ITALY vs UK


Last week my peers and I tried to fill in a questionnaire called YOGA which stands for "Your Objectives, Guideliness and Assessments" (Alvino E. Fantini, Brattleboro, VT, USA 1995) for self-evaluation of intercultural competence. We all found the questions very difficult and in fact Sarah told us that the goal of the YOGA form was to start a reflection above our cultural awareness and cultural competence as students of foreign languages.

We then moved to the analysis of Geert Hofstede who identified five cultural dimensions which enables one to see how countries and regions are similar to or differ from each other; rather then use my own words I prefer to cite Callahan's exahustive definitions of the first four cultural dimensions and cite Hofstede own words to define the main characteristics of the fifth one:

1. POWER DISTANCE which refers to the degree of acceptance of the unequal distribution of power in society (Callahan, E. 2005);
2. INDIVIDUALISM. Individualistic societies (USA, Australia) value personal achievement while collectivistic ones (Panama, Ecuador) emphasize the benefits of working in a social group. People in individualistic countries tend to take care of themselves and their nuclear family. In collectivistic cultures people are integrated in strong groups, which offer protection in exchange for loyalty. The meaning of the family is extended to all blood and in-law relatives. The accomplishments of the group are valued—a person should use his or her skills to advance the group (Callahan, E. 2005);
3. MASCULINITY. Cultures with a high masculine index maintain traditional distinctions between gender roles and perceptions, whereas feminine cultures tend to dissolve gender differences. Masculine cultures, such as Japan and Italy, place values on challenge, advancement, social recognition, and acquisition of wealth, while feminine cultures (e.g., Norway, Sweden) value quality of life, security, taking care of others, and the environment (Callahan, E. 2005);
4. UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE measures the degree to which people tend to stay away from uncertain situations. It is often mistakenly interpreted as risk avoidance, but actually avoiding uncertain situations could be accomplished by setting strict rules, or by actually taking risks to prevent long term uncertainty. High uncertainty avoidance countries (e.g., Greece, Portugal) prefer formal rules and regulations in order to reduce the amount of uncertainty, and are less inclined toward change than countries with a low uncertainty avoidance index (e.g., Jamaica, Singapore) (Callahan, E. 2005);
5. LONG-TERM ORIENTATION: -persistence; -ordering relationships by status and observing this order; -thrift; -having a sense of shame. SHORT TERM ORIENTATION: -personal steadiness and stability; -protecting your ‘face’; -respect or tradition; -reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts (Hofstede, G.).

Now I'd like to try to compare Italy and the United Kingdom: I'm gonna take into account these five cultural dimensions and I'm gonna base my observations on my personal experience; after doing that, I'll compare them with Hofstede's analysis.

1. Power distance. I think both in Italy and in the UK the gap between the wealthy and the poor is getting bigger in terms of basic things like the use of power and the oppurtunity to rise in society. However, in both countries people express their opinions without any restriction and the respect of titles and formality is very high.
2. Individualism. Once again I see Italy and the UK at the same level as regarding the relationship between group and individual: Italian and British people are independent and responsible for themselves and their individual achievement is highly valued. On the other side I consider, for example, some asian countries being high on collectivism.
   
3. Masculinity. The tendency of the two countries to emphasize traditional gender roles is very high, even though women have made much progress and some of them hold top business positions.
4. Uncertainty avoidance. Italian people are certainly more prepare to face and react to uncertainty than the British people; norms and values to create order and predictability are stronger here in Italy than in the UK.
5. Italy is for sure a long-term oriented country where the most important events in life will always occur in the future while the UK is short term oriented where what's of more importance takes place now.
   

Even though Hofstede's model provide a powerful framework to distinguish among national countries, one has always to keep in mind that national countries change every single day. I'd like to report here the ratings of every cultural dimension which refer to Italy and the UK (Hofstede, G.):

1. Power distance. Italy 50 vs UK 35
2. Individualism. Italy 70 vs UK 89
3. Masculinity. Italy 70 vs UK 66
4. Uncertainty avoidance. Italy 70 vs UK 35
5. Long-term orientation. Italy ??? vs UK 25
   

References

• Alvino E. Fantini (1995). A Central Concern: Developing Intercultural Competence. Retrieved March 25, 2007 from http://www.sit.edu/publications/docs/competence.pdf

• Callahan, E. (2005). Cultural similarities and differences in the design of university websites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), article 12. Retrieved March 25, 2007 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue1/callahan.html

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