Chapter 3 Outline

Cultural Change

Culture is not a constant; it evolves over time. Changes in value systems can be slow and painful for a society. In the 1960s, for example, American values toward the role of women, love, sex, and marriage underwent significant changes. Much of the social turmoil of that time reflected these changes. Similarly, today the value systems of many ex-communist states, such as Russia, are undergoing significant changes as those countries move away from values that emphasize collectivism and toward those that emphasize individualism. Social turmoil is an inevitable outcome.

Some claim that a major cultural shift is occurring in Japan, with a move toward greater individualism.³⁸ The model Japanese office worker, or salaryman, is pictured as being loyal to his boss and the organization to the point of giving up evenings, weekends, and vacations in order to serve the organization, which is the collective of which he is a member. However, a new generation of office workers does not seem to fit this model. It is claimed that an individual from the new generation

is more direct than the traditional Japanese. He acts more like a Westerner, a gaijian. He does not live for the company, and will move on if he gets the offer of a better job. He is not keen on overtime, especially if he has a date with a girl. He has his own plans for his free time, and they may not include drinking or playing golf with the boss.³⁹

A more detailed example of the changes occurring in Japan is given in the Management Focus, which looks at the impact of Japan's changing culture on Hitachi.

The Hitachi example in the Management Focus points to two forces that may result in cultural change--economic advancement and globalization. Several studies have suggested that both these forces may be important factors in societal change.⁴⁰ For example, there is evidence that economic progress is accompanied by a shift in values away from collectivism and towards individualism.⁴¹ Thus, as Japan has become richer, the cultural emphasis on collectivism has declined and greater individualism is being witnessed. One reason for this shift may be that richer societies exhibit less need for social and material support structures built on collectives, whether the collective is the extended family or the paternalistic company. People are better able to take care of their own needs. As a result, the importance attached to collectivism declines, while greater economic freedoms lead to an increase in opportunities for expressing individualism.

The culture of societies may also change as they become richer because economic progress affects a number of other factors, which in turn impact on culture. For example, increased urbanization and improvements in the quality and availability of education are both a function of economic progress, and both can lead to declining emphasis on the traditional values associated with poor rural societies.

As for globalization, some have argued that advances in transportation and communications technologies, the dramatic increase in trade that we have witnessed since World War II, and the rise of global corporations such as Hitachi, Disney, Microsoft, and Levi Strauss, whose products and operations can be found around the globe, are creating the conditions for the merging of cultures.⁴² With McDonald's hamburgers in China, Levi's in India, Sony Walkmans in South Africa, and MTV everywhere helping to foster a ubiquitous youth culture, some argue that the conditions for less cultural variation have been created. At the same time, one must not ignore important countertrends, such as the shift toward Islamic fundamentalism in several countries; the separatist movement in Quebec, Canada; or the continuing ethnic strains and separatist movements in Russia. Such countertrends in many ways are a reaction to the pressures for cultural convergence. In an increasingly modern and materialistic world, some societies are trying to reemphasize their cultural roots and uniqueness.