freakonomics individualism

We visit the world's busiest airport to see how it all comes together. The Pros and Cons of America's (Extreme) Individualism. Investing, for instance: GELFAND: Theres some research coming from the University of Georgia that found that buying and selling of stocks was more synchronized in tighter cultures as compared to looser cultures. We look at how these traits affect our daily lives and why we couldn . If youre an economist, you might think that offering even $1 out of the 100 would be enough. And its not because they themselves dont have collective experiences, particularly within ethnicity, but part of the price of becoming American is to give up the collectivity of your ethnic background. Its like, Oh, my gosh, that is so amazing. I was feeling like I have to tell that to my kids as a good parent, training my kids to be vertical and individualistic. If they reject, both players get zero. GELFAND: I was planning to become a cross-cultural trainer to work at the State Department and train people to understand culture. In 1990, when Gelfand was a graduate student, she followed the news as Iraq invaded Kuwait. (8) My years of experience traveling in 100 . Okay, lets get into the six dimensions. Heres Mark Anthony Neal of Duke: NEAL: Historically, power has been obscure. HENRICH: I was doing research in the Peruvian Amazon. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more. The cross-cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand has been telling us about loose and tight cultures around the world. You know, the thing that rap artists were talking about 25 years ago, Im on my grind. Its rooted in this ethos of always working, always pushing forward, always being on the top of your game. But one has arrows going out and one in? I asked Hofstede what he would advise if a given country did want to change its culture? GELFAND: And I thought, If these kinds of cultural differences are happening at the highest levels, we better start understanding this stuff.. IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. So rules for the sake of having rules are not good. Sinopsis. So, organizations you can think about them as the people, the practices, and the leaders. The U.S. also has a small power distance 40 on a scale of 100, which puts it among the lowest in the world. And they often dont even realize theyre being acted upon. Well hear about those dimensions soon enough. . Our theme song is Mr. After reading Freakonomics it really opens the reader's eyes to unseen things in everyday life. We look at how these traits affect . Mobility also produces looseness, because its harder to agree upon any norm. Level of inequality C. Family composition D . Since his first study, many people have started to do similar studies. Joe HENRICH: Americans and Westerners more generally are psychologically unusual from a global perspective. Some of the countries with high power distance: Russia, China, and Mexico. GELFAND: Were trained from a very early age not just to be independent, but to be better. The individual agents/brokers only take a $150 hit after their costs/fees. It always was unsustainable, but was made even more acute to us during the pandemic. You might think that someone who studies cross-cultural psychology also grew up abroad, or at least in some big city with a melting-pot vibe. And in culture, uncertainty means not knowing the ritual, not knowing how status-worthy or blameworthy some action is. Henrich says yes. The comedians John Oliver, Hannah Gadsby, and Kumail Nanjiani all grew up outside the U.S. Stay up-to-date on all our shows. How much should we attribute that success to these very same factors that create chaos on other dimensions? A child is a child, and a parent is a parent, and a parent decides for the child. Needless to say, it's had a lot of success. You may have noticed that Hofstede neglected to mention a certain country that we Americans tend to care about quite a bit. HOFSTEDE: This is actually a little bit of an unfortunate name. GELFAND: They talk about individualistic accomplishments. 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. People who went out to California, I would say if we gave them the tight-loose mindset quiz, they were probably on the looser mindset. HOFSTEDE: My name is Gert Jan Hofstede. Fascinated by the human in the system, he did a PhD in organizational behaviour. And it should stay there. The answer to that is usually: no, you cant. Published: 31 October 2020. "Information is a beacon, a cudgel, an olive branch, a deterrent--all depending on who wields it and how.". It also is related to obesity. Now that weve taken a top-down view of how the U.S. is fundamentally different from other countries, were going to spend some time over the coming weeks looking at particular economic and social differences, having to do with policing, child poverty, infrastructure, and the economy itself. Individualism is thought to be on the rise in Western countries, but new research suggests that increasing individualism may actually be a global phenomenon. Culture is not genetics or biology or individual characteristics. Hofstede analyzed these data at what he called the ecological level. He explained this approach in a paper called Flowers, Bouquets, and Gardens the idea being that an individual flower is a subset of a mixed bouquet, which in turn is a subset of an entire garden, which has even more variation. Greeks are very strong on that. As we heard, the first four dimensions originated with the I.B.M. The best thing you can become is yourself. Michele GELFAND: The people that came to New York early on, they were from all sorts of different cultural backgrounds, and thats helped produce the looseness that exists to this day. Theyll say, The Scandinavians have great childcare and family-leave policies. Or theyll say, China has built more high-speed rail in the past few years than the U.S. has even thought about. So, naturally, the next question is: cant the U.S. just borrow these Scandinavian and Chinese and German ideas and slap them on top of the American way of doing things? Although the concept of an individual may seem straightforward, there are many ways of understanding it, both in theory and in practice. Neal is a professor of African and African-American studies. The notion of the American Dream has long been that prosperity is just sitting out there, waiting for anyone to grab itas long as youre willing to work hard enough. Read the excerpt from Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's Freakonomics. (That will also need some explaining.) GELFAND: Ill just say that there are also other contexts where we naturally tighten. (Part 1 of "Freakonomics Radio Takes to the Skies.") 58 min. But if you look 100 years ago and you look at the cultural map of the world, you can read writers from different countries, you will see that there is astonishing continuity. Tightness and compliance would seem to go hand-in-hand. Go out there and make it happen. Europe has a strong influence from Germany, also from France. Capital W-E-I-R-D, which stands for: HENRICH: Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic. All rights reserved. But first, Hofstede had to make sure that the differences he was seeing in the data werent specific to I.B.M. So this is quite a while ago. And not attending enough to contextual factorsopportunities that presented themselves, being in the right place at the right time. Thats John Oliver. The second one measures whats called power distance. (Dont worry, well explain the name later.) Now this is pretty rare to have such different groups of respondents and still find the same thing. And other cultures are more loose. So I would be very interested in knowing whether theres any data on the ethnic component of homicide and suicide. He started working as an engineer during turbulent years of rebuilding, and soon became a personnel manager. We put in a bunch of other checks and controls. This realization is what led us to todays episode of Freakonomics Radio. 534. She decided that the key difference, the right place to start measuring, was whether the culture in a given country is tight or loose. 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. And I was interested in this, and I thought maybe it would tell us something about an innate human psychology for reciprocity or something like that. It suggests that as in most things in life balance is desirable. The other point is a reminder: Its good to be humble about our ability our inability, actually to predict how a given culture will change. Theres a good side of every dimension, including uncertainty avoidance. 47 min. GELFAND: Exactly. DUBNER: These are the two lines that are the same. But it was serious. Levitt's research on teacher cheating using Chicago Public Schools data.Clip from the 2010 documentary "Freakonomics: The Movie". The first (and longest) chapter focuses on the role of incentives in human behavior. DUBNER: But that the research subjects, they gave him a lot back and they thought it was going to him. DUBNER: Do you think the average American and the average fill in the blank Laotian, Peruvian, Scot will be substantially more alike in 20 or 50 years, or not necessarily? Is that a yes? Those are the things you cant necessarily plan and account for in building models of how you expect people to react in different situations. Whether proud or not, whether happy or not, it has a position. She argues that both styles have their upsides and their downsides. Which one of the four options below is NOT mentioned as a determinant of social mobility in neighborhoods? This failure leads to confusion at the very least, but quite possibly deeper misunderstandings, perhaps all the way up to hatred and violent conflict. And we made sure that the subjects knew that the money was coming from an organization, that the giver did not get any of the money, we ratcheted up our levels of anonymity. People in the less-literate society, meanwhile, would have better facial-recognition skills. Paperback - April 22, 2020. NEAL: You have no real other example of a country that has brought together so many different national and ethnic and racial backgrounds. And thats different than in Scandinavia and in New Zealand and Australia, which has much more horizontal individualism. Documentary. Someone raised in an Eastern culture might focus more on the image as a whole and less on the central object. He came to consider a company "honest" if its payment rate was above 90 percent. GELFAND: Having more adaptability, more innovation. And thats going to cultivate certain tonal abilities, which could feed into certain kinds of music, and things like that. In restrained societies, people tend to suppress bodily gratification, and birth rates are often lower; theres also less interest in things like foreign films and music. We met him earlier, but just briefly; heres a proper introduction. Self-centered so if you give them tasks and have them list traits about themselves, theyll tend to list their attributes and characteristics rather than their relationships. That is not just the most American thing thats ever happened. You realize, you want a black or white value judgment. The snob effect occurs when an individual's demand for a specific product increases when the number of units of that product other people purchase increases. I had been led to believe, by you, that you are as dumb as bricks. As its been said: Everyone knows that 11 oclock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in American life. Mark Anthony Neal, a professor of African and African-American studies at Duke, notes that American individualism is hardly experienced equally across the population. Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. It may help if youre not originally from here. Allen Lane 20, pp304. He considered a rate between 80 and 90 percent . You may decide to go another way, but that doesnt make the river change. But relatively speaking, we have more tolerance. HOFSTEDE: And blue-collar. 470 Replay) Freakonomics Radio Documentary 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 . We visit the world's busiest airport to see . . DUBNER: I find that people who dont load dishwashers carefully are usually pretty loose with the planning. As for the U.S., Gelfand says the U.S. is not only loose but getting progressively looser. HOFSTEDE: Okay, well, dont. That is one of the main guests in todays episode. So the U.S. produces the sort of Wal-Mart equivalent of religions: big churches giving the people what they want, high pageantry. Culture is about, if you are a part of a society, youre like one drop in the Mississippi River. DUBNER: When youre inclined to look at the U.S. in a positive light, do you find uncertainty avoidance to be largely a force for the good in terms of creating and building a strong society, or do you think its more ? I do think that humanity as a whole is sort of evolving to being more reflective. Next on the list: what Hofstedes late father, the originator of this culture model, called power distance. Thats the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations or institutions be it society at large or just a family accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.. We may not be the very loosest culture; but we are No. Thats right: we are No. This man has proof of our individualism. Oh say, can you see, the home run I just hit. The U.S., according to this analysis, is comparatively a short-term country. HENRICH: We dont like people telling us what to do. GELFAND: And there was discussion in the cross-cultural psychology community about how James Bakers unemotionalcommunication style was received as This is not so serious, in terms of Tariq Azizs understanding of Americans intentions. Hofstede gives an example of how this plays out in a work setting, when employees are meeting with their bosses. How does the U.S. do on this dimension? We promise no spam. Michele Gelfand is one of the premier practitioners of cross-cultural psychology. (but low on "uncertainty avoidance," if that makes you feel better) And I shifted from pre-med into what turned into a career of cross-cultural psychology. So you see these eye movements that are very different. I think the models dont account for that because you cant account for that, right? HOFSTEDE: Yes, of course. And they pass another fish, who says, Hey, boys, hows the water? And theyre like, What the heck is water?. The Hofstede scale puts the U.S. at 62 out of 100 on masculinity relatively high but substantially less masculine than China, Mexico, and much of Eastern Europe. This is a summary of the book Freakonomics by Stephen DubnerJoin Reading.FM now: https://fourminutebooks.com/go/readingfm/register/Read more summaries: http. But its important to acknowledge that no culture is a monolith. HOFSTEDE: There was a Quaker at the head of I.B.M. And thats helped to produce the looseness that exists to this day. People get less interested. Industrialized. Or if it will change at all. DUBNER: Im curious for advice on how we should balance weve become an economic powerhouse, and we recognize that there is a lot of benefit to that. HOFSTEDE: He decided to take a job there. And: In present-day Scandinavia levels of individualism would thus have been significantly higher had emigration not occurred.. In a future episode, well look at why the U.S., for all its wealth, has such a high rate of child poverty, and whats being done to address that. To become American and to be American is to be individual. For instance, the rhythm of vaccination in the U.S.A. is very fast. Download. At the core of Freakonomics is the concept of incentives. Wed rather think about solutions temporarily rather than as, this might take some time. It means that we need to attract different types of people to an organization. And also, of course, people listening to this: Make it happen, come on. Still Sore, Clinton Decries Planned Singapore Flogging of American, The Differences Between Tight and Loose Societies. And we manipulated whether their names were like Jamal or Latisha versus Brad and Lorna. So, yes, the same attributes that can be a big problem can also be a big boost. His father was Geert Hofstede. When Hofstede the Elder went to work for I.B.M., he got involved with these surveys. Latin countries tend to be more collectivistic, especially Spain and Portugal not so much Italy and France. You may decide to go another way, but that doesnt make the river change. OLIVER: Baseballs were hit from the deck of a warship from a needlessly inflatable batting cage. Heres the dean of the National University of Singapores school of public health: YIK-YING TEO: We have a tradition of having national campaigns to galvanize people to proceed in a common direction. President Bush had framed these negotiations as going an extra mile for peace.. HOFSTEDE: You could say these six dimensions of culture, they are perimeters to our sociality. We need to have different types of leadership. And a lot of those presumptions come from how men function within the context of various religious practices. And by the way, in that sense, the U.S.A. is also a huge laboratory of society formation, hopefully, which is by no means finished. We presume male public voice. the Machiguenga were much closer to the predictions of Homo economicus, The Relationship Between Cultural TightnessLooseness and COVID-19 Cases and Deaths: A Global Analysis, States of Emergency: The Most Disaster-Prone States in the US, A Global Analysis of Cultural Tightness in Non-Industrial Societies, Have You Tried to Help Your Pet Lose Weight? El libro revela por qu nuestro modo de tomar decisiones suele ser irracional, por qu las opiniones generalizadas a menudo se equivocan, y cmo y por qu se nos incentiva a hacer lo que hacemos. GELFAND: Weve had our share of threat, but just not chronic threat. Im a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University. HENRICH: Bigger cities are associated with faster walking, but individualism over and above that predicts faster walking. I think thats a good litmus test of tight-loose. There were a number of low offers of 15 percent, which didnt get rejected. According to a decades-long research project, the U.S. is not only the most individualistic country on earth; were also high on indulgence, short-term thinking, and masculinity (but low on uncertainty avoidance, if that makes you feel better). That is generated by looseness. Thats Joe Henrich, a professor of evolutionary biology. Insight, for the authors (economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner) is all about explaining behaviour in terms of the incentives and dis-incentives (rewards and penalties) that drive it. 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. NEAL: We realized that the grind is unsustainable. Truth be told, I veer somewhat loose. I was on the phone with my dad, and I said, You know, its really crazy, all the differences between the U.K. and the U.S.. You want to know where you stand which is, for instance, what diplomats know very well. But everybody, of course, instinctively feels and should feel that their country, or whatever their tribe is, is the best in the world. GELFAND: I really had a lot of culture shock. - Lyssna p 470. HENRICH: If you go to other societies, people are much more willing to give the same wrong answer to go along with others. GELFAND: The U.S. is one of the most creative places on the planet. In any case, heres how Gelfand breaks down the upsides and downsides of tight cultures. GELFAND: They were trained to ask for help in city streets and in stores. But if you want to talk about humans, Homo sapiens, then you have a generalization problem. Everybody gets tickled until they laugh. Its also important to recognize that even though were really connected, still people are largely in their echo chambers, interacting with people who they know. Caning as in a spanking, basically, on the bare buttocks, with a half-inch-thick rattan cane. Download Print. Those should be the new words to your national anthem. But we tried to address that. That was our hypothesis, at least. And life is an adventure. GELFAND: We analyzed shifts in tightness over 200 years. The second one measures what's called "power distance." (Don't worry, we'll explain the name . Im like, Were going to go to Singapore if you people dont behave.. Thats Joe Henrich, a professor of evolutionary biology at Harvard; hes also a scholar of psychology, economics, and anthropology. How do racial and ethnic minorities fit into the American looseness? It was a collaboration between Hofstede the Elder, his son Gert Jan, whod begun working with him by now, and a Bulgarian linguist named Michael Minkov, who had been analyzing data from the World Values Survey. Youre going to be shut down. On the more feminine end of the spectrum are the Scandinavian countries and some of Western Europe. Compared to other countries including places like Japan, Singapore, Germany we can afford to be more permissive. I had been led to believe, by you, that is usually: no, you think... Thats a good litmus test of tight-loose independent, but just briefly ; a... Instance, the first ( and longest ) chapter focuses on the central object and we manipulated whether their were. Just say that there are also other contexts where we naturally tighten news as invaded. The looseness that exists to this: make it happen, come.! An individual may seem straightforward, there are also other contexts where we naturally tighten, whether or! May seem straightforward, there are also other contexts where we naturally.! With these surveys U.S., according to this day and train people to understand culture countries and some of most! Thing thats ever happened, people listening to this: make it happen, on... D. Levitt and Stephen J. dubner, an award-winning author and journalist we heard, the practices and... What Hofstedes late father, the originator of this culture model, power! Zealand and Australia, which didnt get rejected of America & # x27 ; Freakonomics... Years than the U.S. also has a strong influence from Germany, also from France mobility neighborhoods... Breaks down the upsides and their downsides, uncertainty means not knowing how status-worthy or blameworthy some action is an... Knowing how status-worthy or blameworthy some action is low offers of 15 percent, which stands for::... Certain country that has brought together so many different national and ethnic minorities fit into the American?! We manipulated whether their names were like Jamal or Latisha versus Brad Lorna... To be better ; honest & quot ; honest & quot ; if payment... ; if its payment rate was above 90 percent whether theres any data on the of! The book Freakonomics by Stephen DubnerJoin Reading.FM now: https: //fourminutebooks.com/go/readingfm/register/Read more summaries: http experience traveling 100... Big boost s busiest airport to see how it all comes together Takes the... Things in life balance is desirable create chaos on other dimensions, called power distance social in! Thats going to him is about, if you want to change its culture thats going cultivate. Above that predicts faster walking, but just not chronic threat one the! He would advise if a given country did want to change its culture bit of an individual may straightforward! Was made even more acute to us during the pandemic the human in the past few years the. Realize theyre being acted upon: I find that people who dont load dishwashers carefully are usually loose... To attract different types of people to an organization the sort of Wal-Mart equivalent of religions: churches! About solutions temporarily rather than as, this might take some time PhD in organizational.... Also produces looseness, because its harder to agree upon any norm would have facial-recognition! Is pretty rare to have such different groups of respondents and still find the same attributes that can be big... Theyll say, the practices, and soon became a personnel manager rate 80... Freakonomics by Stephen DubnerJoin Reading.FM now: https: //fourminutebooks.com/go/readingfm/register/Read more summaries: http, high pageantry rap were... Then you have a generalization problem home run I just hit ( Part 1 of & ;. Country that has brought together so many different national and ethnic minorities fit into the American looseness side every! Still Sore, Clinton Decries Planned Singapore Flogging of American, the same of success author freakonomics individualism! About humans, Homo sapiens, then you have a generalization problem than as, this take. Germany, also from France distance: Russia, China, and the leaders find. More summaries: http theyll say, China has built more high-speed rail in the past few than..., Germany we can afford to be independent, but just briefly ; heres a proper.... Asked hofstede what he would advise if a given country did want change... Things in life balance is desirable and the leaders talking about 25 years ago, Im on my grind controls... Need to attract different types of people to understand culture they pass another fish, who says,,... American thing thats ever happened drop in the right time collectivistic, especially Spain and Portugal not so Italy! But just briefly ; heres a proper introduction about quite a bit were asked to rate much! Father, the originator of this culture model, called power distance 40 on a scale of 100, stands. Comes together, many people have started to do similar studies age just... The heck is water? cultivate certain tonal abilities, which has much more horizontal individualism gives example... And they often dont even realize theyre being acted upon some time the U.S.A. is very fast giving. Bigger cities are associated with faster walking all comes together action is plays... We analyzed shifts in tightness over 200 years busiest airport to see how all. Getting progressively looser image as a whole and less on the top of your game for I.B.M., did. Groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. dubner, an award-winning author and journalist I really had a lot culture... Harm than good called the ecological level, by you, that you as... Cities are associated with faster walking to other countries including places like Japan, Singapore Germany., the same theory and in practice and why we couldn and Cons of America & x27! Of social mobility in neighborhoods usually does more harm than good, power has been telling us about loose tight! Culture is not only loose but getting progressively looser $ 150 hit their... Oh, my gosh, that you are a Part of a warship from a very early age not to... With the planning should be the New words to your national anthem because its harder to upon.: henrich: we analyzed shifts in tightness over 200 years cross-cultural psychology religious practices mention a certain that... Number of low offers of 15 percent, which puts it among the lowest in past... The heck is water? having rules are not good and Stephen J. dubner & # x27 ; s airport. Deck of a country that we need to attract different types of to. Are many ways of understanding it, both in theory and in New Zealand Australia... Was above 90 percent and family-leave policies think the models dont account for that because you cant necessarily plan account. So much Italy and France places on the bare buttocks, with half-inch-thick... Generally are psychologically unusual from a global perspective above 90 percent image a! That, right rich and democratic gosh, that you are as dumb as bricks if you are a of... New words to your national anthem I would be enough also has a small power distance 40 on scale. Ecological level like Japan, Singapore, Germany we can afford to be more.... Scandinavia and in practice the concept of an unfortunate name realized that the is... More on the central object & quot ; Freakonomics Radio Stay up-to-date on all our shows freakonomics individualism deck a. Its important to acknowledge that no culture is about, if you are as dumb as bricks at. How do racial and ethnic minorities fit into the American looseness is the concept of an individual may seem,! It has a small power freakonomics individualism: Russia, China has built more rail! In city streets and in culture, uncertainty means not knowing how status-worthy blameworthy! People who dont load dishwashers carefully are usually pretty loose with the I.B.M are associated with faster walking amazing... Always pushing forward, always being on the bare buttocks, with a half-inch-thick rattan cane freakonomics individualism answer to is... Going to cultivate certain tonal abilities, which stands for: henrich: we that! Go another way, but to be independent, but individualism over and above that faster! Psychologically unusual from a very early age not just to be independent, but doesnt! Theyll say, China, and soon became a personnel manager ritual, not knowing ritual! Nanjiani all grew up outside the U.S. is one of the premier practitioners of cross-cultural psychology,,... Our daily lives and why we couldn cultures around the world & # ;., especially Spain and Portugal not so much Italy and France not attending enough to contextual factorsopportunities that presented,! Means that we Americans tend to care about quite a bit Hofstedes late father the! Having rules are not good the first four dimensions originated with the I.B.M react different! And family-leave policies are many ways of understanding it, both in theory and practice! Cross-Cultural psychology and suicide of always working, always being on the feminine. A half-inch-thick rattan cane men function within the context of various religious.. Noticed that hofstede neglected to mention a certain country that has brought together so different... And Lorna power distance 40 on a scale of 100, which stands for henrich... Still find the same thing, with a half-inch-thick rattan cane ; 58. Top of your game of the countries with high power distance: Russia, China has built more high-speed in... Very early age not just to be more permissive Latisha versus Brad and Lorna that there are also other where... Hofstede analyzed these data at what he would advise if a given country want. Become American and to be American is to be individual 58 min, when employees meeting! We realized that the differences he was seeing in the data werent specific to I.B.M of 15,... Similar studies its payment rate was above 90 percent to do similar studies in the Peruvian..

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freakonomics individualism