Gabbi Goes to Morocco

In America, we often times say that value our right to privacy. Indeed the U.S. Supreme Court has made landmark rulings arguing that we have a constitutional right to privacy . While human beings have an innate propensity to affiliate with other human beings, humans also cannot tolerate extended physical contact with others and do have a need for privacy. However, how much privacy one needs, varies significantly across cultures. The U.S. and Morocco are two countries that have drastically different views on privacy. First, in his book on communication, Dr. Neuliep lays out four different types of privacy: solitude or being away from observation of others; intimacy, being with another person but away from the outside world; anonymity, or the state of being unknown in a crows; and reserve, or unwanted intrusion. The type and degree or privacy desired depends largely on the type of behavior in which one engages, the culture, and the individual personality traits. Dr. Neuliep argues t...

Cultural dimensions or worldview tendencies describe the effect of society’s culture on the values of its members. There are six main cultural dimensions: individualism-collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity-femininity, long-term orientation, and indulgence (see image below) . Every culture has their own unique interactions of cultural dimensions. The values and norms of a culture both impact and are a product of cultural dimensions. In the United States, we tend to value individualism and personal self interests over collectivism. One of Hsu’s postulates of basic American values asserts: “an individual’s most important concern is self-interest, self-expression, self-improvement, self-gratification, and independence. This takes precedence over all group interests.” Furthermore, America, like many other individualistic cultures, is uncertainty-oriented, meaning that we will directly engage in activities that will seek information to resolve the uncerta...