November 1, 1998 - Which Culture Is It, Anyway? A culture is seldom neatly packaged into unified, consistent values but instead consists of a crazy quilt of contradictions, tensions, and ambivalences. This aspect of culture often creates problems of meaning for its members and frequently produces incongruent behavior patterns. Some examples are:
- The Contradictions of Capitalism
- Cultural conflicts emerge as the result of the success of capitalism. These conflicts are between the primary economic value of capitalism--efficiency—and the cultural values that the success of capitalism creates which focus on self gratification. Ironically, these values--which border on hedonism--have the potential to undermine efficiency and the work ethic required to endorse and support it.
- Conflicting Social Values
- A newspaper headline reads: "Japanese Are Torn Between Efficiency and Egalitarian Values" (New York Times, October 26, 1998). To meet deeply held values regarding equity for all citizens, the Japanese often spend money in inefficient ways, for example, by providing an entire modern schoolhouse to educate the only student in a community. Sending the student to a school in another town is rejected on grounds of inequity and bureaucratic regulations that don't permit it.
- Culture Conflicts in Everyday Life
- Korean meals include many side dishes served in small bowlsthat are dipped into with chopsticks multiple times by all at the table. Americans find this unsanitary and prefer separate bowls for each person. Yet, Koreans greet each other very formally with no physical contact while Americans great each other with handshakes, embraces, and kisses on the cheeks.Web Exercise
To explore the inconsistencies of modern culture, ponder the following questions:
Are there contradictory values in your culture? If yes, what are they? How do they affect people's behavior? What, if any, are some of the contradictory values expressed in your university? How do societies and organizations deal with contradictory values?
For example, concerning the second question, is there conflict over the use of computer technology for instruction at your university? Is there conflict over the value of a liberal education versus a career oriented education?To explore these questions from a cross-cultural perspective, a Web Site that provides a great deal of general information on cultures is The Web of Culture - http://www.webofculture.com
By using a search engine you can locate a wide variety of information from around the world. A particularly useful search engine is http://www.altavista.com. One of the interesting features of this site is that documents can be translated into or from major languages. Some key words to organize a search are: culture, cultural analysis, cultural contradictions, and social processes.
The following Web Sites contain general perspectives on these issues from the framework of sociology.
International Sociological Association - http://www.ucm.es/OTROS/isa/ The Homepage for the International Sociological Association includes links to journals with articles that may contain information on the values that compose cultures. SocioSite - http://www.pscw.uva.nl/sociosite/ This is a multi-purpose site that presents a Dutch perspective with a European and world wide horizon on sociological issues including culture.Specific issues that are likely to highlight the value and cultural contradictions in a society include the environmental or "Green" movement, affirmative action programs, labor unions, the role of gender in society, and debates over ethics in business. The following Web Sites contain information on some of these issues.
http://www.aflcio.org/ This is the Homepage of the AFL-CIO, a labor federation to which most U.S. labor unions belong. http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/wei This site discusses issues involving work and the environment. http://www.depaul.edu/ethics This is the Web site for the Institute for Business and Professional Ethics. http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OP/html/aa/aa08.html This page provides an extensive review and evaluation of the effectiveness of Federal Affirmative Action Employment programs in several government agencies where they have been implemented. It begins with a history of the programs, describes implementations in a number of government agencies, and provides recommendations.E-Mail Exercise
Some questions--undoubtedly you can think of many others--for discussion and speculation are:
What are the origins of cultural contradictions? Are contradictions and conflicts less likely to appear in some types of cultures rather than in others? Do organizations reflect the contradictions of the culture they are located in or reduce their impact through the creation of their own culture as well as other mechanisms?
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