Doing & Being Cultures

Culture School is in session! In this series, we take an aspect of intercultural theory and apply to daily life. Basically, our goal is to expose those cultural moonwalking bears. And because this blog is about culture and education, we consider each topic in the context of the classroom.

photo by maryatexitzero

by :: Anamaria

We’ve covered a lot of cultural theory in the past few months. We talked about individualism and collectivism and high and low power distance. We also talked about how perceptions of time differ across cultures.

Before we move on to a new cross-cultural topic, I think we need to have some fun revisiting these concepts. So, let’s try to group them.

Have you noticed, for instance, that some characteristics of monochronic cultures fit very nicely with ideas highly valued in individualistic societies? Which also tend to be small power distance?

In cross-cultural theory literature, the monochronic/individualist/small power distance cultures are considered doing cultures. At the other end of the spectrum, polychronic/collectivistic/large power distance cultures are called being cultures.

Ok, let’s expand on this a bit.

photo by Susan_NYC

Here are some very broad characteristics of doing cultures:

Status is earned (e.g. the work you do in your job). It is not merely a function of who you are (e.g. birth, age, seniority).
Status is not automatic and can be forfeited if one stops achieving (e.g. you quit your job).
Great emphasis is placed on deadlines, schedules etc.
Tasks take precedence over personal relationships in most cases (e.g. your family may not like it but they understand if you have to miss a family birthday party because you have work to do).
People are supposed to have a personal opinion, which they are expected to verbalize.

photo by nao.k

And here are some very broad characteristics of being cultures:

Status is built into who a person is. It’s automatic and therefore difficult to lose.
Titles are important and should always be used, in order to show appropriate respect for someone’s status.
Harmony should be maintained, and therefore direct confrontation or disagreement is to be avoided. Saving face is highly valued.
Relationships often take precedence over tasks. Much time is spent on greeting and farewell rituals or getting to know someone before agreeing to do business with them.

Of course, most cultures are a mix of both doing and being.

But, in general, they tend to lean more towards one extreme than the other.

The U.S., where Cate and I live, is definitely a doing culture. Great emphasis is put on people being productive, including the times one is supposed to be “off”, such as on weekends. In this case, weekend productivity is measured in the amount of house chores, errands or other activities that people are able to do.

What are some words or expressions that people in doing cultures tend to use most often? Words that have a positive connotation in doing cultures? Below you can find some that immediately come to mind:

rights, negotiate, fairness, necessity, objectives, question, criticize, self, friendship, “do your own thing”, contract, litigation, self-interest, self-respect, individual, dignity, I, me, pleasure, adventure, privacy, truth, law, order, safe, predictable, tight, work, save, moderation, goal, permanent, future, economy, effort, invest, deadline, schedule*

How about words with a positive connotation in being cultures? Here are a few:

harmony, face, sacrifice, family (in a symbolic sense), tradition, respect, father (as a title), older brother, younger brother, wisdom, protect, pleasing, honor, duty, loyalty, relativity, unstructured, loose, flexible, relation, gift, today, yesterday, tradition*

Can you think of other words to add to these lists? Do you feel you live in a doing or being culture? Keeping these words in mind, how would a doing classroom differ from a being classroom?

*Adapted from Exploring Culture: Exercises, Stories and Synthetic Cultures; Gert Jan Hofstede, Paul B. Pedersen, Geert Hofstede

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