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Our staff also includesAlison Craiglow,Greg Rippin,Joel Meyer,Tricia Bobeda, Mary Diduch, Zack Lapinski, Emma Tyrrell, Lyric Bowditch, Jasmin Klinger,andJacob Clemente. Think Belarus, Myanmar, Russia, China. You may have noticed that Hofstede neglected to mention a certain country that we Americans tend to care about quite a bit. Freakonomics Summary. And democratic. We look at how these traits affect our daily lives and why we couldn . And other cultures are more loose. It turns out that Americans were among the least likely to conform. Compared to other countries including places like Japan, Singapore, Germany we can afford to be more permissive. Now, keep in mind this was London, English-speaking London not Uzbekistan or Botswana, even Mexico. I dont want to be a doom thinker. If youre violating the social order, youre going to be punished.. Gelfand says the countries that were most aggressive in trying to contain Covid tended to be tighter countries. The individual agents/brokers only take a $150 hit after their costs/fees. There were a number of low offers of 15 percent, which didnt get rejected. Better Essays. That is one of the main guests in todays episode. And we manipulated whether their names were like Jamal or Latisha versus Brad and Lorna. Thats Joe Henrich, a professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard; hes also a scholar of psychology, economics, and anthropology. The study of culture is a family business for Hofstede. Whereas people from less individualistic societies tend to be better at making relative-size judgments. Thats Joe Henrich, a professor of evolutionary biology. If it were, Afghanistan and Venezuela, even Iran might be U.S.-style democracies by now. He veers tighter. playlist_add. Individualism encompasses a value system, a theory of human nature, and a belief in certain political, economic, social, and religious arrangements. When you have teenagers, youre tight, at least for me. GELFAND: I do work with the U.S. Navy and other organizations that are trying to have that kind of balance. Whereas in countries that are bogged down in cronyism and corruption, it doesnt happen. According to a decades-long research project, the U.S. is not only the most individualistic country on earth; we're also high on indulgence, short-term thinking, and masculinity (but low on "uncertainty avoidance," if that makes you feel better). Hence the term, the changing same. I think there are historical moments that are transcendent. Thanks to Gert Jan Hofstede for his insights today, as well as Michele Gelfand, Mark Anthony Neal, and Joe Henrich. The sixth dimension is called indulgence vs. restraint.. HOFSTEDE: He did social psychological work on what it is to be a manager. Theyre what we call tight cultures. Macroeconomics, on the other hand, works on a larger scale. Thats my idea. HENRICH: This cashes out in an ability to make better abstract or absolute judgment. In Germany, for instance, labor unions often have a representative on company boards, which can radically change the dynamic between companies and employees. NEWSCASTER: Wearing masks is a way of life now in Singapore. These attacks continue as I speak. Just like good science, good . Okay, it took half of this episode to go through just the first of the six dimensions of national culture individualism versus collectivism. GELFAND: I was watching this negotiation between Tariq Aziz and James Baker. 493 Update) Adam Smith famously argued that specialization is the key to prosperity. Anyway, in this episode of No Stupid Questions, we'll be talking about how our surroundings can make us smarter and maybe happier too. Theyre really hard-working. HOFSTEDE: If you are, lets say, a toddler, what do you get to decide for yourself? Follow. Freakonomics Quotes. It is what we got fed with our mothers milk and the porridge that our dad gave us. And yes, well talk about what makes America, America at least as seen through the eyes of Kumail Nanjiani, who was born in Pakistan. One hallmark of short-term thinking: a tendency toward black and white moral distinctions versus shades of gray. The same experiment was done in other, non-WEIRD countries, like Ghana and Zimbabwe. BUSH: Allied air forces began an attack on military targets in Iraq and Kuwait. HOFSTEDE: This is not about a homogenous soup, but its about the power of the millions versus the individual and the power of ostracism. GELFAND: And it was fascinating because when people were wearing their normal face, there was no difference. Tightness and compliance would seem to go hand-in-hand. Its hard in either direction not just because some cultures are tighter than others. So you can see that in an individualistic society, after becoming a world champion in a sport or certainly after winning a major war, people do not fight one another, but they admire one another. It is still the case that you did have the summer of love. At school in the Netherlands, Ive seen a mother ask her two-year-old, Shall I change your nappy? And then the child gets to decide whether its nappy gets changed. Gelfand wanted to learn where theyd get the most help. 470. Hes horrified by my dishwasher-loading behavior. And that is a status-worthy thing. Based on the bestselling book of the same name, FREAKONOMICS attempts to break down dense economic theories and data into digestible bits. Im like, Were going to go to Singapore if you people dont behave.. You can think about it at the household level. GELFAND: I would say it tends to be California. It shouldnt surprise anyone that individualism might contribute to inequality or at least, as Henrich puts it, the justification of inequality. Freakonomics Radiois produced by Stitcher and Renbud Radio. This episode was produced byBrent Katz. 469). So how it is that we acquire ideas, beliefs, and values from other people, and how this has shaped human genetic evolution. Whether proud or not, whether happy or not, it has a position. Because if you try something new, you show to the people around you that you are an individual and you can make your own decisions. The sixth and, for now, final dimension was added to the model in 2010. Freakonomics has since grown up into a media company, complete with documentary, radio show, and blog. She did want to measure culture, and how it differs from place to place. HOFSTEDE: My name is Gert Jan Hofstede. DUBNER: What problem was he, and later you, trying to solve by doing this work? And in a restrained society, theres going to be suicide. And we found that people from minority or even women backgrounds were seen as violating something more severely and were subject to higher punishment without even people realizing this. You may decide to go another way, but that doesnt make the river change. I came back to Colgate. And then theres the big C, the stuff that we have these big conversations about, that we do these incredible studies about, which is really about the worldview of groups of people coming together, in a community, in a nation, in a family, right? And then you see how often the subject wants to go along with the other people, as opposed to give the answer they would give if they were by themselves. SuperFreakonomics was the follow-up in 2009. And the Machiguenga were much closer to the predictions of Homo economicus, where youd make low offers and never reject. BERT: Because: you get crumbs in the sheets, thats why. And in culture, uncertainty means not knowing the ritual, not knowing how status-worthy or blameworthy some action is. So if you ask people to judge the absolute lengths of two lines, people in more individualistic societies tend to get that right. Paperback - April 22, 2020. Theyre able to make finer distinctions in terms of their olfaction. . employees in more than 50 countries. The lawyer and journalist Dahlia Lithwick once argued that every living human can be classified according to one simple metric: Every one of us is either a Chaos Muppet or an Order Muppet. Essentially: loose, or tight. Some of the countries with high power distance: Russia, China, and Mexico. "Information is a beacon, a cudgel, an olive branch, a deterrent--all depending on who wields it and how.". We met him earlier, but just briefly; heres a proper introduction. This interest goes back to those negotiations between Jim Baker and Tariq Aziz. They are descended from people who came here of their own free will and in order to execute their own free will. Or if it will change at all. And life is an adventure. It could give you new occasions to gain status in an unexpected way. Hannah GADSBY: Have you ever noticed how Americans are not stupid? So how much would you offer? That is generated by looseness. NEAL: Were a country that presumes male leadership. At the time, opinion surveys were relatively new; it was especially unusual for a company to survey its own employees. Its more about how individuals are acted upon by the people and institutions around them. And: In present-day Scandinavia levels of individualism would thus have been significantly higher had emigration not occurred.. HOFSTEDE: If I had been born in America, I would have liked it, probably, because I would have been used to it. In a large power-distant society, you have autocracy. You may decide to go another way, but that doesnt make the river change. HOFSTEDE: So collectivistic cultures are those of the Amerindian empires. Our theme song is Mr. But, lets look at the pandemic from a different angle: which country produced the most effective Covid-19 vaccines? You have to pronounce it right. All rights reserved. GELFAND: My own sweet Portuguese water dog, Pepper, I mean, that dog is just gigantic. Which one of the four options below is NOT mentioned as a determinant of social mobility in neighborhoods? The next dimension is what the Hofstedes call uncertainty avoidance.. DUBNER: So between not having been historically a terrible recipient of viruses and also by dint of having an ocean on either side of us, etc., and being a really big and really rich country, it sounds like the U.S. must have one of the lowest inherent threat levels. In other words, Americans dont just see other people as individuals. HOFSTEDE: And it immediately yielded a four-dimensional model. Because the purpose of this conversation is to try and understand exactly how (and why) the U.S. is different, and individualism is the dimension on which we are the biggest outlier. HOFSTEDE: I like this question a lot. The U.S. assembled a coalition of allies. Thats what we call tight-loose ambidexterity. What is culture? The authors seek to find simple answers to complicated world problems. In 2016, Henrich published a book called The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter. Someone raised in an Eastern culture might focus more on the image as a whole and less on the central object. The reason we reached out to Michele Gelfand is that I want to understand this stuff better, too. And some advice from our new Dutch friend. If you no longer even pretend to be one people and to be fair to all the citizens of your country, then youre not going down a road that leads to a great future. Factor analysis being a way to distill a large number of variables into an index, essentially a ranking. Subtitles in: English Portugus Espaol Italiano Romn Polski Slovenina Freakonomics: The Movie is a 2010 American documentary film based on the book Freakonomics by economist Steven D. Levitt and writer Stephen J. Dubner. This carries over into many areas of society, including the labor market. Equating individualism with selfishness may be a mistake: Some of the world's wealthiest and most individualistic countries are some of the most altruistic, says 13.7 guest commentator Abigail Marsh. DUBNER: And what would you say is maybe a political ramification of low power distance? GELFAND: And that suggests that minorities, women, people of different sexual orientation, when they violate the same rule, might be held to higher accountability, to more strict punishment. The five loosest countries according to this analysis were Ukraine, Estonia, Hungary, Israel, and the Netherlands. But when you use data to measure the specific dimensions of a given culture, and compare them to other countries, you see some stark differences. Go out there and make it happen. HOFSTEDE: High individualism is correlated with trying new stuff. So this is not about, Is world peace important?, HOFSTEDE: For instance, Is it important for you to have a good working relationship with your boss? Or Is it a good idea for people to maybe have more than one boss?. We will learn which countries are tight, which are loose, and why. The best thing you can become is yourself. Fundamentally, individualism is a belief that the individual is an end in themself. Why not? HOFSTEDE: They will look at them if they admire them, but they will look away if theyre afraid. You might think that these relatively minor differences dont add up to much. If basic things like visual illusions are not universal, what about other phenomena? According to the Pew Research Center, 80 percent of Americans claim to believe in God, 55 percent pray at least daily, and 36 percent attend a religious service at least once a week. So then he really knew this is not an artifact of this particular company this is real. Sometimes incentives will be obvious, but often they will be hidden - and . And it should stay there. When most readers think economics, they think advanced math, complicated models, and subjects like unemployment, the stock market, and the trade deficit. Individualism has had a tremendous impact, not only on culture, but on social theory as well, and political philosophy in particular. But if you want to talk about humans, Homo sapiens, then you have a generalization problem. Spoiler alert: This dimension is one of the six in which the U.S. is the biggest outlier in the world. I do think that humanity as a whole is sort of evolving to being more reflective. We look at how these traits affect our daily lives and why we couldnt change them even if we wanted to. So were all constraining one another through our collective culture. We see them as individuals with whom we are in competition. you ask. Henrichs next example is more behavioral than physiological. Steven D. Levitt, the self-described "Rogue Economist" of the title, uses this tool to analyze a random assortment of . The first is that a model of anything even nearly as complex as a national culture is bound to miss a lot of nuance. HOFSTEDE: But it turned out that lumping them by nationality was the best thing to do. You're stuck in a metal tube with hundreds of strangers (and strange smells), defying gravity and racing through the sky. We promise no spam. "Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work, wheareas economics represents how it actually does work.". Consider the prominent Muppets Bert and Ernie. Between 1967 and 1973, he collected data on I.B.M. Thats Mark Anthony Neal of Duke University. Q uite soon after the Freakonomics guys, Stephen J Dubner and Steven D Levitt, walk into their office on New York's Upper West Side for our interview, the scene resolves itself into the kind of . And all those things need to be realigned when you really have a true culture change. It also is related to obesity. Joe Henrichs research into national psychologies led him to an even more fascinating conclusion. We visit the world's busiest airport to see . Weve interviewed dozens of academic researchers about lowering healthcare costs or improving access to childcare or building smarter infrastructure or creating a more equitable economy. Im a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. Each week, Freakonomics Radio tells you things you always thought you knew (but didn't) and things you never thought you wanted to know (but do) from the economics of sleep to how to become great at just about anything. 470. I personally expect at some point in the not very far future to have another wave of youthful optimism and find a way to say, Look, guys, we can do it, the future could be bright. GELFAND: I was planning to become a cross-cultural trainer to work at the State Department and train people to understand culture. The five tightest countries are Pakistan, Malaysia, India, South Korea, and our old friend Singapore. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. 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. It was: And your culture, your American culture, is very different. At this point, we should probably define terms. Theres a huge variation in how much spontaneity people like versus how much structure they want. How much should we attribute that success to these very same factors that create chaos on other dimensions? Since his first study, many people have started to do similar studies. Europe has very strong gradients between very individualistic Nordic and Anglo and Germanic countries; Germanic is a little bit more collectivistic. Those are the upsides. HOFSTEDE: You are on the masculine side not at the very end, but more on the masculine side. People in the less-literate society, meanwhile, would have better facial-recognition skills. HOFSTEDE: This is actually a little bit of an unfortunate name. So its hard to simply transplant another countrys model for education or healthcare, no matter how well it might seem to fit. Most white Americans have an entirely different ancestral history. The U.S. patent database goes back into the 18th century and what a number of studies in economics as well as work in my lab has shown is that openness to other people so, trust in strangers, an inclination towards individualism, a desire to stand out, to be the smartest guy in the room fosters more rapid innovation because people are more likely to exchange ideas, theyre more interested in distinguishing themselves. He started working as an engineer during turbulent years of rebuilding, and soon became a personnel manager. Citation styles for Freakonomics How to cite Freakonomics for your reference list or bibliography: select your referencing style from the list below and hit 'copy' to generate a citation. Whereas if you have a state religion, it tends to get tired and old and boring. The second player is given a choice between accepting or rejecting. GELFAND: In Germany and in Japan, the clocks are really synchronized. HENRICH: If you go to other societies, people are much more willing to give the same wrong answer to go along with others. HENRICH: We have a kind of religiosity equivalent to somewhere like Kuwait. The findings, published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, show that increasing socioeconomic development is an especially strong predictor of increasing individualistic practices and values . Let me give a little background. NANJIANI: I was so excited to be in America I couldnt sleep. But oh, the places you'll go! HOFSTEDE: Its rather futile to advise somebody what their national culture should be because theres no way you can change it. You had Woodstock, and youre going to have this kind of stuff happening again. It is that the wealth comes first, and the individualism follows. Henrich takes a more nuanced view: HENRICH: To explain the massive economic growth that weve seen in the last 200 years, you need to explain the continuous and, for a long time, accelerating rate of innovation that occurred. Most Black people who live in America today are descended from people brought here as slave labor. Meaning, if you grew up in someplace like the U.S., when you look at an image youre more likely to pay attention to whats in the foreground, in the center. So, lets try to measure this., Gelfand and several colleagues undertook a massive research project, interviewing some 7,000 people from 33 countries on five continents. GELFAND: Having more adaptability, more innovation. Employees were asked to rate how much they agreed with statements like Competition among employees usually does more harm than good. And, Having interesting work is just as important to most people as having high earnings., HOFSTEDE: Simple questions about daily things that people understand. And its another dimension on which the U.S. is a substantial outlier. Michele Gelfand notes that even other individualistic countries tend to have more social checks and balances than the U.S. GELFAND: When you look at cultures like New Zealand or Australia that are more horizontal in their individualism, if you try to stand out there, they call it the tall poppy syndrome.
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