Geert Hofstede Cultural Perspective Theory

Is the level of interdependence a society maintains among its people (Hofstede). This is about a society in which everyone looks out for him or herself while collectivism the opposite of individualism is a society that embraces people being integrated into a strong cohesive in-groups including extended families. Germany is an individualistic society with a high score of 67 on the cultural scale. People expresses themselves based on personal achievements and individual rights. Likewise, the United State is also considered to be an individualistic scoring a high 91 on the culture scale. This is evident in the society by the saying “American dream” which encourages individuals to work hard and be whatever they chose to be in life. Countries like

This excerpt enhances my knowledge on the varying cultural dimension of individualism and collectivism that are found in high context societies and low context societies.

Culture is defined by a construction of one's world-view, and it is transmitted by individuals and collectives through socialization and enculturation (Pederson & Ivey, 13). It contains values, beliefs, language, and perception. In studying cultural differences among members of distinct national, ethnic groups researcher have examined the concept of collectivism and individualism. People form individualistic cultures tend to view themselves as unique entities and independent form one another (Coon & Kemmelmeier, 348)

These types are known as egoistic (too little social integration), altruistic (too much integration), anomic (too little moral regulations) and lastly, fatalistic (too much moral regulations). Egoistic suicide is the most common form in modern societies and is defined as the type of suicide as those individuals who are not bound to other social groups such as religion, who share values, norms and goals. An example Durkheim found was that of unmarried males with less to connect them to social groups - this is typical of European and North American societies. This means that suicide rates are undoubtedly different across cultures, for example, in Item A, it is suggested that there is more chance of suicides in Denmark than in England, if coroners base their verdicts of cause of death on the probability of suicide. In contrast, altruistic suicide occurs at the opposite end of the integration scale of egoistic suicide. The most common cases of altruistic suicide occurred amonf the members of the military, for example, kamikaze fighter pilots and suicide bombers. Anomic suicide, according to Durkheim, was when people were naturally selfish and will only look after their own interests unless society restricts them. This is mainly linked to suicide rates to periods of social change. Lastly, is the fatalistic type of suicide where an individual believes

Looking at the chart the first dimension of culture plotted is individualism-collectivism. This dimension addresses how people define themselves and their relationships with others. Cultures that fall on the individualism side of the continuum share four characteristics. First, such cultures consider the individual to be the most important entity in any social setting. Second, individualistic cultures stress independence rather than dependence. Third, individualistic cultures reward individual achievement. The last characteristic is; individualistic cultures value each individual’s uniqueness.

Chapter 7 speaks about research that has focused on suicide. It mentions that suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States and that adults white males are more likely to commit suicide. Gender suicide was another topic covered in the chapter and how men are more likely to commit suicide compared to women. China is the only exception to this subject because they the women consist of 56% of all female suicides globally (Kastenbaum, 2012). It also spoke how younger people from ages 18-24 are more likely than older people to attempt suicide, however, adults are more likely to complete the act. Chapter 7 also spoke about suicide among different ethnicities and background. Myths related to suicide were also covered in the chapter.

In the study, Mann concluded that the changing suicide rates are based upon cultural differences in how people deal with their problems. This means that the US and Europe will report higher numbers because of the standard of living and common social customs / practices which are embraced. At the same time, he found that it is often under reported in many developing nations (such as: China, India, the Middle East

n For the very purpose of clarity, I had liked to define culture according to (Bauer & Erdogan, 2009) “as the values, beliefs, and customs that exist in a society.” (p. 39). On the other hand, individualistic culture refers to a “Cultures in which people define themselves as individuals and form looser ties with their groups.” (p. 40). In other words, someone who is individualistic tends to focus attention on what he can achieve without the influence or assistance of any group or friends. Doing things independently characterizes the behavior of an individualistic culture.

This information can be used in contemporary society to understand whether population density and social integration can affect suicide rates. For instance studies in the US (Barkan, Rocque and Houle, 2013, p.288) found higher suicide rates in western areas of the country with low population density, which can be attributed to variations in religious and familial integration. A lower rate of social integration between groups in society serves to weaken bonds and ties usually formed during interaction; the absence of these forces makes it difficult for people to function in modern society, accounting for peaks in the suicide rate. This can therefore be used by sociologists to explain why rates of suicide vary across different areas in the same

For this research project, I aim to better understand attitudes on suicide in the United States and Japan among youth (approx. 15-24 years). I hope to find an answer to the question of, how understanding the similarities and differences between both American and Japanese youth suicide can lead to a better understanding of how to combat this issue as a whole. Learning from both the successes and failures of each country’s history with suicide will also prove vital in understanding the environmental factors that may contribute to such a large number of suicides within this age group. With 5,079 young adults taking their lives each year in the United States (CDC, 2015) and 1,931 in Japan (WHO, 2009), it is clear that action must be taken to help curb the amounts of suicide, a daunting but necessary task. Although my ‘goal’ is to help in the effort to curb the amount of suicides each year, I realize that the scope of this project is limiting in that to try to achieve this would be far reaching. Therefore, with the goal of understanding the similarities and differences between both countries, at the very least, I can increase the understanding and awareness of this issue.

Individualism is an idea or norm that one opt to live as they feel like and the life belongs to that individual, thus lives as he/she sees fit, at on own judgment and his/her efforts and pursue values and beliefs of his own choice. “It’s the idea that the individual is sovereign, an end in himself, and the fundamental unit of moral concern,” (The Objective Standard, 2016). Collectivism on other side is the idea that an individual’s life belongs to a group or community instead of their own. Thus, an individual has no rights of their own except for what is defined by the group as the norm. This leads to sacrifices of one owns values and goals for the group is greater good. Collectivism is mainly used in my country where I come from, hence we have saying that it takes the entire village to raise a child. This simply means that particular group henceforth makes hat we work as group of our association and decisions. “From the day of his birth until the day of his death society allows him to enjoy certain so-called rights and deprives him of others; not . . . because society desires especially to favour or oppress the individual, but because its own preservation, welfare, and happiness are the prime considerations,” (The Objective Standard, 2016). My culture involves collectiveness where as I have peers from all over the world hence, it is easy to observe

Detachment from society results in detachment from life because society gives meaning to life. In a society with high integration, high value is given to human existence resulting in low suicide rates. In a society with low integration, low value is given to human existence resulting in high suicide rates. Durkheim contended that the reasons why people kill themselves by their own hand or invite it at the hands of others is far from being a random matter. For each social group there is a specific tendency to suicide that depends upon social causes and these differ depending on the type. The key to each type is a social factor, with the degrees of integration and regulation into society being either too high or too low. In terms of regulation, where there is too little anomic suicide occurs and where there is too much fatalistic suicide occurs. In terms of integration, where there is too little egoistic suicide occurs and where there is too much altruistic suicide occurs. He used data to discover these patterns but the patterns themselves are not the cause of the phenomenon. Rather the cause is social and the observed, empirical patterns constitute a means of finding underlying causes.

To explain the differences between societies that arise within social populations, Durkheim uses the incidence of suicide (Johnson, 1965). The independent social conditions of social integration

Individualistic cultures tend to favor feeling free and less responsible for the members around them. In class, we discussed our own experiences of living in an individualistic culture. For example, if a parent were to become ill and more dependent, it is not uncommon for the children to send the parent to a nursing home. The ill parent would feel embarrassed if their child had to help them use a restroom or bathe themselves.Whereas, in a collectivism

This essay will discuss the influence of cultural dimensions on behavior. A cultural dimension is defined as a perspective of a culture based on its values and cultural norms. In particular, Hofstede’s cultural dimension of individualism vs. collectivism will be discussed. Individualism vs collectivism is defined as the preference of a person only being concerned about oneself and looking after oneself, compared to a person who wants to remain in a closely knitted network. These are some terms with definitions which will be used in this essay: the Asch paradigm, which refers to the studies conducted by Solomon Asch, in which he showed his participants different lines and asked them to verbally judge and respond as to what the length of the