The monochronic and polychronic time system.

In the monochronic time system time is seen in a linear way, from the past into the future and therefor it is segmented, making it possible to do only one thing at a time.
People with a monocronic time orientation don't like to be interrupted. 'Time is money', we have to try to save it, and not to loose it. "Time become a room which some people are allowed to enter, while others are excluded."
(Hall, 1997,p. 14)
Monochronic time systems are used in the European influenced Cultures of the United States, in Germany, Switzerland and Scandinavia.

Polychronic time systems is characterised by the simultaneous occurrence of many things and many people. Human transactions are more important than on holding on schedules.
Mediterranean people are polychronic in their time flexibility, they have less segmentation of functions and people.

Monochronic people	Polychronic people
Do one thing at a time	Do many things at once
Concentrate on the job	Are highly distractible ans subject to interruptions
Take time commitments (deadlines, schedules) seriously	Consider time commitments an objective to be achieved, if possible
Are low-context and need information	Are high-context and already have information
Are committed to the job	Are committed to people and human relationships
Adhere religiously to plans	Change plans often and easily
Are concerned about not disturbing others; follow rules of privacy and consideration	Are more concerned with those who are closely related (family, friends, close business associates than with privacy
Show great respect to private property; seldom borrow or lend	Borrow things often and easily
Emphasise promptness	Base promptness on the relationship
Are accustomed to short-term relationship	Have strong tendency to build lifetime relationship

Polychronic Time and Information - an example:
For the French and other polychronic/high-context people a fixed and tight agenda can be an encumbrance. In French business meetings the information flow is high, and one is expected to read the other's thought.
The purpose is to create consensus.
In France almost everything is polychronic whereas in Germany monochronic promptness is very important.

"Clearly interactions between monochronic and polychronic people can be stressful unless both parties know and can decode the meanings behind each other's language of time. The language of time is much more stable and resistant to change than other cultural systems." (3)

Past and future-oriented cultures - an example:
Cultures in countries like Iran, India and those of the Far East are past-oriented.
Latin America is past and present oriented.
The United States are oriented to the present and to the near future.
I think Germany also is rather past-oriented: historical background is very important, very often presentations, articles and books begin with background information about the historical perspective.



Appointments:
The way time is estimated has to do a lot with estimation of people.
If there is a strong monochronic time orientation, it is devaluating to let people wait and you have to avoid not to be in time.
"Clearly, interactions between monochronic and polychronic people can be stressful unless both parties know and can decode the meanings behind each other's language of time. The language of time is much more stable and resistant to change than other cultural systems. " (4)

Cultural Interfacing
For cultural understanding it is crucial to understand the other's verbal and non- verbal language, to be able to decode and to 'create the proper fit' , as Hall is calling it. Hall gives a very significant example: if you are travelling between Germany and the States for example, you need for your electric affairs an adapter who transforms the different voltages.
The purpose of intercultural communication training is to gain the competence of an adapter at the interface between the different cultures.

Hall defines 5 basic principles:
1. The higher the context of either the culture or the industry, the more difficult the interface
2. The greater the complexity of the elements, the more difficult the interface
3. The greater the cultural distance, the more difficult the interface.
4. The greater the number of levels in the system, the more difficult the interface.
5. Very simple, low-context, highly evolved, mechanical systems tend to produce fewer interface problems than multiple-level systems of great complexity that depend on human talent for their success. (5)



3. Hofstede's approach(6)

Geert Hofstede is an organisational anthropolge from the Netherlands.
Hofstede defines culture as the collective mental programming , which differs from one group of people to the other.
Hofstede makes a difference between the hard- and the software of a culture:
The software of a culture represents the values and practices, which are in general unconscious.
The hardware of a culture is everything you can be seen, can be heard, can be toughed, clothing, eating, greeting rituals, ...

Hofstede's studies of intercultural differences has a work-related value orientation and is based on a survey over a large number (100 000) of IBM employees working in 50 different countries.

Hofstede identifies four dimensions of culture specific differences:
- Power distance
- Uncertainty avoidance
- Individualism-collectivism and
- Masculinity-femininity

Power distance

1. Power distance as the degree of attendance and acceptation of the inequality of distribution of power between the human beings.
Depending on the culture, some people are regarded as superior to others because of their social status, gender, age, education, birth, personal achievements, family background, occupation, and others.
Cultures also differ in the extend to which they view a certain social status as God-given or not , good or bad, right or wrong, just or unjust.
Hofstede refers to these variations as the power distance dimension, which reflects the degree to which the culture believes that institutional and organisational power should be distributed unequally and the decisions of the power holders should be challenges or accepted.
The PDI means the power distance index.
Cultures with a low PDI ( Austria, Denmark, Israel, New Zealand, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Great Britain and Germany ) prefer small power distance as a cultural value, and believe in the importance of democratic procedures and reduction of hierarchical organisation structures and in questioning and challenging authority figures.
Conversely countries with a high PDI (Arab countries, Guatemala, Malaysia, the Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia, India) prefer large power distance.
They believe in hierarchic structures, importance of authority, and the right to use power not only for legitimate purposes.

Hofstede suggests that three factors, climate, population size and wealth are strongly influencing the PDI:
1. Climate:
People who are living in moderate to colder climate zones usually have low PDI scores, those who are living in tropical or subtropical climate zones, have high PDI's. The dependence from the nature, the need for technological problem-solving requires more co-operation and independent thinking.

2. Population size is another predictor of power distance. In general the
larger a culture, the greater the power distance will be, because there
is much more complexity in the social and political system and
therefore more need centralised concentration of power.

3. Hofstede's analyses reveal that the more unequally wealth is
distributed, the greater the power distance will be.

I think it's very interesting to reflect about the change of the power distance within one culture; the general trend will be, especially in the western cultural societies, from high power distance to lower power distance.
Family life was much more hierarchic one or two generations before;
Children were not allowed to speak at table, obedience was a high value In France for example one generation before it was quite common for children to call the parents 'Vous' (polite form to address).

But there is still a big difference about power distance. In the university sector for example, students from the United States and the United Kingdom or from Sweden are used to have little power distance: students don't hesitate to ask questions, to discuss with their professors, even to talk to them by their first name, independent thinking and working is much more demanded and teamwork is quite usual.
On the other hand the position of a German Professor lost a lot of the godlike position, a lot of things changed, but it is still Herr oder Frau Professor, the lecturing is in general up to down, and students are not regarded as equal. Compared with Italy and Spain the hierarchy is already less, in these cultures we have still a big resistance of reducing power distance.

2. Uncertainty avoidance

The future will always be unknown, but there are differences how cultures can tolerate uncertainty and This has to do how they will adapt to changes.
Hofstede defines the uncertainty avoidance as the extend to which the culture feels threatened by ambiguous, uncertain situations and tries to avoid them by establishing more structure. He creates an Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) and on one extreme are cultures such as those of Denmark, Jamaica, Ireland and Singapore, all with a relatively low UAI. These cultures therefor have high tolerance for uncertainty, they minimise the number of rules.


3. Individualism-Collectivism

Individualism-Collectivism is an indicator which shows to which extent individual autonomy is regarded favourable or unfavourable, the degree to which a culture relies on the self or the group.
There is a strong correlation between the power distance indicator and the individualism-collectivism indicator.

Individualism-Collectivism is an indicator which shows to which extent individual autonomy is regarded favourable or unfavourable, the degree to which a culture relies on the self or the group.
There is a strong correlation between the power distance indicator and the individualism-collectivism indicator.

Low Individualism Indicator
Such cultures as Guatemala, Columbia, Indonesia, Pakistan and West-Africa prefer a collective orientation.
Collective cultures tend to be group-oriented and demand an absolute loyalty to the group. There will be much difference between in-group members and out-group members.
Relationship between Individualism-Collectivism and
High power distance cultures tend to be collective, low power distance individualistic.
Wealthy countries tend to be individualistic, poor countries collective.
Colder climate cultures tend to be individualistic, hot climate culture collective.

4. Masculinity-Femininity
This dimension indicates the degree to which a culture values achievement and assertiveness or nurturing and social support.
High Masculinity-Femininity
Such cultures as, Japan Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Mexico believe in achievement and there is a big gap between what is considered to be appropriate for men and for women. Men should behave strongly and concentrate on success. Women should behave modestly and concentrate on being nurturing.
Low Masculinity-Femininity
Cultures such as Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Chile, Portugal and Thailand believe less in external achievement, quality of life is more important and men and woman are regarded as equal.



(1)Florence Rockwood Kluckhohn and Fred L. Strodtbeck, Variations in Value Orientations (Evanston, IL:Row, Peterson, 1960
(2)Edward T. Hall, Beyond Culture (Garden City, NY,1977)
(3)Hall, 1997, p. 21
(4 & 5)Hall, p. 21
(6)Geert Hofstede, Cultures and Organizations: software of mind (London: McGraw-Hill 1991
Geert Hofstede, Culture's consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values (Beverly Hills,CA: Sage, 1980

See Section 4
IV. Intercultural Communication Problems