Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

educated and what type of education they receive, who gets health care and what type, and what types
of occupations do those with power have versus those who do not have power. According to Hofstede’s
most recent data, the five countries with the highest power distances are: Malaysia, Slovakia, Guatemala,
Panama, and the Philippines. 26 The five countries with the lowest power distances are Austria, Israel,
Denmark, New Zealand, and Switzerland (German-speaking part). Notice that the U.S. does not make
it into the top five or the bottom five. According to Hofstede’s data, the U.S. is 16 th from the bottom of
power distance, so we are in the bottom third with regards to power distance. When it comes down to it,
despite the issues we have in our country, the power disparity is not nearly as significant as it is in many
other parts of our world.
The United States is number one on individualism, according to Hofstede’s data. 27 Americans are
considered individualistic. In other words, we think about ourselves as individuals rather than the
collective group. Most Asian countries are considered collectivistic cultures because these cultures tend
to be group-focused. Collectivistic cultures tend to think about actions that might affect the entire group
rather than specific members of the group.
In an individualistic culture, there is a belief that you can do what you want and follow your passions.
In an individualistic culture, if someone asked what you do for a living, they would answer by saying
their profession or occupation. However, in collectivistic cultures, a person would answer in terms of the
group, organization, and/or corporation that they serve. Moreover, in a collectivistic culture, there is a
belief that you should do what benefits the group. In other words, collectivistic cultures focus on how the
group can grow and be productive.
The notion of masculinity and femininity are often misconstrued to be tied to their biological sex
counterparts, female and male. For understanding culture, Hofstede acknowledges that this distinction
ultimately has a lot to do with work goals. 28 On the masculine end of the spectrum, individuals tend
to be focused on items like earnings, recognition, advancement, and challenge. Hofstede also refers to
these tendencies as being more assertive. Femininity, on the other hand, involves characteristics like
having a good working relationship with one’s manager and coworkers, cooperating with people at
work, and security (both job and familial). Hofstede refers to this as being more relationally oriented.
Admittedly, in Hofstede’s research, there does tend to be a difference between females and males on
these characteristics (females tend to be more relationally oriented and males more assertive), which is
why Hofstede went with the terms masculinity and femininity in the first place. Ultimately, we can define
these types of cultures in the following way:
A society is called masculine when emotional gender roles are clearly distinct: men are supposed to be assertive, tough,
and focused on material success, whereas women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with quality
of life.
A society is called feminine when emotional gender roles overlap: both men and women are supposed to be modest,
tender, and concerned with quality of life [emphasis in original]. 29
The top five most masculine countries are Slovakia, Japan, Hungary, Austria, and Venezuela (the
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