ERNIE: Oh, gee. Hence the term, the changing same. I think there are historical moments that are transcendent. GELFAND: In Germany and in Japan, the clocks are really synchronized. Im like, Were going to go to Singapore if you people dont behave.. Read the excerpt from Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's Freakonomics. She says these are merely visible indicators of a countrys tightness or looseness and its what you dont necessarily see that shapes a given countrys culture. GELFAND: Weve had our share of threat, but just not chronic threat. We look at how these traits affect our daily lives and why we couldn . When you have teenagers, youre tight, at least for me. Most sociologists agree that individualistic cultures value individual choice, personal freedom, and self-actualization (Kemmelmeier 2002). They tend to veer tighter on our measures than places on the coast. We also realize that were a culture in distress in many, many, many ways. What is culture? Although the concept of an individual may seem straightforward, there are many ways of understanding it, both in theory and in practice. In the Germanic world, we have systems, which means that nothing stands alone. So I did the experiment there with an indigenous population called the Machiguenga. Freakonomics, which weighs in at just over 200 pages (plus a hefty section of bonus material for those interested in learning more), takes as its principal argument the idea that economics exist as a tool to study society. And yes, well talk about what makes America, America at least as seen through the eyes of Kumail Nanjiani, who was born in Pakistan. Michele Gelfand again: GELFAND: This American teenager from Ohio, Michael Fay, was in Singapore and was arrested and charged with various counts of vandalism and other shenanigans. HOFSTEDE: In a cultural sense, no, I dont think so. Published: 31 October 2020. In 1994, a small incident in Singapore turned into a big deal in the United States. In a society of small power distance, a lot. Individualism, Modern Capitalism, and Dystopian Visions Introduction to Heritage and Multicultural American Identities: Contemporary Voices (1970-2000) Introduction to Contemporary Literature of the Twenty-First Century The Poetry of Physics RL.CCR.3 Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text. And then I meet you all, and then youre not. And this paper was basically sitting in the shelves of libraries for many years. Innovation requires coming up with a lot of ideas. So $10 in this case. HENRICH: Theres something called the Asch conformity test, where you have confederates of the experimenter give the same wrong answer to an objective problem. This realization is what led us to todays episode of Freakonomics Radio. A dream team of directors e. Culturally maybe more than anything! Gert Jan Hofstede - Freakonomics. Is that the case? And things worked out well for them for a bit. I was on the phone with my dad, and I said, You know, its really crazy, all the differences between the U.K. and the U.S.. Henrich says yes. You may decide to go another way, but that doesnt make the river change. HOFSTEDE: My name is Gert Jan Hofstede. The Pros and Cons of America's (Extreme) Individualism. (That will also need some explaining.) That was our hypothesis, at least. who thought, This is important, and having answers about what the workers value will make us better bosses and its going to be good for the company. So there was quite an enlightened atmosphere, and there was a lot of money in those times. He veers tighter. We promise no spam. That is not just the most American thing thats ever happened. There were a number of low offers of 15 percent, which didnt get rejected. You can even see the evidence in the clocks that appear on city streets. The incentives of just any regular person are greatly shown because money or personal gain can take over any man or woman no matter how old. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they show that economics is . When Hofstede the Elder went to work for I.B.M., he got involved with these surveys. HOFSTEDE: It means that you only need rules when youre going to use them. Well call it The U.S. Is Very Different from Other Countries So Lets Stop Pretending Its Not. Its the first in a series of episodes where well look at different pieces of that difference. Mobility also produces looseness, because its harder to agree upon any norm. 534. BROADCASTER: On the third trial, something happens. According to a decades-long research project, the U.S. is not only the most individualistic country on earth; were also high on indulgence, short-term thinking, and masculinity (but low on uncertainty avoidance, if that makes you feel better). And she doesnt love to exercise. And how are we defining culture? The focus of that episode was American culture. Michele GELFAND: The people that came to New York early on, they were from all sorts of different cultural backgrounds, and thats helped produce the looseness that exists to this day. In our . GELFAND: The next day, I booked a trip to Egypt. HOFSTEDE: Because its true: the very same dimensions under different circumstances, can work the other way. GELFAND: In societies that are tighter, people are willing to call out rule violators. Our theme song is Mr. We owe much of our freedom to that influence. Download. Were trying to buy time, save time. Theres some D.N.A. I think the models dont account for that because you cant account for that, right? The comedians John Oliver, Hannah Gadsby, and Kumail Nanjiani all grew up outside the U.S. Here in the U.S., its actually a rule violation to call out people who are violating norms. Industrialized. It's part of our founding D.N.A. Also, the people who settled in different areas in the U.S. brought with them their own cultural norms and values, and set the stage for different levels of tight-loose within the nation. The U.S. is overall relatively loose. Theyre not supposed to be the boss. . DUBNER: I remember once, years and years ago, when I was reading this research that you were doing, speaking with Francisco Gil-White, who was then at Penn, and he told me that when he was running this Ultimatum experiment, I dont remember where I want to say Mongolia. One of the areas of cultural study that first hooked her had to do with optical illusions. Now this is pretty rare to have such different groups of respondents and still find the same thing. She sees the lack of self-control in loose countries as particularly worrisome. GELFAND: We analyzed shifts in tightness over 200 years. HENRICH: You want to be the same self, regardless of who youre talking to or what context youre in. For example, we asked bank managers some years ago to look through scenarios of people violating organizational rules, like coming to work late, staying on the phone too long, maybe checking their email. So why did someone succeed? Freakonomics Radio . The first one measures the level of individualism in a given culture, versus collectivism. I dont like to itch, Bert. As a result, the needs of individuals dictate social behaviors, rather than the needs of larger groups. But its also a tremendous outlier. They can freely float about. GELFAND: I really had a lot of culture shock. So the Singapore government says, Look, this is our culture The rest of that sentence didnt have to be said. Shes not very disciplined. Paperback - April 22, 2020. GELFAND: The U.S. is one of the most creative places on the planet. It is still the case that you did have the summer of love. But yes, its all workplace. It shouldnt surprise anyone that individualism might contribute to inequality or at least, as Henrich puts it, the justification of inequality. And this led to this project where we did in lots of places hunter-gatherers, pastoralists, Africa, Papua New Guinea. There are plenty of looser people in tight countries and vice versa. Out into the ocean where they were caught by people on jet skis. President Bush had framed these negotiations as going an extra mile for peace.. Everybody gets tickled until they laugh. Its also important to recognize that even though were really connected, still people are largely in their echo chambers, interacting with people who they know. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Read the excerpt from Levitt and Dubner's Freakonomics. GELFAND: Exactly. Its more about how individuals are acted upon by the people and institutions around them. Or if it will change at all. Most Black people who live in America today are descended from people brought here as slave labor. But then the experimenters confederates come in. Freakonomics is a registered service mark of Renbud Radio, LLC. Our theme song is Mr. HENRICH: One study of the journals in social psychology shows that 96 percent of all subjects in social psychology come from societies that are Western educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic. This does not mean that no one in a loose culture, like the U.S., is stigmatized or mistreated. GELFAND: Exactly. Yes, other phenomena like how things smell to us. One of the defining features of Americanism is our so-called rugged individualism. You might even call it wild individualism. But there must be, I would think, evolution across time, yes? This is a pretty interesting result: one stranger giving away roughly half their money to another stranger when, theoretically, 10 or 20 percent would keep the second player from rejecting the offer. NEAL: We think about improvisation in the context, obviously, of creative and musical terms, but its also a way of always having to adapt to the changing political, social, and cultural realities. 47 min. Then came SuperFreakonomics, a documentary film, an award-winning podcast, and more.. Now, with Think Like a Freak, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner have written their most revolutionary book yet.With their trademark blend of captivating storytelling and . And the Machiguenga were much closer to the predictions of Homo economicus, where youd make low offers and never reject. For instance: According to the 6-D Model of National Culture that weve been talking about, the U.S. is the most individualistic nation on earth. In contrast, the Freakonomics blog features the work of Levitt's friends, and SuperFreakonomics relies heavily on anecdotes, gee-whiz technology reporting and work by Levitt's friends and colleagues. So they might offer, say, 10 out of the 100. We look at how these traits affect our daily lives and why we couldnt change them even if we wanted to. But if you want to talk about humans, Homo sapiens, then you have a generalization problem. All rights reserved. And it produces this illusion. Theres far less stigmatization of people in terms of their race, their religion. Each and every person has individual reasons for pursuing a career, or goal. Its hard in either direction not just because some cultures are tighter than others. Another one: impatience. Its called long-term versus short-term orientation. I know that wasnt your intention. You might think that these relatively minor differences dont add up to much. Think Belarus, Myanmar, Russia, China. So looking decisive, muscular, active or if youre a woman, sexy that makes you more status-worthy. Geert Hofstede ( 2 October 1928 - 12 February 2020) was born in a peaceful country, but his teenage years saw the second World War rage across Europe. Greeks are very strong on that. According to Chapter 5 of Freakonomics, there is a black-white test score gap and that gap is larger when you compare black and white students from the same school. On the more feminine end of the spectrum are the Scandinavian countries and some of Western Europe. GELFAND: Classic things like the Mller-Lyer Illusion, which is these two lines where one looks longer than the other. Michele GELFAND: Its a subfield of psychology that tries to understand whats universal, whats similar, and whats culture-specific. And then in a third condition they were wearing just their face. Youre going to be shut down. Gert Jan HOFSTEDE: Culture is the ripples on the ocean of human nature. So, they would offer a mean of about 25, 26 percent. Henrich has written about the notion of time psychology.. This paper focuses on the construction of racial identity online through the mediating influences of popular culture, old media, weblogs, and Internet users. Bush made clear to Iraqs Saddam Hussein that this wouldnt stand. Its trying to include all the stuff that we acquire as a consequence of growing up in different environments, and contrast that with things like our sex drive, which doesnt seem to be acquired by observing others. And I think, Holy cow, Ukraine is surrounded by threat, including its next-door neighbor, Russia. That relationship has not been a constant, but that makes me a little suspicious. We met him earlier, but just briefly; heres a proper introduction. And thats because the vast majority of the research subjects are WEIRD. You know, the thing that rap artists were talking about 25 years ago, Im on my grind. Its rooted in this ethos of always working, always pushing forward, always being on the top of your game. Thats right: we are No. But we tried to address that. And they often dont even realize theyre being acted upon. Let me give a little background. Ambiguity is good. Capital W-E-I-R-D, which stands for: HENRICH: Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic. Nobody can feel insulted. Better Essays. after? Feb 15, 2023. In our previous episode, we made what may sound like a bold claim. Now that weve taken a top-down view of how the U.S. is fundamentally different from other countries, were going to spend some time over the coming weeks looking at particular economic and social differences, having to do with policing, child poverty, infrastructure, and the economy itself. As advertised!. Michele Gelfand is one of the premier practitioners of cross-cultural psychology. Did you know there is an entire academic field called cross-cultural psychology? GELFAND: Well, it requires a lot of negotiation. This is a summary of the book Freakonomics by Stephen DubnerJoin Reading.FM now: https://fourminutebooks.com/go/readingfm/register/Read more summaries: http. And democratic. Its also the cleaning lady. You had Woodstock, and youre going to have this kind of stuff happening again. HENRICH: I was doing research in the Peruvian Amazon. to let him focus even more on this data. In the latest issue of American Scientist, statisticians Kaiser Fung and Andrew Gelman wrote a strong critique of Levitt and Dubner's work. We often look to other countries for smart policies on education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc. Why not? And I think that America has wonderful things happening to it. We put in a bunch of other checks and controls. Whereas people from less individualistic societies tend to be better at making relative-size judgments. Dubner speaks with Nobel laureates and provocateurs, intellectuals and entrepreneurs, and various other underachievers. In another condition, they were wearing tattoos and nose rings and purple hair. HOFSTEDE: Oh, no, thats something for academia. And then he decided to go to academia. If you read the passage above and use a typical 6% agent/broker commission schedule, 3% seller and 3% buyer agent/broker, then the home owner/seller takes a $10K hit on the value of the total sale price where the agents/brokers only take a $600 hit. And I was interested in this, and I thought maybe it would tell us something about an innate human psychology for reciprocity or something like that. HOFSTEDE: And his special methodological trick was not to do what is now called a pan-cultural analysis across all the respondents, but first to lump them into groups. She grew up in Tasmania. In a future episode, well look at why the U.S., for all its wealth, has such a high rate of child poverty, and whats being done to address that. HENRICH: They are self-enhancing, which means they try to promote their attributes. And I think that is a hallmark of African-American culture in this country. Thats a crazy, creative solution to try to deal with the pandemic. By the way, Gelfand doesnt really take a position on whether loose or tight is superior. And a lot of those presumptions come from how men function within the context of various religious practices. So if you only want to talk about American psychology, youre fine. One of the defining features of Americanism is our so-called "rugged individualism." You might even call it wild individualism. HOFSTEDE: Well, if you want an honest answer, I think mainly our own curiosity. NEAL: So its always evolving, its always developing, but theres some core principles. We look at how these traits affect . HENRICH: And Americans have this probably worse than anybody. It also is related to obesity. GELFAND: Apparently over 50 percent of cats and dogs in the U.S. are obese. We even walk faster. When most readers think economics, they think advanced math, complicated models, and subjects like unemployment, the stock market, and the trade deficit. Im a professor of artificial sociality at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The examples include: school teachers and sumo wrestlers cheating, the Ku Klux . HOFSTEDE: You could say these six dimensions of culture, they are perimeters to our sociality. They dont even see each other and this is a one-time interaction, so there wont be another round of the game where the second player can punish or reward the first player. I do think that humanity as a whole is sort of evolving to being more reflective. Whatd they say? There, its really important to maintain that humility, to be focused on your privacy, but not trying to one-up other people. That, again, is the American culture scholar Joe Henrich. In the end, he resorted to making small plywood boxes with a slot cut into . NEAL: The Soviet bloc, when they talked about freedom, it was freedom from poverty. HOFSTEDE: This is a very American question, Stephen. 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