Page 119 - Cultures and Organizations

98 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

In his 2007 book, Misho analyzed the WVS database in more detail,
3
including its latest additions. He found Inglehart’s second dimension con-
ceptually diffuse. In a factor analysis, it split into two components. One

reflected, among other things, differences in happiness; it will be described
in Chapter 8 as part of the dimension indulgence versus restraint. The
other component consisted of items dealing with in-group and out-group
relationships:

At the positive pole
■ Rejection of people of another race as neighbors

plus a number of conservative views on family and gender issues:

■ Strong agreement that men make better leaders than women
■ Strong agreement that children must always love their parents, even
if the parents have defi ciencies
■ Agreement that a child needs two parents to be happy
■ Agreement that a woman needs to have children to be fulfi lled

At the negative pole
■ Tolerance and respect for everybody

Misho concluded that the positive pole of this dimension refl ects strong
in-group cohesion and exclusion of members of other groups, whereas the
negative pole indicates acceptance of others regardless of the group(s) to
which they belong. He labeled it exclusionism versus universalism.
Exclusionism can be defined as the cultural tendency to treat people

on the basis of their group affiliation and to reserve favors, services, privi-

leges, and sacrifices for friends, relatives, and other groups with which one

identifies, while excluding outsiders from the circle of those who deserve
such privileged treatment. While exclusionist cultures strive to achieve
harmony and good relationships within one’s in-group, they may be indif-
ferent, inconsiderate, rude, and sometimes even hostile toward members of
out-groups.
Universalism is the opposite cultural tendency: treating people primar-
ily on the basis of who they are as individuals and disregarding their group
affi liations.