GLOBALIZATION AND CULTURAL HYBRIDIZATION

As the time has change, the independence of the countries lead to the globalization known as the minimization of the economic barriers between the states, and with this the entry of new products, people and with it new cultures, traditions, ideas and entry of new companies and with it international competition and customers. Is important to have in mind that the globalization will not only lead to positive effects but also it may affect the country and the cultures in a negative way. For example, the entry of new strong international companies may affect significantly the national ones and even more the “beginners”, making them lose a lot of money and customers and harming in that way the profitability of the company and therefore the employees (they may be fired). The positive effects of a globalization can also lead to more possibilities of job, and the development of new areas, that helps to the prosperity and benefits the citizens, giving them an extended number of options in means of life styles, technology, food, clothes, medicine, machines, and so on. The entry of new technologies can make the countries more independent and auto-sufficient, emphasizing the individualism, facilitating processes and procedures, searching’s, domestic activities, etc. and that way saving and optimizing their time.  When talking in means of culture, it can be affected or influence in a positive or negative situation, globalization may lead to immigration of citizens, which means also the entry of a new culture that may try to be impose or adapt their traditions and behaviors, creating in that way a new blended culture or even destroying existing ones; In the other hand it can mean the acquisition of new ideas, behaviors or ways of thinking that may help the existing cultures to grow and improve, or to develop new subcultures.

In my research question for this class I will like to go deeper in the explaining of the cultural hybridization. The cultural hybridization can be seen as a process in which the cultures all around the world cling to the characteristics and strong aspects and traditions of their culture, while adapting to a degree of “homogenized global culture”. So it will lead to a mixing of two different behaviors or traditions or even language, known as a hybrid.  For example, due to the non-stop immigration from Mexico to USA, the Mexicans and even the Americans start to adopt the two kinds of culture and also languages, mixing the English and the Spanish based on the situation, and trying to adapt to the new environment without forgetting their native culture. Another big example of the cultural hybridization can be seen in Colombia with the culture best known as “otakus” in other words, Colombians that are in love with the Japanese culture and the Anime (Japanese cartoons), they will adapt some Japanese behaviors in their everyday, also mixing the languages when speaking Spanish, using commonly Japanese words as “kawaii”, “arigatou”, “konnichiwa”, “sayonara” and so on.

(HowStuffWorks, Reference: http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-is-cultural-hybridization )

THE DPI AND IT INFLUENCE IN THE UAI.

The most important topics for this class are the distance power (high and low PDI), and the uncertainty avoidance (high and low UAI), because these two factors are determinant in the behavior or customs of a culture. When talking about the power distance there is the existent of two societies the ones identified with the high level and the ones with the low one.  The PDI consider that there is an inequality between countries, however some countries can be more unequal than other, and These differentiations are related to the occupations, education, incomes and in some places the genders. These differentiations are related to the occupations (economy and social classes), education, and incomes and in some countries the genders. When talking about a low PDI country, the freedom has a priority instead of equality (even so they are looking for the minimization of the inequality), which can be explain by the leadership of young people, and their need to be independent. There is not distinction of social and economic classes; one example for this kind of culture is Switzerland, referring specially to the German speakers with a percentage of 34, because they have the believe that inequality among the people should be minimized, highlighting the existent of independence and equal rights, so in a firma all the employees expect to be consulted; and the attitude towards the managers is given in an informal way, calling them for their first name. Finally, due to the decentralization of the power, the control is disliked by the citizens. So it’s normal to say that a teacher will gain the same amount of money than a constructor.  For another part, there is the high PDI, where there is not too much freedom, and the equality is controlled, so the low and high social and economic classes are protected and differentiated. The leaders are older, and the possibility of independence is limited.  One example for this kind of culture is Japan with a percentage of 54, because of their hierarchical position in the society, in means of businesses, all the decisions taken  must be confirmed by each hierarchical layer and finally by the top management in Tokyo, So the employees expect to be told, but without power of decision.  Also the big distinction can be seen when referring to a teacher or professor, the position and reputation of them goes above everyone, being almost in the same level of the emperor.

In means of uncertainty avoidance, it is consider as the uncertainty or ambiguously a society has about the future and how to control it, or avoid in some way the bad situations that may come. This aspect is highly correlated to PDI in some countries and also with age. As a very explicit example of a low UAI, there is Singapore in which their UAI is correlated to their PDI catalogued as 74%, Singaporeans call their society a fine country, because as they say “You’ll get a fine for everything”, so they have to abide to many rules, in order to avoid problems.  Therefore there is no stress or anxiety, because everything is already controlled, and with it their emotions, but giving them a sensation of happiness and peace. In means of a high UAI, there is the example or Greece with a percentage of 100, meaning that they are not comfortable with unknown situations, generating a higher level of stress and anxiety, making them feels in some way unhappy. The high UAI can be explain or related in some way with the Greek myth about the “birth” or creation of the world that says “at the very beginning there was only Chaos but then Cronos the God of the time came, in order to organize the life and make it easier to manage”. Laws and norms are determinant in order to have a clarify structure, and therefore should not be broken. To conclude the correlation between the level of DPI and UAI can give a wide and easiest explanation of the organization and behavior of a country.

About the research question, I will like to go deeper into the finding realized by Hofstede and Michael Harris, known as Confucianism or Confucian dynamism, applied to 23 countries around the world, and which is seemly link with economic growth, and based on the teachings of Confucius, a famous Chinese philosopher. The teachings are in first place that the stability of a society is based on the unequal relationships; in second place that the family is determined as the “prototype” of all social organizations; in the third place that a virtuous behavior toward others consists on the well-known expression “treat others as one would like to be treated oneself”. And the fourth and last one, that by acquiring skills and education, by working hard, by not spending more than necessary, and by being patient and persevering, is the way a person can achieve with virtue the daily tasks of the life.

References:

http://geert-hofstede.com/switzerland.html

http://geert-hofstede.com/japan.html

http://geert-hofstede.com/singapore.html

http://geert-hofstede.com/greece.html
http://home.sandiego.edu/~dimon/CulturalFrameworks.pdf (research question) 

HAPTIC AND SILENCE, CRUCIAL ASPECTS TO HAVE IN MIND WHEN INTERACTING WITH OTHERS.

When getting to communicate with others, there are two aspects that will always, or most of the times take place in the negotiation, dialogue or interaction; and assuming it in the wrong way will lead to conflict or uncomfortable situations. Based on this, I decided that “The silence” and “The haptic” are the most important topics of the class.  As we know the haptics can be mostly related to the behavior of the person that comes from the culture in which he or she grew up; the necessity to touch someone increase or decrease depending on the culture or the confidence between the people, but there is a common error that appear in the barriers to communication and it is assuming similarities, you cannot treat people from a different or a same culture, the way you treat your relatives or friends.  The haptics can mean many things as we said in class, affection, confident, need for attention, attachment, but also sexual content; I will like to highlight an example based on the Tv show “Outsourced: Touch of an Anglo” that talk about an internationalized firma located in India with a American boss (Todd)that do not know anything about this culture, for him touching the others was a pretty normal and friendly action, but he didn’t realize that in India, touching the shoulder has a sexual content and can be very offensive, his bigger problem was assuming the similarity with the American culture, and due to this situation he was almost fired.  

As the professor Peter Andersen says "A person who touches a lot says, 'I'm a friendly, intimate person.' More touch-oriented doctors, teachers, and managers get higher ratings."

(Rick Chillot, march 11, 2013. www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201302/the-power-touch)

I do agree that touching can help improve a relation, and also give a nicer or warmer perception or image of the person, but, is important always to have in mind the concept of proxemics, that is known as the personal space, and that is also related to the culture.

In the other hand the silence can play a big role when interacting with others, as this action can have lots of meanings.  “Silence grants the point or Silence implies or gives consent”, when someone prefer or decide not to say something, the other can get into many conclusions, maybe this person agree or disagree about my idea, or maybe is confuse, or  embarrass, or it’s just a way to show me respect; that may  end with a feeling of insecurity in the “Receptor”. But how a person can deal or handle the silence? This is a complex question, due to all the implicit possibilities that it implies; the best way will be to stop assuming things, or trying to wonder or figure out what the other wanted to say by the “silence”, and this is due to the tendency of assuming negative messages, which can lead to misunderstandings, because “Discomfort lies in uncertainty”. If you don’t know what the other mean by keeping the silence, just ask what they want to transmit by doing it. 

 (Peter Bregman, January 19, 2010. http://blogs.hbr.org/2010/01/how-to-handle-silence-the-wors/)

For my research question I found really interesting the development model of intercultural sensitivity that is related to ethnocentrism, the other reason is that I was a little confuse about this topic because of the quality of the slide and the short time it was due. So I will like to go deeper in the study of this model, that is used in an international way to help training intercultural relations and that way, facilitate the assess to an intercultural competence; to start it was created by Dr. Milton Bennett (1986 - 1993), which is the founder of the ICI, known as the Intercultural Communication Institute, and also of the IDRI, also known as the Intercultural Development Research Institute, that help to the deep and extended research of the intercultural development, and therefore facilitate the  intercultural adaptation.

(Head&Hands, http://www.idrinstitute.org/page.asp?menu1=2&menu2=3)

He created this model with the purpose to explain the way the people react or respond to the differences that each culture possesses. When the relation or interaction increases, then this “relationship” will make this difference of culture complex. The three first stages will be related to the ethnocentrism, leading to the stages of “Denial, the avoidance of other cultures, because they are seen as different or abnormal”, “Defense, the tendency to critic in a highly way the people from other cultures, creating a status where there is a superior culture and therefore an inferior one.” and “Minimization, the trivialization of the culture, which look for the correction or adjustment of  the others behaviors to look for similarities and that way to reach their ideals”. The second three stages will be related to the ethnorelative, and with this stages comes the “Acceptance, the necessity of understanding the differences in a culture, due to the increase of interaction with others”, the “Adaptation, the interaction with a different culture, will help improve or even change in some way the perception and/ or behavior of the existing one to adapt easily “ and finally the “Integration,  the total inclusion into the new culture, caused by a feeling of union and equality”. 

(AFS-USA, Inc. http://www.afsusa.org/schools/global-classroom/spring-2011/intercultural-sensitivity/)