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Collectivism versus power distance






Many countries which score high on the PDI score low on the IDV (Table 3.1) and vice versa. In other words, the two dimensions tend to be negatively correlated: large power distance countries are also likely to be more collectivist, and small power distance countries to be more individualist. The relationship between the two indices is plotted in Fig. 3.1; a list of countries with the abbreviations used is presented in Table 3.2.

 

In the plot of Fig. 3.1 the countries are grouped around a diagonal from lower left to upper right, reflecting the correlation between power distance and

collectivism2. In cultures in which people are dependent on ingroups these people are usually also dependent on power figures. Most extended families have patriarchal structures with the head of the family exercising strong moral authority. In cultures in which people are relatively independent from ingroups these people are usually also less dependent on powerful others.

 

However, there are exceptions. The Latin European countries, and in particular France and Belgium, combine medium power distances with strong individualism. The French sociologist Michel Crozier has described his country's culture as follows (Crozier, 1964, p. 222):

 

Face-to-face dependence relationships are... perceived as difficult to bear in the French cultural setting. Yet the prevailing view of authority is still that of... absolutism.... The two attitudes are contradictory. However, they can be reconciled within a bureaucratic system since impersonal rules and centralization make it possible to reconcile an absolutist conception of authority and the elimination of most direct dependence relationships.'

 

Table 3.2 Abbreviations for the countries and regions studied
Abbreviation Country or region Abbreviation Country or region
ARA Arab-speaking countries (Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) ISR Israel
ITA Italy
JAM Jamaica
JPN Japan
KOR South Korea
ARG Argentina MAL Malaysia
AUL Australia MEX Mexico
AUT Austria NET Netherlands
BEL Belgium NOR Norway
BRA Brazil NZL New Zealand
CAN Canada PAK Pakistan
CHL Chile PAN Panama
COL Colombia PER Peru
COS Costa Rica PHI Philippines
DEN Denmark POR Portugal
EAF East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia) SAF South Africa
SAL Salvador
SIN Singapore
EQA Equador SPA Spain
FIN Finland SWE Sweden
FRA France SWI Switzerland
GBR Great Britain TAI Taiwan
GER Germany F. R. THA Thailand
GRE Greece TUR Turkey
GUA Guatemala URU Uruguay
HOK Hong Kong USA United States
IDO Indonesia VEN Venezuela
IND India WAF West Africa (Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone)
IRA Iran
IRE Ireland (Republic of) YUG Yugoslavia

 

Crozier's compatriot Philippe d'lribarne in his comparative study of a French, a US, and a Dutch organization describes the French principle of organizing as 'the rationale of honor" (la logique de I'honneur). This principle, which he finds already present in the French kingdom prior to Napoleon, means that everybody has a rank (large power distance), but that the implications of belonging to one's rank arc less imposed by the group than determined by tradition. It is 'not so much what one owes to others as what one owes to oneself (d'lribarne, 1989, p. 59). It is a stratified form of individualism.

 

The reverse pattern, small power distance combined with medium indivi­dualism, is found in Austria and Israel, and fairly small power distance is combined with outright collectivism in Costa Rica. Costa Rica, one of the six Central American republics, is widely recognized as an exception to the Latin American rule of dependence on powerful leaders, which in Spanish is called personalismo. It does not have a formal army. It is described as Latin America's 'most firmly rooted democracy', in spite of its relative poverty as compared to the industrial market economies of the world. In a comparison between Costa Rica and its larger but much poorer neighbor Nicaragua, US development expert Lawrence E. Harrison has written:

... there is ample evidence that Costa Ricans have felt a stronger bond to their countrymen than have Nicaraguans. That bond is reflected in Costa Rica's long­standing emphasis on public education and public health; in its more vigorous cooperative movement; in a judicial system notable by Latin American standards for its impartiality and adherence to fundamental concepts of due process; and above all in the resilience of its politics, its capacity to find peaceful solutions, its appreciation of the need for compromise.'

In view of the correlation between power distance and Collectivism one could consider them as two manifestations of one single dimension of cultural differences. However, one of the reasons for the correlation is that both are associated with a third factor: economic development. If economic development is held constant, i.e., if rich countries are compared to rich ones only and poor to poor ones, the relationship disappears. Among rich countries (the lower left-hand cluster in Fig. 3.1) there is no visible association of power distance and collectivism, neither is there among the poorer countries (the upper right-hand cluster). The fact that different rich and different poor countries make quite different trade-offs between dependence on the ingroup versus dependence on power persons, would become invisible if power distance and collectivism were considered as one single dimension. The uniqueness of cases like France and Costa Rica would be lost.

 

Comparisons between the results of the IBM and other studies support the distinction between power distance and collectivism. Studies dealing with the distribution of power show results which are more correlated with power distance than with individualism-collectivism and studies dealing with social integration show results more correlated with collectivism than with power distance.

 






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