Cultural Comparison Paper

The United States scored a 62 while Canada scored a 52 in this value, meaning that the United States masculinity is high compared to that of Canada. The United States score of 62 indicates that our society is “driven by competition, achievement and success with success being defined by the winner or best-in-the-field” (Hofstede, 2015). Canada’s score of 52 indicates that “the overall cultural tone is more subdued with respect to achievement, success and winning” (Hofstede, 2015).The United States strives to be the best with a “live to work attitude” while Canada shows balance between “work-life balance and are likely to take time to enjoy personal pursuits, family gatherings and life in general” (Hofstede,

Food is a very important in France. They don’t eat fast food as much as Americans. After meals they tend to talk and linger while Americans do that mostly before they finish eating. It is said that in France they eat like kings, lords, and then servants for dinner. While in America our bigger meals are often at dinner. Dessert is really common while in America for example, I rarely eat dessert more than once a week. French drink wine often, but not to get intoxicated. They normally drink it with their meals and the purchasing of alcohol age is 18. This is different from America where consumption and purchasing power is age 21. My perspective is France sounds like it has better

This dimension measures the rigidity or flexibility of a country in terms of how its organizations structure their management and subordinate relationships.

Bonjour, Prime Minister, cheese, wine and affairs; these single words all come together to give you a peek into the French way of life. There are many similarities and differences between America and France and the way that their societies have shaped the people who live there. From the way we live, to the morals when it comes to marriage and family. To go into greater detail, I will share with you some of the traditions, social customs and the roles of the French society.

Masculinity-femininity dimension describes the gap between the roles of men and women in the culture (Ball 100). Saudi Arabia is a masculine society meaning that both men are typically more assertive and competitive. Although there aren’t as many women working in Saudi Arabia, the women that do work are considered to be assertive and competitive, just like their male counterparts. An American would need to keep this in mind in regards to management because the culture expects management to be decisive and assertive (The Hofstede Center).

"Power distance" is among one of five cultural methods that were found by Hofstede. It’s the degree to which the less powerful group of people in an establishment and organizations agree to anticipate that power is distributed unequally. In other words, some cultures agree to receive a higher degree of unequally distributed power than what other peoples of other cultures. In America we are considered to be low power distance because society feels that they are entitled to a certain amount of power. In other countries they practice or have a higher power distance because people feel they are given little power or none due to people that have much higher positions. Some peoples from different culture’s that have a low power distance assume and

First, power distance is the first dimension in Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions. Power distance is the “extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.” (Hofstede, 2017). When comparing China and the United States, China had twice as high power distance score than the United States. The high-power distance score in China shows that it is acceptable to have inequalities in their society, and that the people accept and expect power is distributed unequally.

When comparing cultures, one must form a definition of what culture is. Culture can be easily defined as the social behavior and normality’s found in human societies. It can also be easily made up of a composed arrangement of educated conduct and thought designs. Culture is a sorted out framework since it includes many parts. Throughout the world, there are many cultures that are both very different and also very similar. "Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at table, how we greet visitors, how we behave and one million other things." (Cristina De Rossi.)

Power distance is the extent to which people of a culture accept and expect power inequality among themselves regarding the allocation of authority. France has a score of 68 on the power distance dimension while Russia has a score of 93 (Hofstede Insights, n.d.). In Russia, from a young age, children are taught to show respect and deference to their fathers. Ultimately, learning “to comply and follow the decisions and directives made by the father—the ultimate authority in the family” (Dorfman et al., 2012). France is also “a country of family empires with many paternalistic traditions” (R. Moran et a., 2014). As a result, both France and Russia can be characterized as high-power distance cultures. In both societies, it is expected for

The French customs and culture differs in many areas. One that really stood out for me is the difference of the education system. I have always heard people say that other countries have a higher education system than America. I have done a little research of my own to determine exactly what the differences are. One of the first things I came across was their view on college prior to graduation. French students are expected to know what area they will pursue prior to graduating high school. The options

collectivism. Individualistic cultures place the majority of their value on personal independence, while collectivistic cultures, according to Neuliep, “groups bind and mutually obligate individuals,” (Neuliep, 2015, p. 51). Individualist cultures tend to value the self-made man and value standing out from the crowd as an individual. Having the ability to make up there own mind is heavily valued and a key characteristic. Collectivists are oriented to believe that the group comes first and everything that is accomplished is done so for the good of the group. Typically family is a heavy influence in collectivist cultures. Direct confrontation is heavily avoided as well. The goal of collectivist cultures is to promote and achieve harmony throughout the

Masculinity (MAS) is represented in cultures that are centered around strength, ego, achievement, power and control as compared to a feminine culture that focuses on caring, nurturing and the quality of life.

As a result, it is obvious that Individualism and Collectivism has been a significant factors in human nature and the relationship in human beings. The construct of individualism and collectivism became popular in cross-cultural psychology (Smith & Bond, 1999). In order to distinguish culture difference between individualism and collectivism, Kagitcibasi (1980) has used “Behavior” as a factor to consider the differences between the two

Another example are the opposing values of equality and respect for authority which mirror the different degrees of power distance mentioned earlier. German subordinates would speak up if they can contribute expertise to a discussion. For the Chinese, this would be unthinkable since they highly respect their superiors.

In analyzing Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture we can better understand the cultural differences between the U.S. and Europe. (Hall, 2014) “The cultural dimensions represent independent preferences for one state of affairs over another that distinguish countries (rather than individuals) from each other.” (National Culture)