Figuring Foreigners Out explains how culture plays a big role in shaping how a person thinks and behaves: "Culture is the shared assumptions, values, and beliefs of a group of people which result in characteristic behaviors." It is stated in the book that the building blocks of culture are-
• Concept of self--individualist and collectivist
• Moral responsibility--universalist and particularist
• Concept of time--monochronic and polychronic
• Locus of control--internal and external.
Similar to this analysis of people and culture, Geert Hofstede also analysed how culture shapes people’s values and they came up with the six dimensions of culture-
• Concept of self - individualist and collectivist
• Power distance - inequalities caused in society caused by differences citizen’s power and wealth or not
• Masculinity - equal treatment of all genders and patriarchal and rooted in traditional masculinity
• Uncertainty Avoidance - Tolerant and avoiding
• Long Term Orientation - following traditions and changing with time
• Way of life – restrained and indulgent
I agree with both these analyses in that I believe that these factors do affect how a culture shapes a person and their values. Something I found very surprising was the analysis of these factors in India in the 6D model of national culture. On average in India the analysis was surprisingly accurate. However, from my experience of Indian culture, if you take a closer look at it, North Indian culture and South Indian culture are extremely different. Actually, the culture difference between the people of two different states in India can also be large. This brought on new questions about how the culture in other countries might be. Overall, the South Korean culture is very different from Indian culture according to the estimated values in the Hofstede 6D model. So, I would really need to go out of my way to fully understand and learn South Korean culture because it's not in line with what I've naturally adapted. This makes me more excited to learn about it. I do wonder if different regions in South Korean differ as greatly in culture as different regions in India do? How did these differences (if any) come about? Would this shape how I learn to absorb the Korean language and culture? These are some questions that I would like to find answers to.
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