SCLOA: Cultural Norms

Culture and Cultural Norms Matsumoto (2004) defined culture as being a “dynamic system” which contained “explicit and implicit” rules which groups establish to ensure survival – Also focuses on attitudes, values, behaviour Cultural norms are behaviour patterns that are typical and have been passed on by gatekeepers – Influence every level of life: both visibly and invisibly

Hoefstede (1973) Involved employees of the multinational company IBM to complete surveys about their workplace’s morale Carried out content analysis on the responses and highlighted key differences between the 40 most represented countries He called the trends “dimensions” He believes that understanding the dimensions would facilitate communication and is vital international business Criticised now for being out of date (Hofestede suggests that it is comparative (ETIC) and had strong correlations

Cultural Dimensions Power Distance: the acceptance of a hierarchy in which everyone has a place and needs no further justification Individualistic vs Collectivistic: living in a loosely-knit community where individuals take care of themselves and those closest to them or a tightly-knit community where they are looked after by a group (the society’s view on “we” or “I”) Masculine vs Feminine: if the society represents masculine traits (aggressiveness, competitive) or feminine traits (cooperative, caring) Uncertainty Avoidance: whether a society feels uncomfortable with uncertainty or ambiguity (a society high in uncertainty avoidance would try to control behaviour through rigid codes of belief)

Cultural Dimensions -2 were later added Long-Term Orientation: society’s measure of what is virtuous and what is truth. Short-term shows respect to tradition and pays less attention to saving for the future as they are after quick results. Long-term believe truth is relative and look to adapt tradition to modern times and pays more attention to saving for the future Indulgence vs Restraint: indulgence focuses on gratification of human drives (enjoying life) and restraint focuses on suppressing gratification and the need for strict social norms

Hoefstede (1973) Warns of ECOLOGICAL FALLACY: Shouldn’t assume that just because there are two members from two different cultures that they are different Shouldn’t assume that a single member of a culture will represent the dimensions which are the norm of that culture – Aims to avoid generalisation of cultures

Emic Approach –to researching humans Looks at behaviours as being culturally specific Based on grounded theory from which the theory comes after the material has been analysed It has the potential to uncover the unexpected

Koerner et al. (2013) – Emic Research Examined role of religious and spiritual beliefs of Latino caregivers (of Mexican descent) – Open-ended survey (58 caregivers; 52 were women and 48 cared for disabled adult sons/daughters) – Inductive thematic analysis was conducted with bilingual- bicultural coder to confirm 6 categories: Reference to a divine being or system Methods of practice Timing of practice Beliefs and spiritual perspective into caregiving How these beliefs help caregiving Reasons for believing – Clarifies the consistent benefit of Latino caregivers and interviews offered ideas on the positivity of religion and the incorporation of it into daily life

Etic Approach –to researching humans Focuses on being universal Uses theories and concepts as a starting point Uses theory and then conducts research to see if it applies to a new setting/population Allows for comparison across contexts/populations (enables development of concepts)

Becker et al. (2012) – Etic Research Examined construction of distinct identities in individualistic and collectivistic cultures – Hypothesised that distinct identities would be stronger in individualistic cultures Conducted meta-analysis of over 4000 Ps in 21 cultural groups across 18 countries Distinctive identities were not weaker – if anything were stronger – in collectivistic cultures However, individualism moderated the ways which these feelings were constructed (associated with difference and separateness) Further analysis showed that it is the beliefs and values of the individual’s context rather than the individual which accounts for these differences

Combining Etic and Emic Approaches Researchers come up with previous ideas and perspectives so it may be impossible to be purely emic A completely etic approach can blind oneself from prevailing information When combined, they have codes: – EMIC: data from Ps’ own words – ETIC: literature of past research