One way to think of universalism is that it’s just another cultural characteristic; that, just as “specific” is different from “diffuse,” “universalist” is different from “particularist.” That’s all well and good. The problem is that universalism has some mischief hidden inside that can cause serious trouble if we’re not aware of it. Here’s what I [...]

A fourth dimension of culture used by Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner that impacts Westerners in China — especially Americans — is what they call “ascription” versus “achievement”: All societies give certain of their members higher status than others, signaling that unusual attention should be focused upon such people and their activities. While some societies accord status [...]

While we’re on the subject of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s seven dimensions (in earlier posts we’ve looked at specific/diffuse and universalism/particularism), let’s have a look at another of these dimensions that’s relevant to topics addressed in the blog: internal versus external “locus of control.” In the authors’ words: Societies which conduct business have developed two major [...]

Several weeks ago I introduced the notion of dimensions of culture, and took a look at the system of dimensions devised by Geert Hofstede. Others have devised other systems. One of the most famous of these is the “seven-dimension” system created by Fons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner. Today we’re taking a look at one of [...]

Dreams are, as I claimed near the end of last Friday’s post, alive and well in China. If we needed any more evidence that dreams hold appeal in China as they do in the U.S., we’ve got some. First, this piece from Time, about lawyer Xu Zhiyong, who was arrested under false-seeming pretenses, and has [...]

Shifting back to “collectivism” and “individualism,” we turn now to a Western interpreter of China from over a century ago: A.H. Smith, American missionary who spent decades in China, and whose 1896 tome Chinese Characteristics became a classic. In Chapter 13, “The absence of public spirit,” he wrote:

Today we turn to another great interpreter of China, anthropologist Fei Xiaotong. In his Classic From the Soil (乡土中国 Xiāngtǔ Zhōngguó), first published in Chinese in 1947, he writes of the “differential mode of association” in the Chinese cultural mindset. He contrasts this explicitly with a more Western, universalist mode, and ends up sketching the [...]

First things first: please read this piece by David Dayton. It’s a great read and extremely informative, plus it brings to life a number of themes addressed in this blog. Today, a bit more building on last week’s discussion of “individualism.” This time not my thoughts, but those of Lin Yutang, one of the most [...]

A few weeks ago I posted a series of pieces on Geert Hofstede’s five “dimensions” of culture. In my last three posts, the notions of universalism and particularism have come up. Today we’ll take a look at these two concepts in the context of the work of Dutchman Fons Trompenaars and his British colleague, Charles [...]

Yesterday and the day before we took a look at Chinese and American responses to scenarios about a fallen tree and a hypothetical rich person. Besides the lessons about the differences between abstract American moralism versus concrete Chinese practicality, there is, once again, also a lesson for us about oversimplifying.