Week 1 – The world’s we live in
Globalization – Compression of time and space
Contextualization – To try and understand other people’s stories.
Geert Hofstede – Hofstede’s Cultural dimensions
Individualism / Collectivism - Individualism is the extent to which people feel
independent, as opposed to being interdependent as members of larger wholes.
Power Distance - Power Distance is the extent to which the less powerful members
of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is
distributed unequally.
Femineity / masculinity - Masculinity is the extent to which the use of force in
endorsed socially.
Uncertainty avoidance - Uncertainty avoidance deals with a society’s tolerance for
uncertainty and ambiguity.
Short term / long term orientation - Long-term orientation deals with change.
Indulgence / restraint - Indulgence is about the good things in life.
Issues with Hofstede’s dimensions
Culture as fixed entities
Cultures as homogenous entities
Reinforcing stereotypes
Stereotype - to believe unfairly that all people or things with a
particular characteristic are the same.
World values survey - global network of social scientists studying changing values and their
impact on social and political life, led by an international team of scholars, with the WVS
association and secretariat headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden
Traditional vs. Secular-rational values
Traditional values – High importance of religion, parent-child ties deference to
authority and traditional family values. Reject divorce, abortion, euthanasia,
and suicide. National pride and a nationalistic outlook
Secular-rational values – Less emphasis on religion, parent-child ties
deference to authority. Divorce, abortion, euthanasia, and suicide are
acceptable.
Survival vs. Self-expression values
Survival values – emphasis on economic and physical security. Ethnocentric
outlook and low levels of trust and tolerance
Self-expression values – priority to environmental protection, growing
tolerance of foreigners, LGBTQ+. Rising demands for participation in decision-
making
Before understanding other cultures, we must also understand ours – Know thyself
Francis Bacon – Knowledge is power.
Novum Organum – system of logic defined as Baconian method.
Idol of the tribe - tendency to anthropomorphize and project our human condition
onto the world.
Idol of the cave - Our culture, upbringing, and education define how we experience
reality.
SUMMARY IGC | BY Rosa Craane
, Idol of the marketplace – We believe our reason govern words (we often use words
we don’t understand, e.g., peace)
Idol of the theater - Current fads or “systems now in vogue” also influence how we
see the world (my experience is better than facts)
Cognitive biases - Mental shortcuts used by human brains to simplify information.
Unacceptability bias - A systematic difference in response rates or uptake of tests
due to their “unacceptability”
Confirmation bias - Confirmation bias occurs when an individual looks for and uses
the information to support their own ideas or beliefs. It also means that information
not supporting their ideas or beliefs is disregarded.
Rationality - the quality of being based on clear thought and reason, or of making decisions
based on clear thought and reason.
Cognitive dissonance - The mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are
contradicted by new information.
Social storytelling - Form of storytelling with a function of education to help develop a
feeling of belonging to a society. It includes traditions, fairytales, legends, and myths.
Traditions - stories, beliefs and behaviors that have been part of the culture of an
organized group of people for a long time.
Fairytale - Wonder tale involving marvelous elements and occurrences, though not
necessarily about fairies. The term embraces such popular folktales (Märchen) as
“Cinderella” and “Puss-in-Boots” and art fairy tales (Kunstmärchen) of later
invention, such as The Happy Prince (1888), by the Irish writer Oscar Wilde.
Legend - Traditional story or group of stories told about a particular person or place.
Formerly the term legend meant a tale about a saint. Legends resemble folktales in
content; they may include supernatural beings, elements of mythology, or
explanations of natural phenomena, but they are associated with a particular locality
or person and are told as a matter of history (e.g., Messi or ander hassens)
Myth - A symbolic narrative, usually of unknown origin and at least partly traditional,
that ostensibly relates actual events and that is especially associated with religious
belief. Myths are specific accounts of gods or superhuman beings involved in
extraordinary events or circumstances in a time that is unspecified, but which is
understood as existing apart from ordinary human experience.
Joseph Campbell - the hero with a thousand faces
Monomyth - All mythic narratives as variations of a single great story
4 Function of the myth
1. Metaphysical function - Awakens a sense of awe and wonder before the mystery
of being.
2. Cosmological function - Explains how the universe works.
3. Sociological function - Gives a sense of belonging, validates, and supports the
existing social order.
4. Pedagogical function - Guides the individual through the stages of life, connects
us with people of the past who encountered similar problems or situations.
Modern mythologies
Icons – a person or thing widely admired especially for having great influence or
significance in a particular sphere (e.g., Kim K, Harry Potter)
Hero - a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.
SUMMARY IGC | BY Rosa Craane
, Explaining the World 1 – Ubuntu
Desmond Tutu – “I am because we are.”
Explaining the world 2 – The end of History
Francis Fukuyama - that history should be viewed as an evolutionary process, and that the
end of history, in this sense, means that liberal democracy is the final
Explaining The World 3 – The Clash of Civilizations
Samuel Huntington – that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source
of conflict in the post-Cold War world.
Civilizations - human society with its well-developed social organizations, or the culture and
way of life of a society or country at a particular period in time
Ideologies - A form of social or political philosophy in which practical elements are as
prominent as theoretical ones. A system of ideas that aspires both to explain and change the
world.
Explaining the world 4 – Perception
That you geographical and cultural perception creates the explained the world
Explaining the world 5 – We as a community
That your community you create that explained the world
Week 2 – Storytelling
The Great American Novel – Ernest Hemingway
Six-Word stories
For sale: baby shoes, never worn – Hemingway.
Marley was dead. To begin with – Charles Dickens
Sticks. Spears. Swords. Guns. Nukes. Sticks. – Unknown
Joseph Campbell - The hero with a thousand faces
Hero’s journey
SUMMARY IGC | BY Rosa Craane
