When Cultures Collide

Must say this book offered a pretty useful reading. My edition was, however, from 1997, so much has happened after that, but it still gave a good foundation about cultures.

Cultures could be divided into 3 groups:
- Linear active
- Multi active
- Reactive

Linear active cultures plan, organise and act in a decided order, do one thing at a time. British and Swedish cultures are among these.

In multiactive cultures, you're pretty vivid, talkative and gladly do more than one thing at a time. Instead of acting according to a planned order, you do what is most interesting or relevant at the moment. Lewis put Italians, Latin americans and Arabians to this group.

In reactive cultures, politeness and respect are important. They listen without interrupting, carefully considering what has been said before they decide. Chinese, Japanese and Finish cultures belong to this group.

Linear active trusts information. Multi active prefer personal contacts. And the reactive combines the two of them.

Lewis tells language is vital for how we think and not just a tool to tell thoughts. Notion of brain paths differentiates. In Britain, thoughts run along British brain paths, and those are different from brain paths of other nationalities. An Englishman, a Chinese and an Italian experience the same happening. First the experience is a sort of kaleidoscope and must be registered by brain. And brain mainly do this by help of language. It results, the three of them see three different things. Lewis illustrates with "fair play". It could be something else for a German person, as he/she has to translate the word ny help of other words. In a society lacking organised games, "fair play" may lack meaning.

But Lewis warns. It's a bit risky to use stereotypes. This is all about getting a bigger picture of a people in a whole. A Dane could be quite like a Portuguese. But a Danish choir or a Danish football team are easy to distinguish from their Portuguese equivalences. Generalised, national characteristics are rarely applicable to individuals, Lewis tells, but for several members out of a specific cultures, it is.    

Brits as well as Swedes see the space around them, within 1,2 metres from themselves, as their territory, and they do not like this being offended by someone they do not know (and in that case, they will probably rear away to restore the distance). However, people close to us we accept at a distance of 0,6 metres. But there are cultures, book exemplifies with Mexicans, who talk to strangers with 0,5 metres distance. They could understand our rearing as they are physical distasteful.

In the end of the book, Lewis means that if you have an cross cultural understanding, you will accept differences, and use this in a positive way.

This book will give you a good foundation to build this cross cultural understanding of yours.


About the book:Lewis, Richard (1997)
When Cultures Collide - Managing Successfully Across Cultures (link intends an English edition from 2005)