What are the cultural dimensions? (Part II)

This article will try to explain another cultural dimension to understand better the different social groups like the Latin American, German and Chinese ones. We mentioned in the previous article that a dimension is measured in degrees or points and that it gives us information only when comparing cultures. We also must always understand a cultural difference as only a "difference" and never as something negative. This is a very important factor understanding other cultures.

This time, we will talk about another dimension of the author Hofstede: the "individualism." It is characterized by the degree of preference that an individual has to work alone rather than in groups that where competition to achieve the goals dominates the goal of general welfare. There are countries who act more collectively, prioritizing collective and not personal welfare. 

The societies are collectivist or individualist and then devided into degrees. If we qualify a culture as individualistic or collectivist, we find that there are different levels in each. We could say that Germany is much more individualistic than India, for example.

Paula Figueiredo

PM Intercultural Agent

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