Part 2 Comparison


Student Work 1

I want to compare the cultural differences between China and Germany.

Influenced by the patriarchal system and the thought of great unification, China emphasizes collective interests, while Germany emphasizes individualism, and people pay more attention to his small family and personal interests



China is a country with a high power distance. A strict hierarchical system was established in the slave society and feudal society, and the traditional Confucianism also emphasizes respect and inferiority. However, Germany has a low power distance and a wide range of joint decision-making power, and its leadership position will not be much higher than that of his subordinates. The masculinity tendency index of both countries is 66. The society tends to be masculine, focuses on achievement and has great competition.



Chinese people are less anxious about uncertainty and have strong adaptability, while Germany is more anxious and will try to avoid uncertainty. For example, when it comes to paying back the money, the Chinese often euphemistically start from other things and hint at the other party, while the Germans will directly ask the other party to pay back the money.



Both China and Germany tend to be long-term oriented. Both countries are pragmatic, can easily adapt to changing conditions, be frugal and make unremitting achievements.



Both countries tend to self-restraint, especially in China. They control their desires and abide by social norms.




Student Work 2 


    After reading Professor Hofstede's theory, I also have some opinions and inspirations of my own. I really like a sentence in the article, which I think is the soul of this article: culture can only be used meaningfully by comparison. Yes, I found Professor Hofstede when defining and judging culture It also has its own cultural bias, and no one can look at all cultures equally like God. For example, the professor put individualism on the "high side" when he defined IDV. In his consciousness, individualism is more advanced than collectivism. But I feel that collectivism is not inferior to individualism. It is the professor's personal cognition that causes his evaluation criteria to be biased. Another impressive point for me is that reading the professor's article is a little uncomfortable. After all, Hofstede is a Westerner who mainly lived in the last century. When he expresses some differences between China and the West, he always puts Western culture in the Front and look superior, which makes me uncomfortable.



                                                                                                 

 Then I used the cultural comparison tool provided by the website to compare Chinese and American cultures from six dimensions. The website believes that China has a larger power gap and the United States is more "liberal and democratic". I don't think so. I think the essence of capitalist democracy is the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalist class. The website thinks that America is individualistic and China is more collectivist, yes, but I don't think collectivism is inferior to individualism. The tool thinks China is more pragmatic and the US is conservative, I think it says the opposite, in my impression it should be that the West is more liberal and open, although we are also pragmatic. The last "indulgence", hahahaha, I do think Americans are more indulgent than Chinese.  

                                                           Student Work 3 


       I chose Agentina and Italy because I am interested in them and over 60% Argentinean are descendants of Italian. I wonder how geographical difference and social environment change people. First of all, their PDI are 49 and 50, which are very low and close. In both their societies, status should be underlined, while among new generations of Italian, control and formal supervisions are generally disliked. As to IDV, that is 46 vs 76. Even though it seems low for Argentina, it is still relatively high in Latin American,where has a strict division between private and work life. At a score of 76, Italy is an individualist culture, "me" centered. When it comes to MAS and UDI, they are 56 and 70, 86 and 75, which are quite high. They both encourage compete strongly with each other. Argentina scocities show strong need for rules and elborate legal systems in order structure life, which is very common in latin American.Formality in Italian society is important and the Italian penal and civil code are complicated with clauses, codicils etc. Moreover, the score in LTO and IVR differs a lot. Argentina scores 20 and 62, while Italy scores 61 and 30, which means Argentinean exhibit great respect for traditions, while Italian culture is pragmatic and people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. Argentina falls under the category of indulgence and people generally exhibit a willingness to realise their impilses and desires with regard to enjoying life and have fun, while Italian culture is very restraint. 



       In my opinion, the scores of first 4 dimensions between two countries are alike and the last 2 dimensions differs a lot, which largely depends on the social environment of latin American, people in two counties have very alike traditions, but the vast Pampas breed more desire to enjoy life and have fun and keep their tadition like their ancestors, while Italian starts to change them depending on their situation more and more often.  

                                   

                                               Student Work 4



The countries I compared were China and Japan, and the results were somewhat unexpected:下载.png

 

          In PDI, China is much higher than Japan, I actually don't believe this result, because in my impression, Japan is famous for its strict hierarchy. I think I know China better, so I'll give my opinion. There are two sayings in China: those who are virtuous live in them, and those who are worthy of self-knowledge. I think these two sentences emphasize that the Chinese want a person who is competent in this position of power to take up his post and will support him. If this person does not have this ability, no matter whether he is full of blood or not, the Chinese will hate him. Therefore, it is not that the Chinese do not want to be close to power, but to judge whether they can control power well.

In terms of individualism, Japanese society is much higher than Chinese society. I suspect that I am comparing the wrong country. I think Japan should pursue collectivism more than China. In the last reading of the sixth-level exam, it was shown that many people were skeptical about the six dimensions. I took a close look at the website's explanation, illustrating Japanese individualism by giving an example of how being loyal to a company can be.



        All other dimensions are within my expectation.

MASCULINITY, INDULGENCE Japan are slightly higher than China. Chairman Mao once said that women hold up half the sky. To be honest, I think the status of women in China is higher than that in European and American countries. For example: Many large companies in China have female executives, but in many countries there are very few female executives, and if they do, many are required by law. But I have to admit that there are still many people in China who have a patriarchal mindset. Japanese men occupy most positions of power in Japan, so Japan is a male society. Japan has more etiquette and more restraints, so there is less room for indulgence.

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE Japan is higher than China, I think it should be. There is a certain degree of credibility in the explanation of the website.

LONG TERM ORIENTATION I believe this is a common feature of Confucian society, pursuing long-term and sustainable development.

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