Chapter 2: Intercultural Dimensions
2. What are Cultural Dimensions?
Cultural dimensions...
...are classifications according to which you can structure and study the worldwide different value systems,
...are helpful tools to understand your own behavior and that of others around you,
...enable you to look at issues from other perspectives and to try new ways of thinking.
...are helpful tools to understand your own behavior and that of others around you,
...enable you to look at issues from other perspectives and to try new ways of thinking.
The focus of this text is to describe some fundamentally different values, which according to cultural anthropologists differentiate cultures from one another. They have tried to classify cultural differences and have tried to explain how intercultural exchange can lead to misunderstandings. It is assumed that individuals, particularly in conflict situations, act according to their individual cultural background and inner set of values.
Knowledge of these different values and role expectations can help to prevent the formation of unreflected "prejudices" in encounters with foreign people. Only if we know how and especially why people react and communicate in this or any other specific way, it will be possible to understand the situation in a holistic way and react to it in an appropriate way.
If one wants to work with cultural dimensions, it is important to note that this is less about the actual behavior of individuals than about positively or negatively sanctioned social values. These usually change much more slowly than real behavior, which can be adapted relatively quickly to current circumstances. Particularly in conflict situations, people tend to behave in accordance with their respective cultural imprint and internalized values.
In fact, cultural values change over time. In view of the mixing of cultures in the urban centers of the Western world, cultural imprints are becoming increasingly blurred. Also, each person is always a mesh of very different cultural affiliations. It is therefore important to keep in mind that these are only constructs which, even if they have a kernel of truth, can only ever express a tendency and never represent reality.
As the studies of Hofstede, Trompenaars and the Globe Study had been carried out already several years ago and
cultures have changed rapidly in recent years, it is not important to force predetermined opinions on specific cultures. The country-specific results have been widely disputed and will not be debated here any further.
But to a certain extent, the dimensions can be useful to explain your own behavior or interpret the behavior of others. Cultural dimensions are a tool to create awareness of possible differences in the value scales, being aware of one's own values and biases. There never is one right answer to a problem. There are always multiple ways to perceive facts, which are all intrinsically logical and correct.
(Major source of information: Berninghausen and Hecht-EL Minshawi, 2009)