determinant of culture

All cultures of the world despite many differences face a number of common problems and share a number of common features, which we call cultural universals. Even the most casual perusal of an introductory textbook in cultural anthropology leads us to the inescapable conclusion that there are many societies with their own unique cultures.The determination of how many different cultures exist today depends largely on how one defines the problem, a definitional question on which there is hardly consensus among the world’s anthropologists. We can get a rough approximation of world cultural variation by realizing that approximately eight hundred and fifty separate and distinct cultures (speaking mutually unintelligible languages) are on the continent of Africa alone. Rather than being preoccupied with the precise number of cultures in the world at any one time, we should emphasize the significance of the variability; that is, the great number of differences between cultures illustrates how flexible and adaptable humans are in relation to other animals, because each culture has arrived at different solutions to the universal human problems facing all societies.As we encounter the many different cultural determinanats found throughout the world,there is a natural tendency to become overwhelmed by the magnitude of the differences and overlook the commonalities. Even anthropologists, when describing “their people,”tend to emphasize the uniqueness of the culture and only infrequently look at the similarities between cultures. But all societies, if they are to survive, are confronted with fundamental universal needs that must be satisfied. When cultures develop ways of meeting these needs, general cultural patterns emerge. At a very concrete level, differences in the details of cultural patterns exist because different societies have developed different ways of meeting these universal societal needs. Yet at a higher level of abstraction, a number of commonalities exist because all cultures have worked out solutions to certain problems facing all human populations. Let’s briefly examine the needs that all cultures must satisfy and the universal cultural patterns that emerge to satisfy these needs.

Economic Systems
One of the most obvious and immediate needs of a society is to meet the basic physiological requirements of its people. To stay alive, all humans need a certain minimal caloric intake, potable water, and, to varying degrees, protection from the elements in Culture and International Business terms of clothing and shelter. No societies in the world have access to an infinite supply of basic resources such as food, water, clothing, and housing materials. Because these commodities are always in finite supply, each society must develop systematic ways of producing, distributing, and consuming these essential resources. Thus, each society must develop an economic system.To illustrate this principle of cultural universals, we can look at one component of economic systems—namely, forms of distribution. In addition to producing basic material goods (or procuring them from the immediate environment), all societies must ensure that these goods are distributed to all those members of the society whose very survival depends on receiving them. In the United States, most goods and services are distributed according to capitalism, based on the principle of “each according to his or her capacity to pay.” In socialist countries, on the other hand, goods and services are distributed according to another quite different principle—that is, “each according to his or her need.” These two well-known systems of distribution hardly exhaust the range of possibilities found in the world. The Pygmies of Central Africa distribute goods by a system known as “silent barter,” in which the trading partners, in an attempt to attain true reciprocity, avoid face-to-face contact during the exchange. The Hadza of Tanzania distribute the meat of an animal killed in the hunt according to the principle of kinship each share of meat is determined by how one is related to the hunter. But whatever particular form the system of distribution might take, there are no societies—at least not for long that have failed to work out and adhere to a well-understood and systematic pattern of distribution.
Marriage and Family Systems
For a society to continue over time, it is imperative that it work out systematic procedures for mating, marriage, child rearing, and family formation. If it fails to do this, it will die out in a very short time. No society permits random mating and all societies have worked out rules for determining who can marry whom, under what conditions, and according to what procedures. All societies, in other words, have patterned systems of marriage. And since human infants (as compared with the young of other species) have a particularly long period of dependency on adults, every society needs to work out systematic ways of meeting the needs of dependent children. If these basic needs are not satisfied, children will not survive to adulthood; consequently, the very survival of the society is in jeopardy. Thus, we can say that all societies have patterns of child rearing and family institutions. And yet, it is absolutely essential that one knows something about the specific features of the marriage and family system that exists in those particular parts of the world in which one may have business interests. For example, in those parts of the world where people have many obligations to attend family/kinship functions, labor contracts should include flexible working hours and perhaps slightly lower pay instead of a rigid forty-hour workweek and somewhat higher pay. Workers, in other words, would be willing to give up higher pay rates if they knew they could attend family gatherings without being penalized.
Educational Systems
Along with ensuring that the basic physical needs of the child are met, a society must see to it that the children learn the way of life of the society. Rather than expecting each new child to rediscover for himself or herself all the accumulated knowledge of the past,a society must have an organized way of passing on its cultural heritage from one generation to the next. This universal societal need for cultural transmission gives rise to some form of educational system in every society.Despite the universality of education systems, the specific features of any given system vary widely from culture to culture. For example, are the patterned forms of education formal (schools, books, professional teachers) or informal (information passed from parents to children or from older to younger siblings)? Is the emphasis on rote memorization or the development of analytical carryover skills? Are students exposed to a broad “liberal arts” education or a narrow, more occupationally oriented curriculum? Are various levels of education (kindergarten through graduate school) open to all members of the society or only to the privileged classes? The answers to these and other questions have important implications for any international businessperson engaged in marketing strategies abroad, negotiating international contracts, or the management of foreign workforces.
Social Control Systems
If groups of people are to survive, they must develop some established ways of preserving social order; that is, all societies must develop mechanisms that will ensure that most of the people obey most of the rules most of the time. If this need is not met, people will violate each other’s rights to such an extent that anarchy will prevail. Different societies meet this need for social order in different ways. In the
United States, behavior control rests on a number of formal mechanisms, such as a written constitution; local, state, and federal laws; and an elaborate system of police, courts, and penal institutions, among other things. Many small-scale, technologically simple societies have less formal (but no less effective) means of controlling the behavior of their members. Regardless of the specific methods used, one thing is certain: Every society has a system for coercing people to obey the social rules, and these are called social control systems. Again, knowing the constraints that culturally different people rely upon for maintaining social order is important for managers of international workforces. In order to maintain order and good working relationships among employees, corporations operating abroad would be more successful by using local mechanisms of social control rather than imposing those that work effectively in the home office.
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Supernatural Belief Systems
All societies have a certain degree of control over their social and physical environments.
People in all societies can understand and predict a number of things. For example, a dense, heavy object when dropped into a lake will sink to the bottom; if I have $5 and give you $2, I will have only $3 left; the sun always rises in the east and sets in the west.
However, we cannot explain or predict with any degree of certainty many other things:
Why does a child develop a fatal disease, but the child’s playmate next door does not?
Why do tornadoes destroy some houses and leave others unharmed? Why do safe drivers die in auto accidents and careless drivers do not? Such questions have no apparent answers, because they cannot be explained by our conventional systems of justice or rationality. Therefore, societies develop supernatural belief systems for explaining these unexplainable occurrences. The way people explain the unexplainable is to rely on various types of supernatural explanations such as magic, religion, witchcraft, sorcery, and astrology.
Religions and other supernatural belief systems affect the conduct of business by shaping attitudes about work, savings, consumption, efficiency, and individual responsibility.
To illustrate, Euro-American Christianity, as it is embodied in the Protestant ethic, emphasizes hard work, frugality, and getting ahead for the sake of glorifying God.
The Islamic religion, although not hostile to capitalism, places greater emphasis on the individual’s responsibility to the society, including charity to the poor and ensuring that profits are made only through fair business dealings rather than through fraud, deceit, or usury. And another world religion, Hinduism, places emphasis on spiritual goals rather than on economic or professional accomplishments. At the very least, international businesspeople must be sensitive to these broad divisions in how people’s values are affected by their religious traditions.
Thus, despite the great variety in the details of cultural features found throughout the world, all cultures, because they must satisfy certain universal needs, have a number of traits in common. This basic anthropological principle, known as cultural universals, can be an important tool for helping international businesspeople more fully understand and appreciate culturally different business environments. Greater empathy for cultural differences—a necessary if not sufficient condition for increased knowledge—can be attained if we can avoid concentrating solely on the apparent differences between cultures but appreciate their underlying commonalities as well. According to Richard
Robinson,
The successful international manager is one who sees and feels the similarity of structure of all societies. The same set of variables are seen to operate, although their relative weights may be very different. This capacity is far more important than possession of specific area expertise, which may be gained quite rapidly if one already has an ability to see similarities and ask the right questions. (1983, 127)
In other words, we will be less likely to prejudge or be critical of different practices, ideas, or behavior patterns if we can appreciate the notion that they represent
Culture and International Business 31 different solutions to the same basic human problems facing all cultures of the world, including our own.