Understanding Cultural Dimensions

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 uncertainty. Because we, as Americans, value self-interest and self-expression we have a higher cultural dimension of indulgence. Americans often times will value self indulgence so long as it is part of their own self-interests because they do not often worry about the group as a whole.

In addition, Hsu argues that Americans value the idea that “Men and women are equal [and] all human beings are equal” (see image below). This directly relates to the idea that Americans tend to have a smaller power distance and ultimately believe inequalities should be minimized. Arguably, this push for equality in America has been going on for hundreds of years and continues to be something we push for today. As our society began to evolve, there was a much bigger push for equality and basic rights for minorities including African Americans, women, and LGBTQ people.

In contrast, Morocco tends to be much more of a collectivist society. When Hsu contrasts American values to Chinese values, another collectivist society, they tend to value filial piety, courtesy, and loyalty to superiors (see image below). Morocco has a much larger power distance than the United States because there is not only a hierarchy within in society, but especially within families where the father is expected to have more power. This hierarchy within the family was especially prevalent when we read A Dream of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi, where is was the father and men within the family that had the majority of the power and freedom. Morocco, like many collectivist cultures, is much more certainty-oriented, meaning that they believe the group provides a clear standard for norms and behavior. Moroccans have a lower cultural dimension of indulgence because their values gear more toward the well being of the group as a whole and not the individual.

Understanding cultural dimensions will help us understand how different cultures operate and what such cultures value. These differences are important to understand not only to learn more about other cultures, but especially when traveling in order to follow the cultural expectations while in Morocco.