The values and norms of traditional societies versus modern ones are vastly different.
As we’ve previously discussed, while it’s unlikely that a business will ever directly negotiate a contract or deal with a remote population, the knowledge that these fundamentally different values and norms exist is important.
Because if there’s one thing I want you to take away from this blog, it’s this: there’s no “correct” or “superior” way of living; there are only different ways.
Just like your own values and norms, others’ serve a purpose. They may serve either a deep ideological purpose or a more practical one, but purpose is there.
Consider the Purpose
As mentioned in a past post, the Western culture’s idea of family structures is evolving; the modern patchwork family is becoming a norm.
Renowned anthropologist, Marvin Harris, wrote:
“In view of the frequent occurrence of modern domestic groups that do not consist of, or contain, an exclusive pair-bonded father and mother, I cannot see why anyone should insist that our ancestors were reared in monogamous nuclear families and that pair-bonding is more natural than other arrangements.”
Opening up our generalized concept of “normal” family structures can help us more thoroughly understand other cultures.
Consider the purpose that creates the values and norms surrounding these structures and what this purpose might indicate about the broader culture.
Two-Generational vs. Extended
Anthropologists identify differences between two-generation families and extended-generation families.
In the West, when politicians spout slogans in defense of “family values,” the family in question is one of two generations.
That is the nuclear family – the mother and father and their children – as well as divorced families, patchwork families, one-parent families, and unmarried parents. Despite the latter’s complexity, they’re also two-generation families.
However, in other cultures, values and norms centered around extended families – or those of at least three generations – are more common.
Extended families include grandparents on both sides, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and any other kin of the husband and wife.
This valuation of extended families is more prevalent in the world than the Western concept of two-generational families.
Societies that value extended families are typically built on collectivist values, while those that value two-generational families are built on individualist values.
Extended family societies ensure broader social cohesion, communities that are interconnected in order to ensure survival, and the value of personally caring for the aging population.
We’ll talk more about the link between how societies define “family” and the cultural values that determine that definition later in this blog.
But for now, know that more often than not:
- Two-generational societies = individualism
- Multi-generational societies = collectivism
As you move forward in reading the blog over the next few weeks, consider what purpose your own values and norms serve. Consider how they might be viewed from the outside, looking in. Only then will you be able to look at other cultures through their own cultural lens.
Success Across Cultures 