{"id":2455,"date":"2023-10-22T20:45:35","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T20:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/?p=2455"},"modified":"2024-06-05T15:40:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T15:40:01","slug":"cultures-norms-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/cultures-norms-values\/","title":{"rendered":"Cultures: Norms &#038; Values"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">(picture <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/group-of-man-on-a-desert-667202\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/group-of-man-on-a-desert-667202\/\">credit<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A quick introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anthropologists have travelled the world and found people speaking different languages, eating different things as food, dressing and acting differently, fighting and loving each other differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In some places, people are expected to cover their entire body except for their eyes. In others, they are expected to cover nothing but their genitals. In some places, you are supposed to shun someone who is rude to you. In other places you are supposed to damage their body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But there do seem to be some things that are universal &#8211; that are part of all cultures <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-BQM4JEK6--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:BQM4JEK6}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Brown&#8217;s <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-2M8UQIUV--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:2M8UQIUV}', 'format': '(%d%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span><\/strong> <strong>list of cultural universals<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Music &amp; Dance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tools &amp; weapons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Toys &amp; pretend play<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Body adornment &amp; hairstyles<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gossip, telling stories (&#8216;narratives&#8217;), jokes, proverbs, poetry, and myths<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Words for the colours black, white#up &amp; personal names<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kin groups<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Insults, ethnocentrism, &amp; conflict \n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also consultation, dialogue, &amp; mediation as ways to manage conflict<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sex happens in private<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/condor.depaul.edu\/~mfiddler\/hyphen\/humunivers.htm\">Dozens more<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. If a language has a third word for colour it is usualy for red, and if a fourth then it is often for green or yellow... and then for blue, and only then for others - <a data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gMqZR3pqMjg&amp;t=51s\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gMqZR3pqMjg&amp;t=51s\">here's<\/a> a fun 7 minute video about this<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This, on some level, is part of what it means to be a human animal. We reinvent these things in some form wherever we go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But these commonalities exist at a pretty high level of abstraction. It&#8217;s one thing to say that everywhere has rules about incest, but another to note that in some places you aren&#8217;t allowed to marry a third cousin, whereas in other places it is routine to marry your first#up. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. The family's of some Egyptian Pharos look more like family loops than trees - lots of siblings and uncles marrying each other to prevent royal bloodlines being diluted. Same for the European Habsburg dynasty from the 16th - 18th centuries<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every culture may have music, with rhythm, tone, and melody, and yet they all make different sounds. Every culture tells jokes, but different things are considered funny. Every culture prohibits some things being eaten, but are those things dogs or snails or pigs or cows or locusts? Whichever yours are, know that people in other places find that same thing delicious#up.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. We agree with your list, though. How dare those disgusting people eat [insert-your-choice-of-prohibited-food-here]!<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are at a British university you can log in at <a href=\"http:\/\/bobnational.net\/programme.php?clip=125109&amp;view=flash_player\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"http:\/\/bobnational.net\/programme.php?clip=125109&amp;view=flash_player\">this link<\/a> to watch a 9 minute clip of a TV show in which a white British presenter travels to New Guinea to meet a tribe of former cannibals. Their status as <strong>former<\/strong> cannibals is because the Dutch and then Indonesian governments prohibited it, starting around the 1950&#8217;s. Some of the men that this host talks to remember it slightly wistfully; To them, cannibalism wasn&#8217;t a thing you just did randomly, it was an important element of defeating an opponent in battle &#8211; one man recalls cutting up and eating the person who had killed his brother.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/70253321@N00\/15233972940\/in\/photostream\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"327\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/new-guinea-hunters-15233972940_4c130f4240_w.jpg\" alt=\"Two New Guinea tribesmen hunters sitting on a hillside, wearing nothing but loincloths and cloth caps on their heads. Each is holding a dog in his lap (one is smiling as he cuddles his). Behind them are some spears leaning against the hill.\" class=\"wp-image-2603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/new-guinea-hunters-15233972940_4c130f4240_w.jpg 327w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/new-guinea-hunters-15233972940_4c130f4240_w-245x300.jpg 245w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 327px) 100vw, 327px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">New Guinea hunters. <br>Pets aren&#8217;t on the universal list, but it seems to us that liking fluffy ones should be (note: we are NOT anthropologists, this is a wildly uninformed opinion) (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/70253321@N00\/15233972940\/in\/photostream\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/70253321@N00\/15233972940\/in\/photostream\/\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">About 6 minutes into the clip, the host travels through some very dense jungle to meet an extremely remote tribe that has very little contact with the outside world. Their price for talking to him is twofold: One is a gift of tobacco, and the other is they demand that he take his clothes off. At first, he isn&#8217;t sure if this is a joke. But he agrees, and they dress him in the same small belt that they wear themselves, which covers only the genitals. He reflects on this, and decides that it makes sense: If someone arrived in his own home town, stark naked and asking to speak to him, he would probably want them to put some clothes on first, so why wouldn&#8217;t they demand the same thing? Why shouldn&#8217;t they feel more comfortable if he dressed like everyone else that they ever normally saw?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is culture?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Culture is the set of shared understandings that human groups build to explain and govern how their worlds work. They are the mental frameworks that we learn and share to help us divide the world into meaningful units#up, and tell us how to cope with it, in dynamic and context-sensitive ways. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. In academic speak, dividing something into meaningful units is called \"parsing\"<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If that all sounds a bit academic and pretentious (&#8220;dynamic&#8221; and &#8220;context-sensitive&#8221;), imagine going to buy sausages with your great-grandfather (who had recently time-travelled from 1948) and someone who had just stepped off a spaceship from another planet. Arriving at the grocery store it would be obvious to you that the correct behaviour is to look for a pack of sausages on a shelf, pick them up, and carry them to a checkout counter to pay. It would be equally obvious to your great-granddad that the correct behaviour is to ask a storekeeper for half-a-pound of his best sausages, and then watch carefully to make sure he doesn&#8217;t slip any extra weights onto the measuring scales to cheat you. The recently arrived alien wouldn&#8217;t have any idea what to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you then went to a cafe, you and great-granddad would probably wait to be seated, while the alien would walk into the kitchen looking for sausages to take off a shelf &#8211; because that&#8217;s what you told them to do at the last shop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here, you and your granddad share an understanding that allows you to parse grocery shops as having different rules from cafe&#8217;s, and lets you <strong>dynamically adjust<\/strong> your behaviour to fit these different <strong>contexts<\/strong>#up. This is cultural knowledge in action.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. See, we told you these words would make sense after an example<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you look at it in terms of the cognitive framework that we&#8217;ve started this book with, you could even define culture like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group definition_block has-background is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14d7fe8f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#fcb90017\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"definition_term wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"definition_definition wp-block-paragraph\">The schemas that groups of people share for understanding and structuring their world <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js understand\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24550\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">So&#8230; every country has a different culture, right?<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24550\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People often talk about it that way (&#8220;that&#8217;s just how the French are, darling&#8230;&#8221;), but the definition above doesn&#8217;t say anything about national boundaries. Culture is about understanding shared between groups, and those groups can vary wildly in size &#8211; and often overlap with each other in myriad ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let&#8217;s take Canada for example. It does have cultural elements that are somewhat distinct from other countries (such as a particular emphasis on politeness, a strong orientation towards ice hockey, and a self-image as a &#8216;cultural mosaic&#8217; in which people from all over the world enrich each other by adding their own languages and food and traditions into a large patchwork). But a lot of its values are shared with other countries too (democracy and freedom of speech are quite broadly shared, and there are at least five or six other countries that have significant ice hockey traditions &#8211; if not usually <strong>quite<\/strong> such obsessive ones). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Within Canada there are many sub-variations. The &#8216;Maritimes&#8217; region along its east coast takes friendly politeness to epic new levels. Its French-speaking province of Quebec regards itself as having quite a distinct sub-culture on many fronts, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even within and across regions, there are groups of Canadians who belong to basketball-loving subcultures, academic and\/or social justice ones, and even reactionary racist ones (sadly a thing). Those sub-groups may layer their own nuances on top of the national ones, or perhaps reject the national ones entirely (maybe they don&#8217;t like hockey at all#up).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. We should try not to judge this obvious mistake.\n(that's a joke, people)<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">One more example: Classroom culture<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is the culture of a classroom? Can you list its rules?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Go ahead, try. We&#8217;ll wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Was that hard? Most people find it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But how about these?:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There is a teacher and many students<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The students are supposed to sit quietly once the teacher starts, unless told to move or talk<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The teacher is allowed to talk freely and walk around<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The teacher is supposed to explain things and be at least somewhat enthusiastic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The teacher is allowed to ask the students questions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>students are allowed to volunteer to answer (but not too many or their fellow students might get annoyed with them)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Class starts and ends at pre-set times. With only a few exceptions, the teacher should not keep the class after the end time unless they volunteer to stay.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If the teacher tells a student to leave the room, then they can protest but must do it<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The teacher isn&#8217;t allowed to shout at the students or hit them\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This one has changed over the last generation or two &#8211; your author&#8217;s parents were raised in classrooms that were equipped with paddles and straps for the explicit purpose of teachers hitting students. This was justified with a cultural concept of &#8220;discipline&#8221; (which was a thing to be both instilled in the class, and meted out against violators)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Everyone has to keep their clothes on at all times<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How did we do? We&#8217;re guessing you didn&#8217;t disagree with any of these (even if you might not always follow every single one as perfectly as you should).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Culture vs. Reference groups<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These ideas may seem similar at first, but the difference is fairly simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you learn something about what is true\/bad\/good by looking at another person, then you are using them as a reference group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you and another person look at a thing and both instantly have a shared understanding about it, then that is culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can probably imagine situations where these might blur into each other, but this is usually because reference groups can have a role in creating and transmitting culture. If you are new to a place, then you might even spend a lot of time watching others for clues about what the culture of that place is, and how things work (it can be quite exhausting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As such, culture is really an extra layer of depth to our understanding of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"725\" height=\"574\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Layers-psych-self-social-culture.jpg\" alt=\"modification of our diagram that has layers around a person (internal psychology at the center (e.g., goals &amp; beliefs), then a self layer, then a reference groups layer. It adds another outer layer for culture (and possible subculture)\" class=\"wp-image-2699\" style=\"width:500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Layers-psych-self-social-culture.jpg 725w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/Layers-psych-self-social-culture-300x238.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 725px) 100vw, 725px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">People have layers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is culture like?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are some broad dynamics that seem to describe how culture works. We could spend multiple books writing about these, but will discuss three here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Culture is largely invisible to the people within it<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Culture is learned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Culture is functional and adaptive<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Culture is largely invisible to the people within it<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most of us are aware on some level that <strong>other<\/strong> people have cultures, with various odd languages, rules and practises. But me? I just live my life! All I want is something tasty for lunch, clothes that are at least somewhat flattering, and enough basic manners that I&#8217;m not offending anyone by being openly rude. That&#8217;s not culture, that&#8217;s just getting by in the world! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Imagine, though, looking out of your window one morning and seeing someone walking by wearing no clothes at all. The words that would leap to most of our minds would <strong>not<\/strong> be: &#8220;Oh ho! This is a practice that my culture prohibits&#8221;. That is not what most of us would think. But we would be pretty surprised, and wonder if there was something wrong with this person#up &#8211; are they drunk? A rapist? They&#8217;ve been attacked? Do I need to feel threatened or concerned? Or maybe they just lost a bet? Eventually, someone might call the police (&#8220;There&#8217;s a pervert outside with no clothes on!&#8221;), and the police would likely give the naked person a blanket to wrap up with, and then ask them some rather pointed questions. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. Unless you live in a naturist colony, in which case the words leaping to mind would be \"oh, it's Susan.\"<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why would we react with such energy, when we normally barely even notice people walking by? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because: this is a practice that our culture prohibits. That may not be how we think of it, but it is the truth. The rules have been broken, and we are confused by this, and trying to work out why, and what we need to do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The traditional analogy is that culture is like the water that fish swim in: it is almost invisible to the fish, and they are barely aware that it exists, and yet it shapes huge parts of their life &#8211; from how they move to how they get oxygen to the temperature of their body. They might not see it, but it is everywhere and sets the scene for most of what they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is why you had a hard time listing the rules for classrooms: You don&#8217;t explicitly think about them every time you walk into a classroom (&#8220;now let&#8217;s see, in this situation I&#8217;m a student, so, um, rule number 3 says that I should&#8230;&#8221;). You just intuitively recognize some things as sensible and called-for, and other things as just obviously being wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This is the hallmark of cultural rules: the way we instantly recognize what things mean, and what is wrong or right, in the same instant way that we recognize an object as a chair or a bicycle. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is usually not until we start to travel outside our home cultures that we start to parse apart which rules are natural facts of the universe (like gravity and occasionally needing the bathroom) and which are understandings that we have simply managed to coordinate with the people around us (like whether a given body part is considered sexual &#8211; and therefore private#up). Indeed, one of the advantages of travelling, and living among other people is that you start to become better at recognizing that there are multiple ways of doing things, and eventually become adept at switching which &#8216;tool-kit&#8217; you use &#8211; Evidence is starting to accumulate that being &#8216;bicultural&#8217; (i.e., familiar enough to operate in two or more cultures) offers several psychological benefits <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-6NG64P6A--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:6NG64P6A}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. A Brazillian beach would set that standard in very differnet places to Victorian England (\"really! A ladies ankle! Out in plain view for everyone to see! My goodness, she's just leaving nothing to the imagination!\" - yes, this really was a thing for them)<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Culture is learned<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We aren&#8217;t born with cultural knowledge. Schools have to teach young children to sit down, be quiet, ask the teacher before they go to the bathroom, and not look at each other&#8217;s test papers. Parents have to teach children of a certain age that they are now too old to run around naked at the park (though the exact age for this cutoff is subject to fierce debate). Little children sometimes struggle to wrap their heads around these arbitrary complexities (&#8220;why do you come into the toilet to help me, but I&#8217;m not allowed in with you? And why does [pre-pubescent] sister have to wear a top at the swimming pool and I don&#8217;t&#8221;). Similarly, parents sometimes struggle to explain these things (&#8220;no, there&#8217;s nothing wrong with your body, but people don&#8217;t want to see it now that you are a big boy\/girl, because, um&#8230; they just don&#8217;t. It&#8217;s inappropriate! Because&#8230; it just is. You&#8217;ll understand when you are older.&#8221;)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As much as children sometimes question these rules, they seem to be built to internalize them readily and strongly. There are many boys who won&#8217;t even touch a toy if it is pink; They have internalized that this colour is for girls. Similarly, food on pink plates will go uneaten, and pink clothes will be angrily rejected (and heaven forbid that you ask a cis-gender boy to wear a dress).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These rules have nothing to do with human biology. Here&#8217;s an image showing how children were dressed just a little while ago:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"822\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/FDR-baby-17680054911_3db92a44a8_o.jpg\" alt=\"a formal black and white portrait from 1908 of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (aged about 26) and Eleanor Roosevelt, each with a child on their knee. He has a girl who is perhaps three years old, and she has a baby who is perhaps a year old. Both children are wearing loose white dresses\" class=\"wp-image-2595\" style=\"width:600px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/FDR-baby-17680054911_3db92a44a8_o.jpg 800w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/FDR-baby-17680054911_3db92a44a8_o-292x300.jpg 292w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/FDR-baby-17680054911_3db92a44a8_o-768x789.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eleanor Roosevelt, future American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and their kids in 1908 (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/35409081@N06\/17680054911\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/35409081@N06\/17680054911\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of those children is a girl, the other is a boy. This is how all babies were dressed back then &#8211; it was practical for washing and changing them, and the Victorians felt that dressing kids up in gender-assigned ways was sexualizing them in bad and disturbing ways.  Even after people decided they did want people outside their family to be able to tell a kid&#8217;s gender, it took until around the 1940&#8217;s or 50&#8217;s to settle on a cultural consensus that blue was for boys, and pink for girls. Department stores may even have had a role in setting this coding (that way people had to buy more new things, instead of re-using them between kids)#up.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. All according to this highly entertaining and much-recommended <a href=\"https:\/\/spotify.link\/X0NgtlGJUDb\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/spotify.link\/X0NgtlGJUDb\">podcast episode<\/a> on how pink came to be the colour for girls<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lot of culture isn&#8217;t taught to us as lessons like in a classroom. Often we just witness that people who don&#8217;t have a car are seen as losers within our community, or people who do have them are seen as show-offs. And we don&#8217;t want to be a loser or a show-off, so we quietly internalize the rule without it ever being written down as a bullet point in a slide show. This is one of the reasons that culture is so invisible to those inside them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bottom line point is this: We tend to act as if our cultural rules are physical laws of the universe, but they aren&#8217;t. We just learned them one way, and could just as easily have learned them another. Indeed, sometimes we do re-learn and change them. These things are not as fixed as we imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Culture is functional and adaptive<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is another of those things that sounds like boring academic-speak, but that is really fairly intuitive. We wouldn&#8217;t have any need to go to all the effort of coordinating understandings between each other if there wasn&#8217;t anything useful that they did for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Think of our example of grocery stores vs. restaurants vs. bars. Why come up with these complicated different ways of organizing food buying with different sets of behavioural rules? Grocery stores are set up to let people stock their homes with minimum fuss by letting them quickly choose and retrieve from among many options. Wandering among open shelves and putting things directly into a basket is the easiest way to do this. Restaurants, though, are set up to facilitate socializing. They give you a relaxing environment to sit in, and give a limited set of food options on a menu that someone else can quickly cook, bring to you, and clear away, freeing you to chat away. You aren&#8217;t supposed to scream and throw food around in the restaurant as it is a shared space and this would disturb the other diners. We build these different physical spaces, with different sets of social rules to make all of these things possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or think about those classroom rules. We put people in classrooms in order to learn things, and that is unlikely to happen remotely efficiently without those rules (or something approximately like them). Imagine a classroom with the students all running around and talking loudly to each other. It would be a chaotic buzz, with the teacher having to shout to be heard by students who are too distracted to listen anyway. Anyone who valued learning (students or otherwise) would be quickly defeated#up.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. To be fair, there are other models of classroom teaching that do involve the students moving around and talking a lot. But these still need rules to work, though, just slightly different ones (and also often need a skilled teacher to orchestrate)<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/classroom-pexels-icsa-1708912.jpg\" alt=\"A lecturer standing at the front of a university lecture hall speaking into a microphone. Behind her are several empty whiteboards, and in the foreground we see rows of stadium seating with the back of students heads sprinkled throughout\" class=\"wp-image-2641\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/classroom-pexels-icsa-1708912.jpg 640w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/classroom-pexels-icsa-1708912-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">An undefeated prof (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/woman-holding-microphone-standing-in-front-of-crowd-1708912\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/woman-holding-microphone-standing-in-front-of-crowd-1708912\/\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This can explain part of why the rules vary so much from place to place, and why conflicts can happen when people bring their different rules into the same space. We once had an executive education class that had some students from the army, and other students who were civilians from Brazil. The army has a very strict relationship to time (&#8220;5 minutes early is on time, and on time is late&#8221;), and the Brazilians had a very relaxed one. If the class started at 9 a.m., the army students were all in their seats ready at 8:55, while Brazillians were still trickling in at 9:30 and 10. These two groups were not overly pleased with each other in this context (&#8220;you are disturbing our learning by coming in late!&#8221; \/ &#8220;oh, loosen up!&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why would cultures have such different rules? Timing is critical for the army to carry out its job. If you show up 90 minutes late to an assault, then everyone else might have been shot to pieces already, and their deaths would be your fault for not having been there to support them. Everyone in the army has to be very conscious of doing their roles on time in order to keep their comrades alive. In Brazil, traditionally, there was no such need for precision &#8211; it&#8217;s not that people wouldn&#8217;t work hard, because they did- it&#8217;s just that it didn&#8217;t matter if you started at 9 or at 10, so long as you got your key tasks done. This evolved into an understanding that allowed everyone to be far more relaxed about time (an enjoyable way to be, if you can manage it).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One way to think of it is that <strong>culture is the oil that lubricates our social lives<\/strong>. It isn&#8217;t always the engine that is driving things forward (that tends to be our goals and our relationships with each other), but it does give people little ways to get in sync with each other, and to let those goals and relationships do their work of driving us wherever we will go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be clear, cultural rules don&#8217;t always succeed at being functional. Sometimes they start that way (for example, British politeness rules are meant to reduce conflict, which is helpful when many people are packed into a small crowded island#up) but can change to become dysfunctional over time, and in different contexts (e.g., British people forcing themselves to eat food they hate because they are too polite to complain). Other times rules are useful to some people but not to others (or are even harmful to them). This is something we will talk about more in our next chapter.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. This isn't to say that British people don't ever get to fighting. Any brief glance at the island's history reveals an awful lot of violence, both of the organized kind (i.e., armies), and the personal<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another quick example: There&#8217;s a fun <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/4VsECEzJF4jKyHbsAqaFUy\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/4VsECEzJF4jKyHbsAqaFUy\">podcast episode<\/a> about why trousers were invented &#8211; It appears to have happened around 3,000 years ago in China and Eastern Europe for a purpose that applies to hardly any of us anymore&#8230; And yet we still wear them. Are you not curious?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js interest\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24551\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">I want more examples! What&#8217;s a weird functional thing I do every day and don&#8217;t even notice<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24551\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This one isn&#8217;t particularly CB oriented, but consider the way we say hello when meeting each other in a public place in much of the English-speaking west:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;How are ya?&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are only 3 acceptable answers to this: &#8220;good&#8221;, &#8220;busy&#8221;#up, and &#8220;how are ya?&#8221;. The third option doesn&#8217;t even pretend to answer the question, but then it wasn&#8217;t really a genuine question to start with; answering it truthfully is generally regarded as terminally boring (&#8220;well, I&#8217;m caught up on my CB coursework, but my mum says the cat threw up this morning so I&#8217;m a little worried, and I&#8217;ve got a tiny ache in my left knee that is probably just nothing&#8221;, to which the other person is likely to say something like &#8220;Oh&#8221;, and then: &#8220;That sounds harsh. Look, I&#8217;m busy. Must run&#8230;&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. Or near synoyms (e.g., \"ok\" and \"stressed\")<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So why do we do this? Why is it adaptive? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Because when you come face to face it isn&#8217;t always clear if the other person wants to stop and talk, and even if they do, starting a conversation can be awkward because much talking involves reacting to whatever the other person has just said, and nobody has said anything yet. So this cultural script exists in which each person makes a pretence of enquiring about the other, in a way that signals non-commital interest: the other person can easily deflect away (&#8220;oh, I&#8217;m in a rush, see you later&#8221;) or use the question to launch an actual opening gambit (&#8220;Busy! But I just did this thing&#8230;&#8221;) to start the ball rolling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it&#8217;s a bit opaque and mysterious from the outside, but from the inside, it is basically functional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A lot of culture is like that. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js interest\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24552\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">How about examples of things outliving their original purpose?<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24552\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is more of a fun example than an important one, so feel free to skip it&#8230; but:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Language is full of phrases that code references to things that don&#8217;t exist anymore. They are little time capsules from the past, if you know how to read them right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, when people describe exciting new information as &#8216;hot off the presses&#8217;, that is not the random collection of words that it looks like. Around the early 20th century, newspapers were how you found out that your country was at war, or that a famous person had done something scandalously entertaining. These were made on big machines called &#8216;presses&#8217; that used steam from burning coal to fire reams of paper through spinning metal rollers, literally pressing ink onto them on the way past. This generated so much heat, that if you got your paper straight from the printer, then your information was literally &#8220;hot off the presses&#8221;. We still use this phrase#up, even though the imagery no longer means much to most people.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. And a related one for newly signed contracts: \"he was tearing it up before the ink was even dry\"<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here&#8217;s another one: &#8216;telling the sheep from the goats,&#8217; meaning to be able to recognize which things are likely to be promising from similar-looking ones that are likely to be duds. This analogy would have made perfect sense to rural populations who raised animals &#8211; baby sheep and goats look so similar that it really is hard to tell who will grow up as which. The phrase would have been intrinsically meaningful back then, but now is just an arbitrary set of legacy words with a useful meaning.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How culture works: Coding, Norms, and Values<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cultures can be complicated, powerful, many-layered, and enormously subtle things#up. If we are going to squeeze our description of them into only one part of one chapter, we will use <strong>extremely<\/strong> broad brushstrokes and say that they work through three main things: coding, norms, and values.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down If you want a book-length treatment, we recommend Marieke de Mooij's <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-C9DT77QC--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:C9DT77QC}', 'format': '(%d%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span> excellent, in-depth, and deeply researched textbook: Consumer Behaviour &amp; Culture: Consequences for Global Marketing and Advertising<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Coding is how we decide what a thing means, norms are rules for what we are supposed to do (or not), and values are descriptions of what a good or bad person is supposed to be like. Together they help shape the goals and activities that are visible, permissible, and rewarded or punished within a culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Coding meaning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is a thing that you do constantly, but that is nearly impossible to see yourself doing; For roughly the same reason that it&#8217;s hard to be aware of the work your intestines are doing &#8211; it&#8217;s an automatic process that doesn&#8217;t happen in your conscious awareness, but, rather, is fed into it as a finished product (it is very system 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Direct coding<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On its simplest level, coding is just an agreement on what symbols mean. Those can be attached to language symbols (e.g., the letters &#8220;c-a-t&#8221; representing &#8220;small furry animal that pounces on your toes&#8221;) but not only those kinds. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Colours<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the West the colour white is seen to represent purity and innocence, so is something you would wear at weddings. In parts of Asia white is seen as a colour of death, that you would wear at funerals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Gestures<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Westerners visit the Middle East they have to be taught not that putting their feet up on the dashboard of their cars is the local equivalent of driving down the road waving their middle finger at everyone who goes by &#8211; not something you want to do by accident. In Arabic culture it is insulting to show someone the sole of your foot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In parts of North Africa and the Middle East holding hands is something that male friends will do as a gesture of non-romantic friendship. In most of the West holding hands is a much more intimate expression, reserved for romantic relationships, deeply emotional moments between those who are very close, and the care of little children. Knowing things like this can avoid significant misunderstanding when talking to people who come to you from across cultural boundaries, and is extremely important if you produce advertising images that will be shown in places that are not culturally familiar to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Body language<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take an example:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"375\" height=\"323\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/builder-2-emmanuel-ikwuegbu-zWOgsj3j0wA-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"Man with a yellow hardhat, work gloves, and a plaid shirt has his arms crossed next to loose wires that are hanging out of a wall\" class=\"wp-image-2194\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/builder-2-emmanuel-ikwuegbu-zWOgsj3j0wA-unsplash.jpg 375w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/09\/builder-2-emmanuel-ikwuegbu-zWOgsj3j0wA-unsplash-300x258.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Remember this guy?<br>(<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/zWOgsj3j0wA\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What does his body language say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the West it might mean &#8220;confident&#8221; &#8211; you can tell because he is making eye contact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the East it might mean &#8220;angry and unapproachable&#8221; &#8211; you can tell because he is making eye contact <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-UPIDJ3F7--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:UPIDJ3F7}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Confusingly, the same body language can mean different things in different places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Subtler coding<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a deeper level, cultures code things with &#8216;connotations&#8217;: shades to their literal meanings. For example, British and American English both have the word &#8220;scheme&#8221; to mean a plan of some kind. In British English companies and the government will talk openly about their schemes that you can enroll in. But in American English &#8216;scheming&#8217; has a very negative connotation &#8211; it suggests a plan that is evil and deceptive. If you talk about your &#8220;schemes&#8221; there, few people are going to sign up, <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, in the US if you call someone &#8216;bold&#8217; you are praising them, but in the UK or parts of Latin America you might be praising them, but depending on context you might also be suggesting that they are over-stepping their boundaries and don&#8217;t know their place (but using an overtly positive word to avoid starting a fight by critiquing them openly).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Narrative codes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cultural codes can run deeper than simple adjectives (i.e., hot \/ cold \/ good \/ bad \/ fast \/ slow). It can encode stories about where things are from, how they work, and what they are used for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If that sounds uselessly abstract, Doug Holt <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-VAGSN6VJ--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:VAGSN6VJ}', 'format': '(%d%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span> has a great example with the Mexican beer Corona. This brand started to become popular in the USA in the 1990s as Americans brought it back from holiday trips down past their Southern border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At first it positioned itself (like most other beers of the time) as a party drink, but this position stopped working so well as it became better known &#8211; it was no longer the edgy thing brought back from spring break in Cancun, and just another somewhat popular beer trying to associate itself with a good time. So Corona made a pivot, and started selling itself as a beer that was about relaxing on the beach &#8211; it was a break from life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"10 Funny Corona Commercials\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CA7KevfsJTg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On its surface, this shift should not have worked. Partying and relaxing are very different associations, and it&#8217;s quite risky for an established brand to suddenly try to turn into the opposite of itself. But Americans accepted this switch easily, because their associations with Corona was not just the simple adjective &#8220;partying&#8221;, but with stories about going on holiday, which tangled it with all the different elements that holidaying entail. Moving from &#8220;party&#8221; to &#8220;relaxed&#8221; wasn&#8217;t seen as a switch to an opposite (high energy to low energy), but simply a shift from one part of the holiday to another: it was about the beach in the day, not the outing at night. The relaxation position was so distinct from its competitors of the era that it took Corona to new heights of popularity in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Brands as coding<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cultures can lend meanings and connotations to the very names of brands themselves. Sometimes this is fairly literal, where the brand names become synonymous with the category. For instance, people sometimes call vacuums &#8220;Hoovers&#8221; (a brand name) and now sometimes also call them &#8220;Dysons&#8221; (similarly a brand). People will say &#8220;Google it&#8221; (meaning do an internet search), and parts of the USA refer to all fizzy drinks as a &#8220;Coke&#8221; (even if it is another brand).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More subtly brands can come to embody positive or negative connotations &#8211; or, in the odd case of Marmite: both. Marmite is a black goopy salty strong-tasting substance that is spread on sandwiches (very thinly). It is little known outside the UK#up but within it, divides opinion so strongly (people either love it or hate it) that its brand name has become a byword for divisiveness. If you said: &#8220;she&#8217;s a bit of a Marmite figure&#8221;, you would be suggesting that some people are extremely fond of her, some despise her, and almost nobody sits neutrally anywhere in between.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. More people have heard of the similar-ish Australian food Vegimite<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Marmite-393315879_9179c8011c_w.jpg\" alt=\"A jar of marmite sitting on a counter. It is in its iconic oval shaped dark glass jar, with a yellow plastic screw-top lid\" class=\"wp-image-2637\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Marmite-393315879_9179c8011c_w.jpg 400w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Marmite-393315879_9179c8011c_w-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marmite in its natural habitat (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/41894183508@N01\/393315879\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/41894183508@N01\/393315879\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or, to take a simpler American example, there has been a concerted political effort since the 1980s to teach Americans that &#8220;government&#8221; means &#8220;inefficient&#8221;. This has taken such deep cultural root that even many non-politically engaged Americans now take it as axiomatic that anything to which the word &#8216;government&#8217; is affixed must necessarily be slow and wasteful (no matter how much or how little this is deserved in any particular case). For instance, many of the same Americans who would be angry if you suggested taking away health services offered by Medicare or the Veteran&#8217;s Administration are also quite upset at the idea of &#8220;government healthcare&#8221;, even though that is precisely what both of those things are. This isn&#8217;t because Americans are hypocritical or gullible (any more than the rest of humanity), they are just examples of the complex and sometimes contradictory codings that run through many cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js interest\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24553\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">Wait, I&#8217;ve heard a funny story about the Chevy Nova doing badly in Latin America because No Va is Spanish for &#8220;doesn&#8217;t go&#8221;<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24553\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This story is very popular but sadly not true. This car sold just fine in several Spanish-speaking countries. As one particularly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/fact-check\/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.snopes.com\/fact-check\/chevrolet-nova-name-spanish\/\">colourful debunking<\/a> put it, Spanish speakers wouldn&#8217;t confuse &#8220;Nova&#8221; with &#8220;no va&#8221;, any more than English speakers would confuse a dining set called &#8220;Notable&#8221; with one that had &#8220;No table&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As funny as this story would have been, it does capture a serious point: When moving across cultures it can be easy to assume that your success in one place makes you enough of an expert in another. Sometimes you really are that expert, but there are risks in not consulting cultural insiders, and even more so in not taking their advice seriously. Insiders can alert you to literal meanings, but also connotations and references that you may not be aware that you are making. A little humility in the face of local sources is a great virtue.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Norms<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Norms are the rules that cultures have for what you are and aren&#8217;t supposed to do#up.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. Some people make a distinction between 'descriptive' and 'injunctive' norms. Descpritive norms describe how people behave, and injunctive ones how they should behave. Example: \"people in this office keep stealing spoons from the cupboard [descriptive norm], but they shouldn't do that! [injunctive norm]\". We'll talk about this more later, but for now, our definition is mostly about injunctive norms<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Norms can be explicit or implicit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">E<strong>xplicit<\/strong> means that they are clearly articulated and acknowledged within a culture. These can range from laws (i.e., written public rules like the ones forbidding stealing or requiring car insurance before you drive), to &#8220;codes of conduct&#8221;. Codes are not always written down but are clearly explained to people who are supposed to follow them (e.g., &#8220;don&#8217;t disturb the class by talking over the teacher \/ take off your shoes before you come into our house&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I<strong>mplicit<\/strong> (sometimes also called &#8220;tacit&#8221;) means that they are not officially listed anywhere, but that people who are familiar with the culture are supposed to know and follow them anyway. Examples of common implicit norms are &#8220;it&#8217;s rude to interrupt people in a conversation&#8221; and &#8220;don&#8217;t finish food off other people&#8217;s plates&#8221;. Some people subdivide implicit rules into &#8216;conventions&#8217;, which are relatively widely understood (e.g., the no-interrupting rule) vs. &#8216;understandings&#8217; which are more ad-hoc between a group of people (e.g., &#8220;we all silently agree not to talk about that thing which happened on Thursday&#8221;). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group definition_block has-background is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14d7fe8f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#fcb90017\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"definition_term wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Norm<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"definition_definition wp-block-paragraph\">Rules for how one should or should not behave within a culture. These can be explicitly acknowledged or implicitly understood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tacit norms often have some degree of flexibility or nuance to them. For instance, people might understand that the tacit rule against interrupting applies very strongly when your boss tells you what to do, but barely at all when you are talking excitedly with your sibling#up.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. Why? Although they wouldn't articulate it like this, most people would understand the purpose of the no-interrupting norm as turn-taking to allow information to be exchanged smoothly. Not much information is being exchanged when you are excited with your brother so that goal isn't relevant, but it is when you are receiving instructions from your boss. This goes back to culture often being adaptive and functional<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Note: the implicit vs. explicit distinction can be a sliding scale. When you are a child &#8220;don&#8217;t pick your nose in public&#8221; may be an explicit rule that you get told (possibly repeatedly). When you are a grown-up, it becomes an implicit rule that people will assume you know (and judge you severely for breaking).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js interest\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24554\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">More examples of implicit rules, please<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24554\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You said please. How polite (implicit norm alert!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In much of the world, there is a normative script for meeting new people that runs approximately like this: &#8220;Hi, I&#8217;m [Name]&#8221;, and then they introduce themselves too, and then you take turns sharing details about yourself until you find something in common to talk about (&#8220;hey, I&#8217;ve been to Bolivia too! Isn&#8217;t it amazing&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Not so, in much of England. If you stick your hand out at a stranger and announce your name, this will be quietly judged as much too aggressive and forward (&#8220;you don&#8217;t even know me, why are you throwing your name at me?&#8221;). Without this normative &#8216;script&#8217; it&#8217;s more difficult to meet strangers. The understood way is for both people to act like they already know each other, and make friendly chat about inconsequential things (preferably things going on in their immediate situation and\/or the weather) until they get far enough into the conversation for one to say &#8220;I&#8217;m sorry, I didn&#8217;t catch your name&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This observation comes from Kate Fox&#8217;s entertaining book <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/288448.Watching_the_English\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/288448.Watching_the_English\">Watching The English<\/a>, which tries to decode these &#8216;pragmatics&#8217; of English culture. It is full of such observations about their implicit norms for interacting. If you are not English is seems like a strange set of rules, and if you are, you nod along thinking &#8220;I&#8217;d never have explained it like that, but it&#8217;s true&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Norms example 1: Meeting in pubs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It used to be normative in large parts of the UK for people to go to their &#8220;local&#8221; after work (i.e., a local pub) instead of directly to people&#8217;s houses. This was a place to socialize with their local community for an hour or two until people went home for dinner. There were fairly strong norms around what should be drunk at pubs (pints of beer for men, half-pints or wine for women), and it was considered a strong part of social bonding within local communities.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"443\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/pub-pexels-ivan-drazic-18355283.jpg\" alt=\"A pub called &quot;The Red Lion&quot; - it is the ground floor of a taller building, has dark window frames with lights shining out from inside, and some benches against its wall under the windows. Flowers hang from baskets outside.\" class=\"wp-image-2616\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/pub-pexels-ivan-drazic-18355283.jpg 600w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/pub-pexels-ivan-drazic-18355283-300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This implicit norm has eroded over the past few decades, with people increasingly going straight home instead. There are many reasons for this, including cultural norms being imported from elsewhere, houses turning into cocoons with their own entertainment systems, the rise of coffee shops as social meeting spots#up, and even supermarkets undercutting their prices by using alcohol as loss-leaders to draw customers in. This has produced big changes. Of the 55,000 pubs that were open in 2010, almost 9,000 closed over the next 10 years <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-P2ATZP2T--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:P2ATZP2T}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>, and those that remain have started serving food to add revenue and bring in dining customers. Cultural changes can have seismic shifts in whole societies (people have one less source of community cohesion) and industries (almost 20% of pubs closing, and second-order effects when thousands of vacant properties come onto the commercial real estate market).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. In professional life \"let's grab coffee\" has largely replaced \"let's go down the pub\". And yes, that phrase is used even when the \"coffee\" is actulaly tea or a fruit juice or a muffin - this, too, is a cultural coding<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Norms example 2: The naked cowboy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the best-known street performers in New York&#8217;s Times Square is this guy:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"568\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/naked-cowboy-pexels-louis-laboratory-13108390.jpg\" alt=\"The &quot;naked cowboy&quot; a performer who plays his guitar in New York City wearing only boots, underwear (that says &quot;naked cowboy&quot; on his bottom) and a cowboy hat. He is facing away from the camera, arm pointing in the air, long blond hair hanging onto his back, and his guitar hanging from its strap around his neck\" class=\"wp-image-2608\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/naked-cowboy-pexels-louis-laboratory-13108390.jpg 450w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/naked-cowboy-pexels-louis-laboratory-13108390-238x300.jpg 238w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The &#8220;Naked Cowboy&#8221; in New York City (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/half-naked-cowboy-standing-on-the-street-13108390\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/half-naked-cowboy-standing-on-the-street-13108390\/\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How did he become so well-known out of the <strong>many<\/strong> buskers there? We&#8217;re sure his music is very good, but so are many other street performers. What makes him stand out is his transgression of implicit clothing norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you look closely you&#8217;ll see he is slightly misnamed in that he isn&#8217;t completely naked &#8211; he wears a hat, boots, and his white underwear&#8230; and that is fortunate, or he would have violated explicit legal norms about the minimum required level of clothing to be &#8220;decent#up&#8221;, and the New York police would have arrested him years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. The entire concept of \"decency\" is entirely about cultural norms. This doesn't make it any less important<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If he wore the exact same clothes to the beach, nobody would regard him as naked there either &#8211; his outfit would be considered entirely unremarkable. But, as we know, culture is dynamic, and so the same amount of clothing that is normal at the beach is considered mildly shocking in the middle of a busy city centre. That slight frisson of shock likely draws attention to him, and perhaps even adds something to shape top-down perceptions of his performance (<a href=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/perception-pt-2-evaluate-act\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/perception-pt-2-evaluate-act\/\">recall<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Norms: Injunctive vs. descriptive<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are different kinds of norms that can often be layered on top of each other. Some of them are rules that describe what we are supposed to do (e.g., don&#8217;t cut into lines or queues, don&#8217;t interrupt, don&#8217;t be naked in public, bring a gift when you&#8217;re invited to a birthday party), and others aren&#8217;t really rules, but just what &#8220;everyone&#8221; does (e.g., students wearing jeans, saying &#8216;hi&#8217; when you meet someone). We call the rules <strong>injunctive norms<\/strong>, and we call the descriptions of what people tend to do <strong>descriptive norms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group definition_block has-background is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14d7fe8f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#fcb90017\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"definition_term wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Injunctive norm<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"definition_definition wp-block-paragraph\">The rules for what you are and are not supposed to do (can be implicit or explicit)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group definition_block has-background is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14d7fe8f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#fcb90017\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"definition_term wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Descriptive norm<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"definition_definition wp-block-paragraph\">The behaviour that is understood as &#8216;what people do&#8217;. Following them often feels &#8216;safe&#8217; because they are what you do to &#8216;fit in&#8217;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For an example of how they layer on top of each other, consider speed limits for cars on roads. When there is an explicit injunctive norm that the maximum allowed speed of 30 miles per hour (mph) on a road (50 km\/h), there might be a second implicit injunctive norm that you won&#8217;t actually really get a speed ticket unless you drive at 33 or 35 mph or more. In some places the police state these rules clearly (i.e., &#8220;we don&#8217;t catch people unless they go 10% over&#8221;), and in other places there are tacit rules that locals know that 33mph is probably save, but 45 will get you an expensive ticket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People who are driving at 35 mph on a nominally 30 mph road people can get annoyed at others who are slowing them down by driving at 28 mp. The slower driver is following the law correctly, but is breaking the unwritten injunctive and descriptive norm for what the locals actually do. If you travel around the world you will find places where the descriptive norms for how fast to drive are very different from the injunctive speed limit (usually a lot faster), and places where people follow the posted limits very closely (often places where the police enforcement is tighter). When you are in a new place, often you will observe the drivers around you, using them as a reference group to work out the local descriptive norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reason these norms conflict so much is because people want different things. Some put their emphasis on avoiding crashes and collisions, and how injuring and fatal they are when they happen. They want to set limits lower, and get more upset at people who endanger others by breaking those laws. But most of us also want to get where we are going quickly, and get annoyed at rules that force us to slow down, and maybe even feel bored and controlled when we are forced to travel slower than we feel we are capable of. Hence you get people with conflicting motives who develop conflicting norms, who can become very angry over their attempts to regulate each other&#8217;s behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As much as norms can be a source of conflict, the absence of them can also be problem. Imagine being invited to a party by friends of your parents. What are the injunctive norms for gift-giving in this situation? You wouldn&#8217;t want to be the only person to show up without flowers or a dessert or a bottle of drink (&#8220;how thoughtless of you! Don&#8217;t you appreciate their hospitality?&#8221;), and equally it would be awkward if you were the only one who did bring a gift (&#8220;they&#8217;re a generation older than you, why are you treating them like children? And are you suggesting the dessert they made wouldn&#8217;t have been good enough?&#8221;). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It can take a lot of cultural and social skills (and sometimes consultation-seeking) to navigate situations in which there aren&#8217;t any clear or well-known norms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Values<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If norms are about things you should (or shouldn&#8217;t) <strong>do<\/strong>, values are about what you should <strong>be like<\/strong>. Honesty is a value. Being responsive to your community is a value. Being competitive is a value. Winning at all costs is a value. People can have individual values, but cultures, as shared understandings, can promote them too. And when values conflict, this is where you can get really ugly fights (for instance one person convinced they are being good by bending every rule to win at a game, and another person appalled at their outrageous and despicable cheating &#8211; these two will not have kind words to say about each other).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group definition_block has-background is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14d7fe8f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#fcb90017\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"definition_term wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Values<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"definition_definition wp-block-paragraph\">The qualities that a culture (or person) sees as desirable or undesirable<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are many ways to divide up and categorize cultural values, but the most famous is Hofestede&#8217;s. It is also one of the oldest and most useful to marketers &#8211; primarily because it gives quantitative scores to different places, that allow you to quickly look up how much things are likely to change (or stay the same) as you move from place to place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Geert Hofstede was a Dutch engineer who famously administered a survey to his co-workers at IBM in the 1970s. It was a rather large survey, because IBM was a global company, and he wanted to know what motivated his colleagues differently around the world. What he found was so interesting that he eventually left to work in academia so he could research it full-time. It was this: culture seemed to vary along six dimensions, which he named: Power Distance, Individualism, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculinity, long-term orientation, and Indulgence vs. restraint <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-J4UHZQ7D--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:J4UHZQ7D}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js understand\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24555\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">He can&#8217;t have been the only person to try this<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24555\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He wasn&#8217;t. There are two broadly similar models that are more recent and similarly offer numerical scores across countries: Schwartz&#8217;s values model, and House&#8217;s GLOBE model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These were developed on different populations (students and teachers vs. middle managers across several industries), with slightly different aims and methods. Not all of their findings line up perfectly with Hofstede&#8217;s, but their overall pictures do seem broadly similar &#8211; see de Mooij <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-C9DT77QC--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': '56-70', 'items': '{4193465:C9DT77QC}', 'format': '(%d%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span> for a detailed comparison <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1 &#8211; Individualism \/ Collectivism<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the most widely studied of the dimensions, and refers to whether people see themselves (and each other) more as individuals who should follow their own interests, thoughts, and priorities, or as embedded into relationships (families, friends, coworkers). In other words: should you be thinking more in terms of &#8220;me&#8221; and &#8220;I&#8221;, or should you be thinking more about &#8220;we&#8221; and &#8220;us&#8221;? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Much of Europe and North America trend towards being individualistic, and most of the rest of the world trends towards being collectivistic (though there has been a broad global shift towards everywhere getting a little more individualistic, possibly as places get wealthier, giving people more degrees of freedom to disentangle from their family and communities).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Individualist consumers seem more drawn to being early adopters of new technologies, and wanting fashion items that demonstrate uniqueness (vs. conformity). Advertising values associated with individualism are self-confidence and self-expression (vs. sharing) <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-C9DT77QC--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': '56-70', 'items': '{4193465:C9DT77QC}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2 &#8211; Power Distance<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your author receives many emails from students. Some of them start &#8220;Dear Most Respected Sir,&#8221;. Others start with &#8220;hey,&#8221;. Before the student has even said anything I have a pretty good idea if they come from a culture that sees hierarchy as common, as natural, as everything being in its place, and with everyone knowing their role&#8230; Or as one that sees hierarchy as vaguely suspicions &#8211; a thing that people try to get away with to be bossy. In other words, I see how high they are in power distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consumers who are high in power distance are likely to show extra interest in displaying status or power, perhaps through clothing or other symbols, and should respond to advertising messages and products more that appeal to this.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/doc-patient-s-iStock-1461330630.jpg\" alt=\"Doctor with stethoscope around her neck talking to a patient in a brown sweater.\" class=\"wp-image-2642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/doc-patient-s-iStock-1461330630.jpg 600w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/doc-patient-s-iStock-1461330630-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8220;take one of these a day and exercise more&#8221; &#8211; Even low power-distance cultures accept hierarchy sometimes. It&#8217;s just a matter of how easily and how often (iStock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3 &#8211; Masculinity \/ Femininity (equality)<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This label betrays its origins in the 1970s when Western culture was much more comfortable with normative gender stereotypes. According to Hofstede, &#8220;Masculine&#8221; cultures value assertiveness, success, and achievement, whereas &#8220;feminine&#8221; cultures value caring for others and quality of life. Masculine cultures also have stronger ideas about men and women having differentiated roles, whereas &#8220;feminine&#8221; cultures (perhaps better called &#8216;Egalitarian&#8217;) are accepting of men and women filling any role they please. In Masculine cultures it is relatively desirable (perhaps especially for men) to consume things that signal their success, and for women to signal their ability to look after people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js understand\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\" id=\"bud_light\"><h5 id=\"at-24556\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">An example: the Bud Light controversy of 2023 <\/h5><div id=\"ac-24556\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On April 1 of 2023 Bud Light, America&#8217;s #1 selling beer, paid a transgender influencer called Dylan Mulvaney to release a very short video to her followers promoting them. This wasn&#8217;t the first time they had worked with Dylan or the LGBTQ+ community, but this particular promotion got picked up by conservative American media (and social media), who launched a backlash that featured pop singer Kid Rock shooting cans of Bud Light with a shotgun, and a boycott successful enough to put a noticeable dent in Bud Light&#8217;s immediate sales, and make headlines around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"454\" height=\"697\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Dylan_Mulvaney_Day_365_Event_2023.jpg\" alt=\"Dylan Mulvaney wearing a black dress with pink tutu, long black gloves and swept up hair, at her Day 365 of Girlhood event at the Rainbow Room in New York City in 2023\" class=\"wp-image-2632\" style=\"width:400px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Dylan_Mulvaney_Day_365_Event_2023.jpg 454w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Dylan_Mulvaney_Day_365_Event_2023-195x300.jpg 195w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 454px) 100vw, 454px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dylan Mulvaney at her Day 365 of Girlhood event (credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=131862289\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=131862289\">Stay Tuned NBC<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The CEO of their parent company (Anheuser-Busch) tried to smooth this all down by releasing a statement saying &#8220;We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,&#8221; but this arguably only made people (on all sides) more angry. How did such a tiny act of promotion, and such an anodyne statement stir up so much anger and energy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several reasons, but a big one was because it was part of a larger argument over values. The conservatives who formed a considerable part of Bud Light&#8217;s core audience held Masculine cultural values. From their perspective Dylan was not only failing to aspire towards being a strong male provider, as men should, but was actively running away from this major source of meaning and worth (if it is hard for you to intuit why this may matter to them, substitute a different value that you do hold. For instance, imagine some person saying: &#8220;honest? No, I will never be honest. That&#8217;s just not who I am!&#8221;). This made her, according to Masculine values, a bad person with whom one would not want to be associated &#8211; even via one&#8217;s beer (as we discussed in our Self chapter, alcohol seems to be one of the product types that we are most predisposed to integrate into our identity). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But from an egalitarian values perspective, Dylan was being a good person &#8211; she was not only looking after her mental health needs with her gender transition, but was also helping other people look after theirs too by speaking so openly about it. From this perspective, the attacks she received were the strong abusing their position of power to punch down at the vulnerable. And they weren&#8217;t only upset with the conservative attackers, but also with Anheuser-Busch, who, from an egalitarian perspective, put Dylan in a vulnerable position, and then did nothing to defend her from the intense abuse she received as blow-back (<a href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/dylan-mulvaney-bud-light-controversy-new-instagram-video-tiktok-star\/13443105\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/dylan-mulvaney-bud-light-controversy-new-instagram-video-tiktok-star\/13443105\/\">not even reaching out<\/a> to contact her). This apparent lack of concern for protecting the weak and vulnerable communicated a betrayal of egalitarian values (the very same ones that Anheuser was trying to appeal to by sponsoring her in the first place), hence their anger towards the firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This was not just a case in clumsy marketing#up, then, but also a good demonstration of how fights over values can get ugly quickly: We don&#8217;t view the people on the other side of such disputes as merely incorrect (which wouldn&#8217;t be so bad because, hey, we all get things wrong from time to time), but also as being bad people, who are behaving shamelessly. That is much harder to forgive and move on from.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. For those interested, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marketingweek.com\/ritson-bud-lights-ad-backlash-mass-marketing\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.marketingweek.com\/ritson-bud-lights-ad-backlash-mass-marketing\/\">an opinion(ated!) piece<\/a> in MarketingWeek analysing what happened from the perspective of an experienced marketing practitioner<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4 &#8211; Uncertainty Avoidance<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People in some cultures experience uncertainty and ambiguity as inherently unpleasant and threatening, whereas people in other cultures are far more relaxed around it. The uncertainty-avoidant cultures tend to like familiar products and are often somewhat willing to trade away potentially improved results in favour of a clear process that provides formal communications and instructions. It may not work quite as well, but that is worthwhile if it avoids the anxiety of worrying that they might end up someplace they didn&#8217;t want to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cultures that are more embracing of uncertainty are more focused on results than process, and often have a distaste for too many rules: who cares how you get there, they feel, so long as you get somewhere interesting. Accordingly, they are more willing to try new innovations, travel to new places (where people speak different languages), and so on. It&#8217;s not that they are more tolerant of risk per se &#8211; they aren&#8217;t all out skydiving and investing their life savings at casinos &#8211; it is just that they don&#8217;t see it as inherently terrible if things work out differently than they were expecting &#8211; that&#8217;s part of the adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js interest\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24557\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">Are universities uncertainty-avoidant cultures?<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24557\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They vary, widely, of course, but it is common for academics in social sciences and especially humanities to be very low in uncertainty avoidance (at least about their field). They often love analysing people and situations by delving into the complexities, the shades of meaning, and exploring the grey areas. This can cause conflicts with students who come from high uncertainty-avoidant cultures. Such students are anxious that they won&#8217;t be able to provide the correct accepted answers on tests, and get quickly frustrated when they ask a question and receive an answer in the format of: &#8220;Well, if you look at it this way&#8230; but also if you look at it that other way&#8230;&#8221;. To such students this isn&#8217;t a real answer, it is just waffling and dancing around the issue. Yet this same answer might feel like a breath of fresh air to other students who are from more uncertainty-embracing cultures &#8211; they might feel relief at escaping from the tedious black-and-white restrictions of sticking narrowly to what someone else sees as &#8220;correct&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">University administrators often have more uncertainty-avoidant cultures. They like clear rules and processes (e.g., what deadlines should be enforced, what thresholds should exist for marks, what modules should students on different programs be allowed to take). This is partly because their job is to produce ordered and predictable outcomes from a big unruly mass of academics and students. It is also partly because universities are increasingly conscious that they can be sued (mostly by students who disapprove of outcomes they have experienced). As a result, they spend time consulting with lawyers, who are trained to be uncertainty-reduction machines. Young lawyers are taught to imagine the worst possible outcomes for any given scenario, and then put in place procedures and checklists to prevent that thing from ever occurring (or, at least, to be able to claim &#8220;we made a bona fide effort to stop it&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This can produce friction with uncertainty-comfortable students (and staff), who just want to be allowed to reach some desirable outcome without being so constrained by the myriad rules, and reams of paperwork placed in their way by nervous lawyers.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5 &amp; 6 &#8211; Long \/ Short-term orientation, and Indulgence \/ Restraint<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are newer dimensions that are less used and studied, and so we have less to say about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their labels are both quite self-descriptive. A short-term orientation (thought to be held in most Western countries) is about focusing more on what one has or can get right now, or in the immediate future. Long-term orientation involves being readier to consider what will happen in a year, or ten, or more. It is also associated with being thrifty, being more persistent, and looking after things, repairing, or re-using them (as opposed to using and disposing). China is a country associated with this longer-term horizon (it was the one that inspired the group to consider this dimension at all).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One harder-to-see consequence of long-term orientation is that it is thought to be associated with less binary thinking in terms of things being only true vs. false. When you think about what happens to things over long time horizons you become aware that they can change, they grow, they even turn into their opposites (concrete can go from runny to hard to dust, a person from calm to angry to sad).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A cultural orientation towards indulgence is about seeking happiness and leisure, whereas restraint is about being more careful, working hard, and (as with a long-term orientation), being thrifty. When you are sitting down to study, and your friend says &#8220;hey, let&#8217;s go somewhere fun&#8221;, are you being a bad person if you are so lazy and careless as to leave with them (failure to show restraint!), or are you being a bad person if you are so boring and dull that you aren&#8217;t willing to seize the moment (failure to indulge!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js interest\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24558\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">Can values be functional? Or is that just codings and norms?<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24558\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are some good arguments that they can. For instance, one study <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-MLE8IM4Q--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:MLE8IM4Q}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span> started with two cities in Iran: Shiraz and Yazd. Shiraz has plentiful water and it grows nice gardens and also wine that you&#8217;ve probably heard of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"456\" height=\"600\" data-id=\"2656\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/shiraz-wine-pexels-brett-jordan-18847863.jpg\" alt=\"a bottle of Shiraz red wine sitting next to a wine=glass into which some of it has been poured, against a brick background\" class=\"wp-image-2656\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/shiraz-wine-pexels-brett-jordan-18847863.jpg 456w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/shiraz-wine-pexels-brett-jordan-18847863-228x300.jpg 228w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 456px) 100vw, 456px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Shiraz wine<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" data-id=\"2655\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Shiraz-eram-garden-6881202_640.jpg\" alt=\"A beautiful ornate house with columns and mosaic decorations, flanked by palm trees, and sitting in front of a calm blue pool in which it is reflected\" class=\"wp-image-2655\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Shiraz-eram-garden-6881202_640.jpg 500w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Shiraz-eram-garden-6881202_640-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eram Garden, in Shiraz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">(credit: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/wood-alcohol-bar-australia-18847863\/\">wine<\/a> &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/eram-garden-building-garden-6881202\/\">garden<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But Yazd is dry. Hot, and very dry.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/yazd-Iran-hasan-almasi-Jp3OEDO4Q-8-unsplash.jpg\" alt=\"Yazd Iran. A roofscape of terra-cotta coloured buildings, with many tall striking structures sticking up that look like large chimneys covered in long vertical slits\" class=\"wp-image-3093\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/yazd-Iran-hasan-almasi-Jp3OEDO4Q-8-unsplash.jpg 640w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/11\/yazd-Iran-hasan-almasi-Jp3OEDO4Q-8-unsplash-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Yazd, Iran. Those tall structures are &#8216;windcatchers&#8217; &#8211; ingenious ways of cooling buildings in a hot dry climate, by cleverly manipulating their air circulation (<a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/beige-building-during-day-Jp3OEDO4Q-8\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/beige-building-during-day-Jp3OEDO4Q-8\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shiraz has a reputation for poetry, art, and the good life. Shiraz for restraint, thrift, and hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This made the authors think of Hofstede&#8217;s values of indulgence and long-term orientation. Sure enough, they find that the people of Shiraz (and other people in places with plentiful water) seem to have values that skew towards indulgence. The argument is that if the resources that you need to live are plentiful then it makes sense to direct more of your time and energy towards finding enjoyment in life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In contrast, people in Yazd (and other dry places) seem to skew towards values of a long-term orientation. The argument here is similar: if you can&#8217;t take for granted that you have everything you need, then it makes sense to value being careful about planning and saving, and maximizing whatever resources you do have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To see if this affected people&#8217;s real behaviour, these researchers posted two different versions of the same job ad in each city. The people of Yazd responded in larger numbers to the version which claimed the company was long-established (30 years) and was offering secure full-time working conditions. Meanwhile, the people of Shiraz responded in larger numbers to the other version of this ad &#8211; one claiming to be for a start-up company that was offering flexible part-time hours (the ads were identical in all other respects). It&#8217;s not hard to see how the first ad would be satisfying to someone who valued their long-term security, and the other might appeal to someone who valued trying to live a little larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So it seems that cultures can adapt their values to survive or thrive in the environments that they find themselves in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The full paper has all the details <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-MLE8IM4Q--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:MLE8IM4Q}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>, but for a quicker summary (with more detail than we gave here, plus lots of very pretty pictures and graphs) see this <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThomasTalhelm\/status\/1701625497401094303?t=z_KnGqfhb2frpLC9fNdBiw&amp;s=19\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThomasTalhelm\/status\/1701625497401094303?t=z_KnGqfhb2frpLC9fNdBiw&amp;s=19\">Twitter thread<\/a>#up by one of its authors. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. We are aware that Elon Musk would like us all to call Twitter 'X' now. We wish him the best of luck in this endeavour<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can values segment consumers?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few commercially oriented systems have been developed to try to do this, although the data they are based on can make them somewhat specific to the countries in which they were developed. The first and best known of these is called VALS (&#8220;Values and Lifestyles&#8221;) and was developed by Stanford&#8217;s Research Institute in the USA. It merges values and demographic characteristics into a system that categorizes consumers into numerous segments that are purported to have different consumer preferences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The reason for including demographics in this system is to try to make its segments more actionable. If all you knew was that there were a group of people who value thrift and independence, then that might not help you very much as a market practitioner, because how would you find these people? It&#8217;s not like they have these labels glued to their heads. But people do have information about where they live glued to them (metaphorically speaking), so if you know that value X describes a working-class group of people who live in a particular zip code (postcode), then you stand a reasonable chance of being able to target such people with your marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VALS system is rather spiked towards American cultural values (this being where it was developed), and while people do try to use it elsewhere, there have been attempts to develop local systems in other countries too. There is a version called RISC from France, one called Kompas in Scandinavia, and another developed by Dentsu in Japan <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-C9DT77QC--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:C9DT77QC}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>. Predictably these tend to have somewhat different categories from each other (and from VALS). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Do values shape consumer preferences directly?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There&#8217;s really not as much data on this as you would think. There is some evidence that they do shape preferences, though it tends to come with caveats. For instance, it seems more true for durable goods and services (so your car more than your toothpaste), and for higher-order personal values over more instrumental ones <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-7AT54YRK--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:7AT54YRK}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>, or when a new product and its brand both fit cultural values and are considered culturally symbolic <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-T5HJS5JF--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:T5HJS5JF}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>, and may depend on how strongly the values-overlap <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-DDBH8Q5L--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:DDBH8Q5L}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Somewhat similarly, there is some evidence that advertising tends to be bent to fit the values of its host countries <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-FKENK47N--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:FKENK47N}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>, and that advertising can be more effective if it does <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-U2H8YGM8-_-4193465-45GVG34P--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:U2H8YGM8},{4193465:45GVG34P}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These effects may not always be large, though, because values are only one concern among many that people have, and (as some of those caveats above suggest) are only likely to be salient to people some of the time &#8211; recall that our working memory is very limited, with only room to consider a small number of things at once. This means that our values will shift in salience considerably depending on the context. If you are buying a pencil case you probably aren&#8217;t searching your long-term memory to see if fits with your values, but you might be more likely to if you are buying beer or a car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, while people&#8217;s values do appear very stable across their lifespans, we also often belong to multiple sub-cultures with different value sets, and this can cause us to shift which frame we are using from moment to moment. For example, when you think about the professional sports team that you identify with, you might value athletes who are ultra-competitive, who get angry when they lose, and who will do whatever it takes to the other team to get a millimetre closer to winning, no matter the cost. Those same traits may seem far less desirable on the weekend when you are playing amateur games with your friends. There you might value someone who tries hard, but who is relaxed about losing, and isn&#8217;t likely to injure anyone on the path to sporting glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once you realize this, it probably becomes less surprising that our values are only somewhat shaped by our national culture. Wherever you live you probably know many people who have widely different values. According to some estimates, Hofstede&#8217;s national level observations only about 2-4% of the variance in values between individual people <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-SCRHK7C4--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:SCRHK7C4}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>. What that means, in practical terms, is that while it might make sense to target adverts differently in different countries (they are shown to thousands of people, so a slight improvement in the average response can matter to them), it&#8217;s a different story if you are meeting any one individual person from a particular place. Sit down with someone from Peru or China or Ireland or Barbados, and their country of origin probably doesn&#8217;t tell you very much at all about how much they value, say, power distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One last consideration is that there is a risk for brands in appealing to values. Unlike other traits, such as brand image or history, people really care when you violate their values. If you are going to tell people that you care about these things then you really have to walk the walk &#8211; adhere to those values, even when it is difficult or expensive to do so <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-7AT54YRK--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:7AT54YRK}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>. For an example of this in action, see our <a href=\"#bud_light\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#bud_light\">Mulvaney \/ Bud Light<\/a> box above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can brands have their own values?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is research which suggests that the way that brands are coded and valued is often similar across cultures, but they can also have their own ways of seeing them too <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-L76SC5V7--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:L76SC5V7}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span>#up. Specifically, they found that consumers across three cultures (Japan, Spain, and the USA) parsed brands as likeable for expressing sophistication (perhaps Dior), for being exciting (perhaps a theme park), and for being sincere (think of Disney &#8211; wholesome characters who learn to care and get unironic happy endings). And yet there were differences too. In the US people were more willing to admire brands for being rugged (tough and outdoorsy, such as Jeeps), in Spain they admired brands for having Passion (think Flamenco dancing &#8211; impulsive, emotional, mystical, and extravagant), and in Japan they admired brands for being Peaceful (think numerous anime protagonists, mild, shy, and even naive and childlike).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. You might recoginize the name Aaker from when we talked about brand equity, but they are not the same person. That was David Aaker, this is Jennifer Aaker. Random trivia: David is Jennifer's father. It feels a odd gossiping about the dads of eminent Standford Business School professors in a textbook, but yet here we are. It's a funny old world<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They also found a trait of competence (being reliable, determined, and patient) which was admired in brands in the USA and Japan. The Spanish didn&#8217;t seem to differentiate this concept, though, and blurred it together with the idea of Sophistication.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/cultures-have-different-brand-values-Aaker-et-al-2001.svg\" alt=\"A Venn diagram. The 3 circles are labelled USA, Spain, and Japan. Unique to the USA is the trait Ruggedness, unique to Spain is Passion, and unique to Japan is peacefulness. Shared between the USA and Japan is Competence, and shared by all three are sophistication, excitement, and sincerity\" class=\"wp-image-2634\" style=\"width:500px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brand values by country <span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-L76SC5V7--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': 'np', 'items': '{4193465:L76SC5V7}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This suggests that our culture really can shape what we see and appreciate in the brands we buy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can things be valued? Places? Events?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They can. Anthropologists even have a word for it: &#8220;sacred&#8221;. They don&#8217;t mean this in the religious sense of being linked to any kind of spiritual being or meaning. They only mean that the thing is seen as somehow special, or set apart. Non-sacred things are &#8220;profane&#8221;; not bad, just ordinary and non-special. Your sock drawer is profane. So are most of the brands you own: they can be nice, you can like them, but they are just ordinary everyday things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group definition_block has-background is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14d7fe8f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#fcb90017\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"definition_term wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sacred<\/strong><\/p>\n<cite>Anthropology term<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"definition_definition wp-block-paragraph\">Things which a culture sees as special, elevated, or set aside from the normal world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group definition_block has-background is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14d7fe8f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#fcb90017\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"definition_term wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Profane<\/strong><\/p>\n<cite>Anthropology term<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"definition_definition wp-block-paragraph\">Things which a culture sees as ordinary, mundane, everyday. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let&#8217;s take some quick examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Places can be sacred. Sometimes in the sense of the word that is shared with religion (Jerusalem is sacred to three major world religions, and Mecca to one). But it doesn&#8217;t have to be religious. Local pubs were sacred to their communities in the UK, as sites of community bonding. Other places where we meet and bond can take on that role too &#8211; coffee shops, malls, streets (to gangs who patrol them). Your home is a sacred place to you. Don&#8217;t believe us? we&#8217;ll prove it: Imagine you have been on holiday for 3 weeks and having a nice time, but now it&#8217;s drawing to a close. Which bed do you want to sleep in more than any other? Your own. Your bed isn&#8217;t nicer than the one is some fancy hotel, but it is special. It is <strong>your place<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">People can be sacred. This might seem like a strange idea, particularly if you are low in power-distance, because that means you like to see everyone as having the same level of importance. But even if this is you, these may be some exceptions. Sacred people can be political leaders or from royal families in some places. They can be singers or entertainers or sports figures in others. Imagine meeting the leader of your country. Would you feel like this was the same experience as chatting with a stranger while waiting in the local grocery store line? Or imagine meeting Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift, Drake, or Stormzy. What if it were LeBron James or Lionel Messi? A Nobel prize winner? Would that be like passing the time of day with your everyday friends#up?<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. There is a type of person who seems to enjoy 'name dropping': casually and routinely mentioning the times they have met these elevated kinds of people. Social psychologists (and a lot of eye-rolling conversation partners) tend to see this as form of showing off about their levels of social capital <\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Events can be sacred too. In the ancient world wars would be put on pause for the Olympic games, and even in modern times we will stop for it to watch sports that we have barely heard of, let alone normally care about. Family dinners can be sacred to many &#8211; a special time that is different to everyone just eating in their own room with their personal screens (as can happen much of the rest of the time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And, of course, brands can be too:<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"550\" height=\"413\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Harley-motorcycle-2381680_640.jpg\" alt=\"A procession of grizzled mostly bearded bikers riding on their 'hogs'\" class=\"wp-image-2691\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Harley-motorcycle-2381680_640.jpg 550w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/Harley-motorcycle-2381680_640-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(<a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/motorcycle-harley-colorful-biker-2381680\/\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So strong is the Harley-Davidson motorcycle as an organising symbol for the biker ethos that it has become, in effect, a religious icon around which an entire ideology of consumption is articulated<\/p>\n<cite><span class=\"zp-InText-zp-ID--4193465-EFASV8RR--wp2455 zp-InText-Citation loading\" rel=\"{ 'pages': '50', 'items': '{4193465:EFASV8RR}', 'format': '(%a%, %d%, %p%)', 'brackets': '', 'etal': '', 'separator': '', 'and': '' }\"><\/span><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pb-accordion-item c-accordion__item js-accordion-item no-js interest\" data-initially-open=\"false\" data-click-to-close=\"true\" data-auto-close=\"true\" data-scroll=\"false\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\"><h5 id=\"at-24559\" class=\"c-accordion__title js-accordion-controller\" role=\"button\">Sports can combine them all: Manchester United<\/h5><div id=\"ac-24559\" class=\"c-accordion__content\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To followers of Manchester United, their stadium Old Trafford is a sacred place. Fans will routinely travel from around the world to make a trip just to see a game there, and speak reverently of the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/manchester-united-football-1656122\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/old-trafford-manchester-united-1656122_640.jpg\" alt=\"A view of Old Trafford stadium in Manchester. It is taken from the ground looking at its glass front, with white metal scaffolding that rises above. In the foreground is a statue of three football players linking arms and facing the stadium.\" class=\"wp-image-2690\" srcset=\"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/old-trafford-manchester-united-1656122_640.jpg 640w, https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/10\/old-trafford-manchester-united-1656122_640-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Old Trafford and &#8220;the trinity&#8221; (<a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/manchester-united-football-1656122\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/photos\/manchester-united-football-1656122\/\">credit<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">See that statue in front of the stadium? That is &#8220;the trinity&#8221;, and if you are a proper Manchester United fan you know who they are#up, and what they mean. Inside the stadium, you will find banners hanging up that say things like &#8220;Feb 6th 1958. The flowers of Manchester&#8221;. To outsiders that would be quite cryptic, but to followers of the club it refers to the Munich Air Disaster, an event where much of the team died on a plane that caught fire. The manager, Sir Matt Busby was one of the survivers, and eventually solved the problem of missing lots of good players by auditioning local Manchester boys and building them into a side that won a great deal for many years. This arguably invented the idea of clubs having football clubs having academies that take children as young as 12, and teach and train them to be full professionals (this idea is not an inevitable one &#8211; most other world sports don&#8217;t do this).<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. Sir Bobby Charleton, George Best, and Dennis Law (literally an Englishman, an Irishman, and a Scotsman). Sir Bobby survived the Munich disaster as a 20 year-old and went on to win everything for his club and country<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These banners and statues, and associated events that take place at games (there is a memorial event every year for the Munich disaster) is not random activity &#8211; it is a process of <strong>sacralizaton<\/strong>, by which their sacred status is culturally consolidated.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It doesn&#8217;t come up much in consumer behaviour, but Just for the sake of completeness, we can note that there is an opposite to sacredness. The term for things which are special, but in a bad way, is &#8216;taboo&#8217;. Rapists and paedophiles are taboo. Nakedness is taboo in a lot of contexts (&#8220;in your shower: good, in the classroom: bad&#8221;). Tattoos used to be quite taboo in the Western world, but have gradually become profane since roughly the early 2000&#8217;s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group definition_block has-background is-content-justification-left is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-14d7fe8f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\" style=\"background-color:#fcb90017\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"definition_term wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Taboo<\/strong><\/p>\n<cite>Anthropology term<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"definition_definition wp-block-paragraph\">Things which a culture sees as bad and worthy of contempt. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">When do norms and values affect us?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Norms and values exist in our long-term memory just like any other kind of information does. Just like any other kind of information, they also have to be brought into our working memory to shape what we do. Sometimes this happens automatically &#8211; it&#8217;s hard to think about traffic lights without also bringing to mind the norms for what to do when they turn red or green. Other times they might slip our mind if we are focused on other things &#8211; for instance, getting so excited about seeing our favourite music act in person that we forget our usual norms about taking turns for conversation (&#8220;will you shut up about X for a minute and let someone else get a word in?&#8221; \/ &#8220;Oh, sorry! I got carried away&#8221;).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Which descriptive norms come to mind can depend on which reference group or identity we currently have activated. For instance, if I&#8217;m thinking of myself as a scholar because I&#8217;m doing formal writing in a university setting, then I might activate language norms that are comfortable with long words (like &#8220;injunctive&#8221;) and sentences that have subclauses &#8211; like this one. But if I&#8217;m thinking of myself as a parent (perhaps I&#8217;ve just been talking with my six-year-old), then I might activate simpler descriptive language norms. These norms use simple words. They talk in short and direct sentences. They are comfortable with fart jokes. They get annoyed at shows for using &#8216;bad words&#8217;#up.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"brxe-div footnote_anchor\"><div class=\"brxe-div footnote_shifter\">\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">#down. Injunctive norm alert!<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other times we will search through our memory deliberately, trying to find norms and values that might be applicable. This is especially likely to happen when we are in uncertain situations where we aren&#8217;t sure what to do (perhaps because they are new to us, or we are around unfamiliar people), or when the stakes are unusually high. For instance, at job interviews, we are aware that people will be judging us, for big things and small. That can make us nervous and hyper-careful, trying to spot and follow every possible norm and value so that we can behave in the most desirable and &#8216;correct&#8217; ways possible. Other times, when we are feeling relaxed, comfortable, and mentally absorbed in other activities, we might not be tracking norms around us all that closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Review<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">{pods_post_review}<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<div id='zp-InTextBib-zotpress-7c481722ecaf7671afb11d82377fe9b7' class='zp-Zotpress zp-Zotpress-InTextBib wp-block-group zp-Post-2455'>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_ITEM_KEY ZP_ATTR\">{4193465:BQM4JEK6};{4193465:2M8UQIUV};{4193465:6NG64P6A};{4193465:C9DT77QC};{4193465:UPIDJ3F7};{4193465:VAGSN6VJ};{4193465:P2ATZP2T};{4193465:J4UHZQ7D};{4193465:C9DT77QC};{4193465:C9DT77QC};{4193465:MLE8IM4Q};{4193465:MLE8IM4Q};{4193465:C9DT77QC};{4193465:7AT54YRK};{4193465:T5HJS5JF};{4193465:DDBH8Q5L};{4193465:FKENK47N};{4193465:U2H8YGM8},{4193465:45GVG34P};{4193465:SCRHK7C4};{4193465:7AT54YRK};{4193465:L76SC5V7};{4193465:L76SC5V7};{4193465:EFASV8RR}<\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_STYLE ZP_ATTR\">apa<\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_SORTBY ZP_ATTR\">creator<\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_ORDER ZP_ATTR\">asc<\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_TITLE ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_SHOWIMAGE ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_SHOWTAGS ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_DOWNLOADABLE ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_NOTES ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_ABSTRACT ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_CITEABLE ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_TARGET ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_URLWRAP ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_FORCENUM ZP_ATTR\">0<\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_HIGHLIGHT ZP_ATTR\"><\/span>\r\n\t\t<span class=\"ZP_POSTID ZP_ATTR\">2455<\/span><div class='zp-List loading'>\n<div class=\"zp-SEO-Content\"><\/div><!-- .zp-zp-SEO-Content -->\n<\/div><!-- .zp-List --><\/div><!--.zp-Zotpress-->\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are products of our cultures: they shape how we see the world, what we do in it, and what we want to be like<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"chapter":[18],"exclude_from_index":[16],"class_list":["post-2455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","chapter-6-cultures-consumers-in","exclude_from_index-include"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3689,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455\/revisions\/3689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"chapter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter?post=2455"},{"taxonomy":"exclude_from_index","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exclude_from_index?post=2455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}