Much of it has been acquired in early childhood, because at that time a person is most susceptible to learning and assimilating. Culture is always a collective phenomenon, because it is at least partly shared with people who live or lived within the same social environment, which is where it was learned. It is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another. Power distance Power distance measures how subordinates respond to power and authority.
Typical values are personal time, freedom, and challenge.
Values include training, physical condition, the use of skills. See Appendix 2 for comments on differences between American and Chinese society on this dimension. This fusion of individualism and equality is so valued and so basic that many Americans find it most difficult to relate to contrasting values in other cultures where interdependence, complementary relationships, and valued differences in age and sex greatly determine a person's sense of self. Individuality is different and appears to be much more the norm in the world than United States-style individualism is. Individuality refers to the person's freedom to act differently within the limits set by the social structure.