Chapter 2 & 4

National Differences
in Culture
 Culture

Culture refers to a system of values and

norms that are shared among a group of
people and that when taken together
constitute a design for living.
 Values and Norms

• Values provide the context within which a

society’s norms are established and
justified.
– Values are not just a abstract concepts; they are
invested with considerable emotional
significance.

• Norms are the social rules that govern

people’s action toward one another.
– Folkways
– Mores
Determinants of Culture
 Political System
Democracy refers to a political system in which
government is by the people, exercised either directly or
through elected representatives

Totalitarianism is a form of government in which one

person or political party exercises absolute control over
all spheres of human life and prohibits opposing political
parties
– Communist totalitarianism
– Theocratic totalitarianism
– Tribal totalitarianism
– Right-wing totalitarianism
 Economic System
There are three types of economic systems

1.Market economies:
– All productive activities are privately owned
– Production is determined by the interaction of supply and demand
– Government encourages free and fair competition between private
producers

2. Command economies:
– Businesses are state-owned
– Government plans the goods and services that a country produces, its
quantity and price
– Governments allocate resources for “the good of society”
 Economic System

3. Mixed economies:
Certain sectors of the economy are left to private ownership
– free market mechanisms

Other sectors have significant state ownership and

government planning
– governments tend to own firms that are considered important to
national security
 Legal System
The legal system of a country refers to the rules that regulate behavior
along with the processes by which the laws are enforced and through

which redress for grievances is obtained

There are three types of legal systems

1. Common law: based on tradition, precedent, and custom

2. Civic law: based on detailed set of laws organized into codes

3. Theocratic law: law is based on religious teachings

 Protection of
Intellectual Property
Can be protected using
1. Patents
2. Copyrights
3. Trademarks

To avoid piracy, firms can

– stay away from countries where intellectual property laws are
lax
– file lawsuits
– lobby governments for international property rights
agreements and enforcement
 Social Structure

Social structure refers to a society’s

basic social organization.

• Consider
1. the degree to which the basic unit of social
organization is the individual, as opposed to the
group

2. the degree to which a society is stratified into

classes or castes
 Social Structure
(1. Individual or Group)

Individuals are involved in families, work groups, social

groups, recreational groups, etc.
• In Western societies, there is a focus on the individual as the basic
building block.

Group is an association of two or more people who have a

shared sense of identity and who interact with each other in
structured ways on the basis of a common set of expectations
about each other’s behavior.
• In many Asian societies, (Especially in Japan) the group is the primary
unit of social organization .
 Social Structure
(2. Social Stratification)

Social mobility - the extent to which

individuals can move out of the strata into
which they are born
• Caste system
• Class system
 Hofstede’s Dimensions
of National Culture
Geert Hofstede identified five dimensions of culture

1. Power distance - how a society deals with the fact that

people are unequal in physical and intellectual capabilities

2. Uncertainty avoidance - the extent to which

different cultures socialize their members into accepting
ambiguous situations and tolerating uncertainty

3. Individualism versus collectivism - the

relationship between the individual and his fellows

3-13
 Hofstede’s Dimensions
of National Culture (Cont’d)

4. Masculinity versus femininity -the

relationship between gender and work roles.

5. Long-term vs. short-term orientation –

the extent to which citizens can accept delayed
gratification of their marital, social and emotional
needs.