Posted on 09/12/2013 7:47:48 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A world traveler who speaks ten languages, British linguist Richard Lewis decided he was qualified to plot the world's cultures on a chart.
Many people think he nailed it, as his book "When Cultures Collide," now in its third edition, has sold more than one million copies since it was first published in 1996 and was called "an authoritative roadmap to navigating the world's economy," by the Wall Street Journal.
Lewis plots countries in relation to three categories:
Linear-actives—those who plan, schedule, organize, pursue action chains, do one thing at a time. Germans and Swiss are in this group.
Multi-actives—those lively, loquacious peoples who do many things at once, planning their priorities not according to a time schedule, but according to the relative thrill or importance that each appointment brings with it. Italians, Latin Americans and Arabs are members of this group.
Reactives—those cultures that prioritize courtesy and respect, listening quietly and calmly to their interlocutors and reacting carefully to the other side's proposals. Chinese, Japanese and Finns are in this group.
He says that this categorization of national norms does not change significantly over time:
The behavior of people of different cultures is not something willy-nilly. There exist clear trends, sequences and traditions. Reactions of Americans, Europeans, and Asians alike can be forecasted, usually justified and in the majority of cases managed. Even in countries where political and economic change is currently rapid or sweeping (Russia, China, Hungary, Poland, Korea, Malaysia, etc.) deeply rooted attitudes and beliefs will resist a sudden transformation of values when pressured by reformists, governments or multinational conglomerates.
Here's the chart that explains the world:
Some more details on the categories:
The point of all of this analysis is to understand how to interact with people from different cultures.....
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Dats Racis!
I really do not see anything that is different from my experience.
Linear-Active USA is screwed if it thinks bringing in 20+ million Multi-Active Hispanics is a cultural positive.
I don’t think African Americans fit very neatly on this diagram.
When I started readying your article, I was dismissive.
The more I read, the more I agree.
I think this is a very valuable article. Kudos to you, and to the author.
Did you see that were more German than Austria?
He’s missing North Korea.
The Muslims - Collectively, all of them. They are a bunch of 7th century tribal warriors riding camels, trying to get as much golf,ivory and rhino horns, and harems as possible.
Red China is dual-mode: Communist rulers running a capitalistic-pure/autocracy-by-power-and-slave-labor
The African (collectively again, as group of ?????, who are no better than the 16th century tribal warriors living in the stone age.
I have a hunch we have no clear, coherent idea what "culture" means. I suspect it may be this simple: it's what enabled us to function in groups larger than ten or fifteen people when we began to make the transition from hunting and foraging to planting and tending and harvesting. I suspect the "natural" human group is a family or somewhat extended family or band. As those small groups grow larger, they become more stressful, so we developed culture as a means of channeling and redirecting and alleviating stress. How well does that work when groups exceed dozens or hundreds and evolve into thousands or tens of thousands?
How genetic is culture? How does it evolve? How much of it is language-based? How can we measure and compare any of this stuff? Are we even sure hunters and foragers led more precarious, more poorly nourished lives than agriculturists?
When I was a kid, I assumed I'd have answers when I grew up. Now I've embarked upon my second childhood—a vast improvement upon the first, by the way—I can truthfully tell you questions reproduce far more rapidly than I could ever have imagined, and answers seem an endangered species.
Republicans are Linear Active. Democrats are Multi Active. We have opposing world views. Like we didn’t know that already.
We know the opposite is actually true. When comparing hunter/gatherer skeletons with the earliest farmers, agriculture was not an advance in health. Farmers died younger, and were shorter and less healthy. The big mystery is why, and why we kept doing it if it was not an improvement.
First impressions are important.
The triangle should be rotated 120 degrees clockwise, or rotated 180 degrees.
This would put the countries who contribute to the worlds wealth, and to the ability to make such a chart, at or near the top of the page.
I believe one (serious) theory is that an agricultural society could produce beer. People thought that was worth the trade-off.
In Norway there is no word for stoic, because everybody is stoic.
Finns make Norwegians look like extroverts by comparison.
DISC is a self test that says what traits you have for working. Basically washes out to your cultural upbringing and heritage. The findings are similar. IMHO.
For the beer.
We know the opposite is actually true. When comparing hunter/gatherer skeletons with the earliest farmers, agriculture was not an advance in health. Farmers died younger, and were shorter and less healthy. The big mystery is why, and why we kept doing it if it was not an improvement.
Aw, nuts! Thank you, Vince Ferrer! I didn't know that.
Why did we continue to pursue agriculture? Hmmm! I wonder whether it could have had something to do with slavery. That's just a wild guess, but...
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