Dimensions and minorities
This activity asks students to reflect on the concept of cultural mismatch - when a person's background, values, or communication style conflicts with the expectations of an institution, school, or workplace. Using Hofstede's cultural dimensions, students will attempt to empathize with minority students within a school community.
The focus is on mental health and subjective well-being.
Provocation
Discuss these questions with your group:
- How might you feel during your first few weeks?
- How might your teachers and classmates interpret your behavior?
- What might happen to your confidence, friendships, or well-being over time?
- What could your school do to help you feel accepted without requiring you to abandon your cultural values?
Reflecting on cultural majorities in our schools
This presentation looks at the concept of “cultural mismatch.” Although this is relevant to acculturation strategies and immigrant populations, it is also relevant to minorities in majority-culture schools and workplaces.
In Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun examine the predominant culture that exists in many American organizations. Although the focus is on the US, the argument is that white (also Western) culture is often the norm in international companies and schools. The question is how the cultural characteristics of the majority group may shape how schools and companies are run. As you will see, this work culture reflects many of Hofstede's cultural dimensions.
Power distance
- Decision-making is clear to those with power and unclear to those without it.
- Those with power think they can make decisions for and in the interests of those without power.
- Those with power often don't think it is important or necessary to understand the viewpoint or experience of those for whom they are making decisions.
- Those without power do not really know how decisions get made or who makes them, yet they are completely familiar with the impact those decisions have on them.
- Those with power assume they have the organization's best interests at heart and assume those wanting change are ill-informed, emotional, or inexperienced.
Individualism
- Little experience or comfort working as part of a team;
- People believe they are responsible for solving problems alone;
- People have a desire for individual recognition and credit;
- Competition is more highly valued than cooperation; where cooperation is valued, little time or resources are devoted to developing skills in how to cooperate;
- The organization values those who can get things done on their own without needing supervision or guidance;
- Little or no ability to delegate work to others.
You can view the original article here. It may make for an interesting read for your students.
Low vs high context communication
Culture shapes how we communicate. Start by showing them the following video which explains the difference between low- and high-context societies.
After discussing the video, show students the following statements to see how they would interpret what the speaker is saying. Each of the statements may have at least two different interpretations. The final slide shows how two different communicators may express the same idea.
Creating a more inclusive school
The goal of this activity is for students to consider how the communication expectations of a majority culture might create challenges for minority students, and how schools could reduce cultural mismatch.
Students are asked to reflect on school norms and how they may affect students who are not part of the majority culture.
Task 1. Reflecting on our school
Ask students to consider the following question: What does a “good student” look like in our school? Which behaviors does our school tend to reward?
Students may identify a range of norms, including but not limited to:
Then ask students: To what extent do you think that these are cultural expectations vs universal expectations?
Task 2. The inclusive school task force
Give students the following challenge.
Each group must develop three recommendations, explaining the cultural mismatch each recommendation addresses, how it could reduce psychological stress or improve belonging, and how the school could determine whether the change was effective.
For example, students might propose allowing different forms of classroom participation, making assessment expectations more explicit, or teaching students how to interpret different communication styles.
Their proposals should identify specific changes to school practices.
Final evaluation
Finish with a more challenging question:
Should minority students be expected to adapt to the communication norms of the majority culture, or should schools change their expectations to accommodate cultural differences?
Encourage students to consider both sides. Students need opportunities to develop communication skills appropriate to different environments, but schools also have a responsibility to avoid mistaking cultural differences for academic weaknesses.
Measurement: The ecological fallacy
Students often say that cultural dimensions are just stereotypes. But this is not really correct.
Hofstede used a lot of data to identify cultural trends. A key concern is that these data come from corporate culture, which may not reflect societies as a whole.
Students should recognize these are trends. So, the US has a strong trend toward individualism. That does not mean that every American is individualistic (although most, based on the data, would be). This leads to the problem of the ecological fallacy in psychology - basically, the mistaken belief that all people who come from a specific culture share the same traits.
In a study examining attitudes toward mask-wearing during the coronavirus pandemic, researchers tested Americans (individualistic) and Japanese people (collectivistic). Americans refuse to wear masks in more situations than Japanese people do. The study then concludes that individualistic cultures are less likely than collectivistic cultures to take health precautions for others' safety.
But this conclusion is most likely flawed. First, it only looks at two cultures. More importantly, it may have committed the ecological fallacy. If the assumption is - you are Japanese, you are collectivistic - well, there is no evidence for this. Because the sample consisted of English-speaking volunteers, it may not reflect the collectivistic values of Japanese culture, and their behavior may not have been linked to the I-C dimension. To control for this, the researchers should administer a test to measure participants' I-C level.