Comparing Cultures: Dimensions of Culture in a Comparative Perspective

This edited collection on the theory and methodology of cultural comparisons draws on one particular paradigm, called dimensions of culture, which is traced back to the work of Geert Hofstede. In his book Culture’s Consequences, first published in 1980, Hofstede proposed five key dimensions for comparing cultures (power distances among members of institutions within cultures, uncertainty avoidance, individualistic/collectivistic orientations, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientations). Using very large databases (totalling over 100,000 subjects) of IBM employees in different countries, Hofstede attempted to identify the distinctive core values of each of the participating cultures. According to Pieter Drenth’s prologue, this work is a classic and one of the most cited sources in the entire Social Science Citation Index. It has become the centre of a distinct discourse in psychology and quantitative sociology, featuring other researchers who themselves have come to be highly influential. The present volume assembles papers by three authors, Harry Triandis (‘Dimensions of Culture beyond Hofstede’), Shalom Schwartz (‘Mapping and Interpreting Cultural Differences Around the World’) and Ronald Inglehart (‘Individualism, Autonomy, SelfExpression: The Human Development Syndrome’ with Daphna Oyserman) – whose work within the dimensions paradigm is considered as seminal by the editors – along with nine other chapters by 22 authors, which accrue to form a rich array of empirical case studies and theoretical discussions of the original model and its variations. A good integrative quality, achieved through a dialogue among the papers and a brief epi-dialogue by Hofstede (who is not one of the contributors), makes this volume a comprehensive textbook of a particular school of thought. A basic assumption shared by all the studies is that notwithstanding the internal diversity of national aggregates, the distinctions between cultures are greater than those within them. Two of the chapters (by Shalom Schwartz and Harry Triandis), echoing the old anthropological school of area studies, even ascribe distinct cultural features to entire ecological regions, such as Western Europe, Latin America, or South Asia. All the studies use statistical correlations and coefficients to measure and identify dominant patterns, control for various intervening factors, and quantify levels of internal diversity in order to further accentuate crosscultural distinctions. The results are all-encompassing generalizations on cultures. For example, according to Harry Triandis (in the introduction) ‘tight and simple cultures’ are collectivist, whereas ‘loose and complex ones’ are individualist (p. 11). Collectivist cultures are then divided into horizontal cultures, as in the case of Confucian China, where people are interdependent and emphasize social cohesion and oneness with the in-group members, and vertical cultures, as in the case of Japan, where people expect and accept difference yet retain a strong sense of duty to serve their in-group and sacrifice for it. Reviews: Civilization and Culture Sa’ar