Lecture 1 Introduction to intercultural communication

E - SOFTPROD - American company

• develops software for other companies

• employs offshore teams of engineers in two development centres located in Bangalore and
Mangalore (India)

Possible problems

A. outside the company – existing/potential clients

B. inside the company – headquarters - branches

• misunderstanding
• delay of work
• mistrust

What can the project manager do?

A. Potential clients: reassurance

• the company can successfully manage and monitor its remote teams
• the international team can meet deadlines as established to build trust

How?

• regular, formal communication with customers - daily/ weekly reports

B. within the company:

Communication
Face-to face communication (when the teams are forming)
• an India-based project manager —> to US (customer's location)
• an US-based project manager - to India (discussions with the staff)
• to establish rapport that bridges time and space
other forms of communication

Economic advantages
Additional efforts —» achieving successful intercultural communication

Intercultural communication -> the process of sending and receiving messages between people
with different cultural background

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People coming into contact with people from other culture

Reasons/ favourable conditions

 Fast means of transportation
 The internet
 The international labour force is more mobile
 Business people – active globally
 The workforce is becoming more diverse

Opportunities in a global market place

Managers/ business people

• new customers
• new resources
• new labour sources Employees -> new work opportunities

Multicultural workforce

Advantages of using diverse workforce:

• a broader range of ideas/viewpoints
• help companies to diverse markets
• enable companies to tap into a large pool of talent

The present business environment – very dynamic

Intercultural skills needed:

 mega cross-border mergers

 multinationals
 domestic companies faced with multicultural diversity
 companies that wish to grow export

Going global  implications

Strong companies

Before: USA – Europe – Japan

Now: including two other objectives

a. revitalization of Central and Eastern Europe

b. development of the Third World

Business people aware of a new aspect:

the developed world = today’s money

the developing countries = the seeds of growth for tomorrow

Many transnational companies  oriented both globally & locally

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Advertisements: “Local insight. Global outlook” (Hong Kong Bank)
“Think global! Act Local!” (Sandoz)

A new buzzword is gaining ground: glocal

"glocalisation"

 the need for standardization in organizational design, systems and procedures increases;
 pressure to adapt the organization to the local characteristics of the market, the legislation,
the fiscal regime, the socio-political system and the cultural system;
 corporate success depends on the balance of the two characteristics.

The next stage of going global requires high-level skills to manage DIVERSITY (inside and
outside the organization)

Contact between cultures – different attitudes

The Concorde Project

A more positive approach

to look for and find synergy effects in cultural diversity
Synergy = combined effect is more than the effect of the sum of the individual parts

Procter and Gamble: statement on diversity

Diversity:
 provides a broader, richer and more fertile environment for creative thinking and
innovation
 an asset
 attract and develop talent from a wide range of the world’s cultural base
 future leadership – from the pool of talent
 different perspectives brought to business
 encourages collaboration that brings different talents and experiences together  better
ideas; superior products/services

The fundamental belief:

Individual differences will produce true competitive advantage
- world culture
- corporate culture

Lecture 2 A. What is culture?

“culture”  Lat. “colere” (to grow)

Historical view permanent development of the concept.

In the philosophy of culture, there was a permanent preoccupation for

defining culture.

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Cicero: "cultura agrorum" referring to crops and everything they require, and "cultura animi"
meaning educational effort directed towards the refining of soul.

Hobbes: spiritual life

Rousseau: culture + education  the development of human character (to make it better; to
leave no room for evil).

The Enlightenment: two attitudes

a. supporters of simple, natural, unsophisticated habits who considered culture a source of
corruption

b. those who thought that culture could sublimate human passions

and instincts into positive values

Romanticism: enrichment of the meaning of culture; national culture whose constitutive nucleus
is folk culture.

Herder: the modern concept of culture: “a culture of the entire world, a culture of all spaces, all
times, all peoples”.

Hegel: culture = heritage to which all generations have contributed their principles, prejudices,
life experience.

Modern times: culture = a dynamic process with a view to educating people according to a
certain ideal.

20th century: a multitude of opinions on culture;

Alfred Kroeber & Clyde Kluckhohn:

300 definitions; 164 (from the European cultural environment) critically analysed.
6 groups of definitions: descriptive, historical, normative, functional, structural, definitions based
on heritage.

A new type can be added: communicational  referring mainly to the spreading and ”learning”
of culture.

Romanian contributions: Dimitrie Gusti, Constantin Rădulescu Motru, Simion Mehedinţi, Tudor
Vianu and others.

Edward B. Tylor: (19th century)  introduces the scientific concept of culture.

Culture = a complex and interrelated set of elements comprising knowledge, beliefs and
values, arts, law, manners and morals and all other kind of skills and habits
acquired by a human being as a member of a particular society.

From a methodological point of view:

a. the totality of material and spiritual values created by mankind

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 throughout its existence;
 the cumulative character of culture. Throughout history, culture collects and
maintains all the valuable results of human activity
 works that have got universal value.

b. the diversity of the cultural values recognised and used in a specific historical period of
time;
ancient culture; medieval culture; modern culture;
Culture integrates values corresponding to different historical periods of time.
(Contraction of historical time: Plato becomes contemporary with both Hegel and
Sartre;
Extension of historical time: elements of the ancient cultural life are hidden in our spiritual life
leading to cultural eternity.)
c. the values specific to a certain cultural and geographical area
(European culture, Romanian culture, etc.)
d. the totality of values belonging to a social system, at a certain moment of its historical
development;
(Romanian culture at the end of the 20th century)
 each social system includes a specifically structured system of values;
 each social system can be associated with a certain system of values;
 any social system is identified by its own system of values;
 the essence of any social system is its own cultural system.

e. all creative activities generating new values

(not only the values preserved in museums, libraries, etc. but also the creative potential of the community)

Culture  touches and alters every aspect of human life;

 embraces everything from food to dress, from household
to industry, from forms of politeness to mass media, from work pace to the
learning of familiar rules.

Knowledge about culture is achieved by a combination of factual knowledge and interpretative

understanding.

Planning a career in international business

 the ability to speak and understand the various interpretations of the language of a
foreign country
 verbal + non-verbal language;

Culture is learned through perception.

• different individuals - different perceptions

"Once upon a time there -was a great flood, and involved in the flood
were two creatures, a monkey and a fish. The monkey, being agile and
experienced, was lucky enough to scramble upon a tree and escape
the raging waters. As he looked down from his safe perch, he saw the
poor fish struggling against the swift current. With the very best of

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 intentions, he reached and lifted the fish from the water. The result
was inevitable." (Adams, 1969, pp. 22-4)

Lecture 2. Patterns of Culture

1. The "iceberg" model

Above the waterline: the visible area: clothing, houses, customs, manners etc.
Below the waterline: the invisible area: beliefs, values, norms, basic assumptions

2. The tree model

Branches and leaves: the visible area: clothing, houses, customs, manners etc.
The trunk: beliefs, values, norms
The roots: cultural roots: basic assumptions

3. The onion model

a. Hofstede (1991)  four levels  culture is like an onion
At the core of culture: values  "broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others"
 the ideas that people have about how things "ought to be"
 the most hidden layer of culture
 strongly influencing behaviour

above values: three observable layers/ outer layers

 Rituals (ways of greeting; ways of paying respect etc.)
 Heroes (admired persons who serve as examples of behaviour/ models of life)
 Symbols (words, colour, other artefacts that carry a special meaning)

Hofstede's pattern  an extension of the two-layer pattern

the outer layer has been extended (refined analysis of the visible results of
cultural values)

b. Trompenaars and Hampden – Turner (1997)

onion like model
their model expands the core level

 core level: basic assumptions (similar to "values" in Hofstede's model)

 values
 artefacts

difficulty: basic assumptions / artefacts

A model of culture (Source: Trompenaars, 1993:23)

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 c. Spencer – Oatey (2000)

 inner core of culture: basic assumptions + values

 attitudes, beliefs, conventions/ norms
 systems & institutions
 rituals & behaviours, artefacts & products

conventions, beliefs and attitudes  manifest themselves in systems and institutions

a mental level of culture
more practical
allows for distinctions (values/ their expression at a more precise yet non-implemented level

implementation: systems & institutions = products & artefacts

Values and norms

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Norms indicate what the group considers right and wrong.
Values refer rather to the ideals shared by the group, often based on the definition of good and
bad.
Norms  give us a feeling of “This is how I normally should behave”.
Values  “This is how I aspire or desire to behave”.

A culture is relatively stable when the norms reflect the values of the group.
If not  destabilising tension (Eastern Europe  the norms of communism failed to match the
values of society); disintegration = logical result.

Norms: culturally ingrained principles of correct and incorrect behaviours.

- do not cover all the areas of human behaviour
- culturally, it is not always clear how far a norm operates
- distinguishing between the boundaries of norms is sometimes very difficult
When human behaviour is involved  areas of indecisiveness, uncertainty and ambiguity

Rules  are formed to clarify ambiguous areas of norms.

Organisations
Institutions
Corporations
Families have their own rules while sharing the general norms of the culture they work in.

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Business organisations  advantages  enable them to organise the activity inside the company
according to those rules that may ensure maximum of efficiency.
However  to strike the necessary balance between the existing cultural norms and the
required coercive level of the rules inside the company.

Roles: behavioural expectations of a position within a culture: king, president, priest, father,
son, adviser, chief executive, husband, wife, prime minister etc.
Once someone has been given or has taken a certain position within a group of people, he or she
should develop that type of behaviour that is culturally associated with the expectations people have
of that role. If not, the society will sanction all those elements of behaviour that represent variations
of the behavioural pattern associated with the role.

The core: assumptions about existence

To explain cultural differences  to go back to the core of human existence The basic value
people strive for: survival

Lecture 3 Cultural Variability (I)

Adaptation to reality = a dynamic process depending fundamentally on our culture

Human behaviour depends on the assumptions we make on some elements that direct our action
Our basic cultural assumptions are related to the way we perceive:
 time
 space
 ourselves
 other people

These fundamental assumptions are reflected in:

 type of interaction
 our attitude towards action

myself
the others

The individual's relationship with the world

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 Florence Kluckhohn and Frederick Strodtbeck  human problems can be grouped into some
categories like:
human nature orientation (good or evil, neutral, mix of good and evil)
environment orientation (subjugation to nature, harmony with nature, action towards nature)
time orientation (past, present or future)
activity orientation (be, do, or become)
relational orientation (relationships between humans: linearity, collaterally or pure individuality)
space orientation (predominantly private, public or a mix of both)
Interpretation of reality  evaluation of the solutions to these problems
This evaluation relies on:
- a cognitive dimension (people think it works that way),
- an affective dimension (people like it that way)
- directive dimension (people will do it that way

Time-related cultural assumptions

Difficult to deal with time in a cross-cultural perspective:
 time assumptions are deeply rooted in human behaviour
 formally, people adopt a common model of time
People’s perception of time may depend on:
 prevailing philosophy of life
 how much they focus on natural and social pace of doing things
 technology available for measuring time

Time perceived by its social functions (enable people to organise their individual and group
activities)
Time-related cultural differences (Usunier, 2000:27-33)
Relevant aspects:
 economic meaning of time (the extent to which time should be regarded as a tangible commodity)
 monochronic versus polychronic use of time (possible combinations of time and tasks)
 linearity versus cyclicity of time (perception of lifetime as a single continuous line or as a
combination of multiple cyclical episodes)
 time orientation towards past, present and future.
Obvious contrasts across cultures with reference to time
Economic meaning of time  refers to the way in which cultures answer the question "Is time money?"
 time  a limited resource (in "time-is-money" cultures)
 time  plentiful and indefinitely available (in some Asian cultures).
Implications of time perception in business:

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 time = a scarce resource business people are concerned about allocating it optimally between
competing activities
Consequently, they are very strict with time schedules, appointments etc.

The way in which tasks are scheduled  (HALL, 1983)  two extreme behaviours of task scheduling:
monochronism and polychronism.
In monochronic-time cultures
 only one task is undertaken at any (preset) time, following a schedule
 "agenda societies"  people tend to adhere to present schedules

In polychronic-time cultures
- people do several tasks at the same time
- modify preset schedules very often
- seldom have the feeling that time was "wasted"
- often work after preset hours
- break their schedule, if they have one

Polychronic-time societies are not concerned about the PERT (programme evaluation and review
technique) method by which polychronic tasks are reduced to a monochronic solution (the critical path).

Linearity and cyclicity of time  source of cultural differences as related to attitude to time
These differences may originate in: religion, natural rhythms of years, seasons and days or social division of time
periods, which is more arbitrary.
Linearity as opposed to cyclicity reflects the basic distinction between Christianity and the Asian
religions including Hinduism and Buddhism.
Christian cultures
 people have only one worldly life
 the final Judgement Day gives the soul the chance to continue to live after death
 a linear perception of time
Cyclicity  on the death of the body the soul is born again in another body, until a pure soul is
allowed to escape the cycle and go to nirvana (attained by extinction of all desires and individual existence
which means absolute blessedness in Buddhism and absorption into Brahman in Hinduism).
For Christians  achievement  active, impatient  they think their soul is given only one
worldly life
People believing in cyclical reincarnation of the soul  more patient
Two perceptions:
"all the time I have got" and "one of my times across several lives"

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2. Other elements of cyclicity:
natural changes: years, seasons, movements of the Sun/ of the Moon
"modern societies"  associated with technology
"traditional societies"  nature-related
some arbitrary divisions: related to economic and social events  the Roman nundinae

Time orientation:
 past-oriented cultures
 present- oriented cultures
 future- oriented cultures
Cultural models of time:
the European-American (Anglo) model
 "linear- separable"
 three dimensions: past, present, future
 time can be sliced into units and allocated to specific tasks
 time can be saved, wasted or spent
the Latin-American model
 "circular-traditional"
 rooted in their traditional cultures
 action and everyday life organised by the natural cycles of the moon, sun and seasons.

Hall (1983:58)
"The Japanese are polychronic when looking and working inward, towards them. When dealing
with the outside world (...) they shift to the monochronic mode. (...) The French are monochronic
intellectually, but polychronic in behaviour".
Makimono model of time: Japan
Hayashi (1988:10): "in philosophical terms, we might say the past and the future exist
simultaneously in the present" or, "the present is a temporal period that links the region of the past with the
world of the future" (HAYASHI, 1988:18).

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 Past

Future

Makimono time pattern.

the European-American pattern of time/ the Japanese pattern of time

discontinuity/ continuity

Lecture 4 Space-related cultural assumptions

Space:
 physically (a country, a county, a district, a city)
 abstractly (a group of people based on common characteristics, such as education,
religion or professional associations)

As a cultural issue, space is related to some key aspects that occur at the level of a
community:
• whether people are insiders or outsiders
• rights and obligations for in-group members
• whether it is possible for outsiders to gain insider status, or a limited part of it
• membership conditions for those who want to enter a certain space.

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 Space-related cultural differences derive from some basic orientations:
a) personalisation versus depersonalisation
who a person is / what a person can do
the being orientation / the doing orientation
The being orientation
 emphasis on belonging (on characteristics shared by a certain group of people)
a certain family, a certain social class/group, ethnic background, religion or
nationality)
 other criteria: age, gender, marital status  individuals belong to other groups
and reveal other contrasts:
youngsters vs. older people (age);
male vs. female (gender);
married vs. unmarried (marital status)
 based on the assumption that who a person is influences (naturally, legitimately
and forcefully) their roles, power and capacities they have in the society.

"Personalisation"  who a person is (disregarding individual traits or qualities

such as personality)
The doing orientation
 based on the idea that who a person is does not naturally, nor legitimately, influence the
roles, power and capacities the individual has in the society
 Important  what people can achieve by using their abilities
"Depersonalisation"  it is not important to know who a person is, to decide what
this person can do.
(Belonging to certain space characteristics - class, age, religion, ethnic groups etc.
 rather unimportant as compared to purely individual, non-space-related characteristics.)

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 b) in-group versus out-group orientation

 The basic in-group unit  the family

 The largest in-group unit  the nation
Benefits related to nationality (the right to live, work and enjoy citizenship on a
definite territory) strongly space-related:

A strong in-group orientation focuses on family relationships

 structured on kin-based loyalties and obligations
The family space  private but not closed to outsiders, who may enter under certain
conditions

Out-group orientation  a fundamental unity of mankind (beyond the borders of the

in- group spaces, including families, nations and cultures)
The two orientations:
 not strongly opposed
 coexist in many cultures  combine a strong sense of national identity
(in-group) with a universal orientation (out-group) (commitment to peace,
development of the poorest nations, international organisations)

c) group membership

In-group orientation
ties  relationships of loyalty
 oriented towards defending the values of the group + maintaining a sense of the
honour of the group
 Loyalty  fundamentally non-reciprocal; based on kinship or patronage
Strong in-group orientation

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  increases an insider's loyalty
 decreases the feeling of obligation towards outsiders

Out-group orientation
 universal rules, applied to everybody
 Objectivity and reciprocity prevail over loyalty
 Loyalty to the impersonal values and rules that govern the society as a whole.
In-group/out-group orientation deep influence on the system of ethics and morality in a
particular society.
business people  to gain access to their partners' group.
Group membership assumptions  supply important information to:
 marketing negotiators
 foreign firms when faced with a competitive local environment
 management (to recruit and promote sales people)
 situations that involve business ethics

Group orientation different attitudes:

Example:
favouring one party over another
out-group-oriented people  an act of corruption
in-group- oriented people  a standard practice

If membership cannot be gained, an individual may have one of the following three
positions:

 "tolerated outsider" - considered different but useful for practical purposes. This status
allows comfortable relationships, favourable to developing business.

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 "recognised outsider" - a status closer to membership. Generally, such a person has been

living in the culture for a long period of time, speaks the language fluently and has
established strong relational network.
"Recognised outsiders" are often used as ambassadors, cultural translators or
mediators from the outside world of a foreign group to the in-group.

 "newly accepted insiders"

- those who succeed to cross the cultural group border
- have entered the group early enough (still educable person, able to change their
being deeply as in the case of foreigners, who arrived as young adults, completed
their education and married locally)
When doing and out-group orientations dominate ("modern culture")  abstract territoriality

 focus on professional achievements (supported by diplomas, membership of professional

bodies, being an alumnus of a famous university)

Business school graduates: (Grandes écoles in France, those holding the title of
"Doctor" in Germany) "modern groups" based on "doing" and competence rather than
"being", age, gender, group membership.
► Membership is gained on objective, non-discriminatory criteria

► to the benefit of the society to have the "best people" doing "the appropriate job"

Usunier (2000:39): "The world of academia (...) is very 'outgroupist' for gender,
nationality, religion or age, but it is very 'in-groupist' when it comes to doctoral degrees
and the journals where people publish".
Group membership assumptions  supply important information to:
 marketing negotiators
 foreign firms when faced with a competitive local environment
 management (to recruit and promote sales people)

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 situations that involve business ethics
Group orientation different attitudes:
Example:
favouring one party over another
 out-group-oriented people  an act of corruption
 in-group- oriented people  a standard practice

Lectures 5 Cultural dimensions

1) Individualism/ collectivism (Geert Hofstede)

Hofstede (1980, Culture's Consequences: international differences in work-related
values):
" Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are
loose: everyone is expected to look after himself and herself and his or her
immediate family. Collectivism, as its opposite, pertains to societies in which
people, from birth onwards, are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, which
throughout people's lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for
unquestioning loyalty."

USA Japan
Great China
Britain India
Australia Pakistan
France Taiwan
Venezuela

• individuals look after their own • ties between individuals are

interest strong
• large amount of freedom • everybody is supposed to look
after each other
• individuals observe the opinion

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 of the group

independence & individuality / importance of the group

individualism  “modern cultures”
collectivism  “traditional cultures”
Individualistic/collectivistic distinction more complex
In individualistic societies:
 people belong to groups
 live in communities
 like to feel they are integrated in a larger whole
In collectivistic societies:
 people feel the need to express their personal identity
 fight for individual success

the best solution  integration of individualism and collectivism

Implications in international business

- representation
- decision-making
- motivation
Representation
Collectivistic cultures:
 plural representation
 for important meeting and negotiations: groups to represent the interests of their
national subsidiaries
 difficult decisionsprefer to consult colleagues/superiors left at home

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Individualistic cultures:

 single representatives
 vote on behalf of the company

Decision-making
Collectivistic style:
 effort to achieve consensus
 detailed consultations
 collective goals  usually, consensus is achieved
 time-consuming
 implementation stage proceeds smoothly
 results = more stable

Individualistic style:
- individual opinion and voting
- time-saving
- many decisions are altered later on
- delays in implementation (problems that have not been thought of at the right time)

Motivation

Individualistic society: money reward

Collectivistic society: positive regard and support

2) Universalism and particularism

dilemma "rules versus relationships"  in business

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 Trompenaars (1993): some characteristics of the two attitudes developed from two
different cultural orientations.

Universalistic cultures promote rule-based behaviour

A rule-based society tends to:
 imply equality ("all persons falling under the rule should be treated in
the same way" Trompenaars, 1993:31)
 resist exceptions (once you start to make exceptions, the system will
collapse)
 application of rules  for both merits and mistakes
 the doing orientation prevails

Particularistic cultures favour the being attitude in job & power allocation, in the
process of moral reasoning
Particularists:
 favour and protect friends, people who mean something to them even when they
break rules or laws.
Trompenaars' research shows that "countries will be more or less universalistic
depending on what rules are involved" (Trompenaars, 1993:36)

a) when doing business with particularistic partners

 should allot twice the time normally necessary to come to a contractual agreement.

"It is important to create a sound rational and trustworthy basis that equates the quality
of the product with the quality of personal relationship" (Trompenaars, 1993:41)

 business talks the time taken to grow close to your partner = a guarantee for
avoiding trouble in the future

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b) subsidiaries in particularistic cultures
 will only pretend to comply with the universalism of the head-office (local,
particularistic standards are protected and followed as soon as the attention of the
head-office is diverted to other matters)

c) selection of people for promotion in subsidiaries placed in particularistic cultures tend

to follow "reverse causality"

 job description and evaluation  "choosing" the person reversed to

first: the person is chosen (informally and intuitively)  then: description and
evaluation are written to comply with the chosen person

A universalistic business person:

 focuses on rules and less on relationships
 very keen with drawing up legal contracts
 driven by the idea that "a deal is a deal"  relies only on the truth (or reality)
that has been agreed on
A particularistic business person:
 values relationships more than rules
 is inclined to modify legal contracts
 believes that there are several perspectives on reality (as seen by each
participant)

Interaction procedures
universalists have to do business with particularists

Useful tips:

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Universalistic partners will:
 come up with "rational", "professional" arguments
 fight for imposing uniform procedures
 appeal to a lawyer's advice (if anything is in doubt)
 insist on establishing formal ways of changing the way business is conducted
 inform publicly about any change that might occur
 tend to treat all similar cases in the same way
(a universalist's invitation to "get down to business" should be taken as a polite piece of
behaviour)

Particularistic partners will be inclined to:

 consider the personal implications of a proposal
 resort to "meandering" and "irrelevancies" whose routes are difficult to follow
 establish informal networks and create private understanding
 alter established patterns of activity in an informal way
 modify the system by changing relationships with you
 to seek fairness by treating all cases on their special merits
(A particularist’s attitude marked by the intention to "get to know you" is business-
directed; it is not a piece of small talk)

Lecture 6 UNIVERSAL SYSTEMS

Universal systems  common to all cultural groups

Important:
• their relationships within the global context of business;
• role of economic & political elements in intercult. business
communication
• educational system global work environment;
• social systems intercult. business communication

Universal systems:

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 • economic syst.
• political syst.
• education
• marriage and family syst.
• social hierarchies

Different cultures different ways

In intercultural communication
differences
equally important
similarities

A. Economic systems

to meet/satisfy the material needs of people

Definition:
• the way in which products are produced, distributed and
consumed

Different economic systems in the world today:

capitalism  USA, Japan etc.
socialism  China, Sweden etc.

Other elements that should be taken into account when an economic system is
described:
• public and private sectors
• distribution of goods  USA: based on the capacity to pay
Cuba: according to need
• the import/export system, etc.

Description of economic systems

Elements of description

 type of economic system

 position on the global market
 market principles
 GDP
 unemployment
 resources
 trade
 inflation (related to the change from industrially-oriented economy  service and
technology economy)
 technology

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 Great Britain

 one of the largest economies in Europe

 based on capitalism (however, many sectors - nationalised 1945 - 1980;
since the 1980's - some of the sectors have been privatised)
 still a major industrial power in the world
 GDP/capita: $ 42, 580
 unemployment rate: 3.9 % (to be developed)
 natural resources: coal, oil, natural gas, iron ore, salt
 exports: manufactured goods, crude oil, consumer goods (to be developed)
 currency: pound sterling
 inflation rate: 1.7 % in Sept. 2019 (to be interpreted; predictions)
 Technology: multi-purpose
UK technology fuels the most successful sectors including:
 digital
 healthcare
 transport
 entertainment
 financial services
 cyber security
 agriculture
 communications

Lecture 7 MARRIAGE AND FAMILY SYSTEMS

attitudes + beliefs + practices related to marriage & family held by people in a particular culture

a society's survival  procreation

Rules about children’s raising

Human infants depend on adults for their basic needs.

 how children will be brought up

 who is responsible for their care
 rules for marriage
 procedures for raising a family

The family concept  very strong in some parts of the world

(Japanese, Chinese, African, Arabic, Indian, Italian, Turkish cultures)

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In some cultures
 sharing the family wealth with outsiders
 protecting outsiders unknown concepts

In other cultures:
 work & family life  often combined
(business guests)
 invited to the host's home: America and some European countries
 not invited: Japan, Taiwan, some European countries (Germany)

"family"  different meaning throughout the world:

Types of family

a. family structure
Nuclear family: father, mother, children
Extended family: grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins

an Arab family  many generations of relatives

(may include more than one hundred close relatives
Mexico: godparents are considered family)

Family has a large meaning  immediate biological family  entire culture

 attention paid to children (inividualistic vs. Collectivistic cultures)

in some parts of Israel  children brought up and taught communally (each community member
takes part in raising and educating each child)

 family as group affiliation

Italy: family= the most important affiliation (also responsible for other people working
for the family)

necessary: affiliation with at least one prime interest group (a political party/trade union) to live and work

 Nepotism, favouritism: different attitudes

USA:  viewed negatively (the persons being hired under such circumstances are considered
unqualified or corrupt)

In other cultures: accepted

Multinationals: to adjust their views of family relationships

b. man –woman relationship

Type of family Description Culture

Polygamy one man with many wives Arabic countries (the Islam)
(the highest birth rate in the world)

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 Polyandry one woman with many husbands
(a means to reduce birth rate)
Monogamy one man – one wife
serial monogamy is practiced by
remarrying after divorce and after
the death of the spouse
was practiced by some
Polynesian nations
North and South America;
Europe; the Orient; parts of
Africa

c. authority in the family

(inheritance rights; the naming of children)

Type of Description Culture

family
Patriarchal  father-oriented Christian countries
Islamic countries
 the father's name is given to the children in the
family
Notes:
 Spanish women maintain their maiden name by
hyphenating it to their married name
 Many professional women in the US retain their
maiden name when they marry

Matriarchal  mother-oriented Jewish families

Notes:
Jewish families
Inheritance: on the mother’s line
the father's name used for children

Marriage and family customs:

USA
 dating: around the age of 13
 premarital sex is common  many couples choose to live together prior to or in place of
marriage
 the average age for marriage: men: 26; women: 24
 nuclear family: monogamous/ serial monogamous parents/single-parent families
 close relationship with members of the extended family
 traditional family: father, mother, one or more children
 one out of three children are born out of wedlock (outside marriage)
 some women are choosing not to marry the father of the baby
 half of all women work  affects decisions on family size
 many older members of extended families live in private or governmental institutions
rather with their immediate families (mobility of the family; changes in living conditions)

CANADA

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  similar to that in the USA
 dating; at the age of 16
 patriarchal society
 (frequently)both parents work outside the family
 divorce rate: low  predominantly monogamous society

FRANCE

 tends to have elitist attitude towards the family

 dating: 15 years old
 important in choosing a spouse: social class, wealth, educational level
 nuclear family (living together before or instead of marrying also common)
 average family: only one child; many families choose not to have children
 moving away from their extended families

GERMANY

 marriage : after the age of 20 (general belief that they must have some financial security
prior to marriage)
 living together before marriage is not unusual
 patriarchal (norm: one or two children)
 former East Germany; both parents work; West Germany; less common for both parents
to work

JAPAN
 in the past; many marriages were arranged
 dating begins around the age of 15
 average age for marriage is 27 for men and a little younger for women
 men think they must be financially secure before marriage and they assume financial
responsibility for the marriage
 in the past, it was consider improper for a woman to work outside the home; father was
the breadwinner and mother was responsible for the household
 nowadays; many women choose to have a career rather than a family.
 families: monogamous and small (fewer than three children)
 divorce rate: very low
 to have a male heir is important in Japan

SAUDI ARABIA

 marriages are arranged

 a minority of men and women are allowed to choose their spouse
 separation of men and women  no dating
 the Islamic law allows a man to have four wives with the wives' permission
 (most Saudi men have only one wife)
 many Saudi families live with extended families; strong patriarchal authority, but are
matriarchal in the home
 family = the most important part of a Saudi's life

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 women and men are separated in most aspects of life
 women do not socialize in public with men; when in public, they are always accompanied
by a male relative.

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