Reddit reviews Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind, Third Edition

I'm flattered that you've mistaken me for Jesus--that is unfortunately not often the case.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person who has had to trudge through Hofstede. That Hofstede book was a monster to get through--but I haven't been able to look at the world the same since then.

I also like Craig Storti's 'Figuring Foreigners Out' for a more approachable book to the subject of Intercultural Communication.

suggested reading on this (and related) topic(s): Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind](http://www.amazon.com/Cultures-Organizations-Software-Mind-Third/dp/0071664181). A very interesting book/study that explores (national) culture through several dimensions, especially helpful if you work with people in/from a different culture than your own. Gender attitudes is not an explicit cultural dimension, but follows from others. (e.g the most feminist countries also seem to score high on femininity v. masculinity)

Personally, my only real experience with this sort of thing is the time I was in Zambia for round about a month. Gender inequality seemed very engrained into the culture as a whole with not many women working etc. One time in a supermarket, a guy was blatantly taking pictures of my (white) female coworkers. However, most women I met were actively working against the stereotype and inequality, two of our host's four daughters had gone to the US to go to college, one of them was well on her way to become a doctor, while the youngest was enrolling University the following year. Also, we worked with women in high positions in an organisation managed by the Reformed Church of Zambia and taught basic computer and internet skills to about twenty people from the slums, most of whom were female as well.

Not exactly what you’re looking for, but the book that I believe has defined my thinking about cultures (including my own) the most was “Cultures and Organizations” by Hofstede et al. (https://www.amazon.com/Cultures-Organizations-Software-Mind-Third/dp/0071664181). It’s an academic book so it’s rather hard to read, but the premise is to fit all the world cultures into a single framework, and I believe that it delivers on that promise. All that “guards saying hi to the white guys” stuff you can pretty much get from Wikitravel (my favorite travel website), but “Cultures and Organizations” might offer a reason for why certain things have established into various parts of the world.

> "im willing to make sure you lose"

That's actually a good encapsulation of what Russians call a strong man. Some cultural studies using game theory found that Russians were one of a small group of cultures where they were willing to harm their own self interest just to spite someone who wronged them. Most the other countries with similar results were in the Persian Gulf. It was in this book: https://www.amazon.com/Cultures-Organizations-Software-Mind-Third/dp/0071664181