Page 182 - Cultures and Organizations

158 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

In a study of “sexual harassment” in four countries in the 1990s, Bra-
zilian students of both sexes differed from their colleagues in Australia, the
United States, and Germany. They saw sexual harassment less as an abuse
of power, less as related to gender discrimination, and more as a relatively
27
harmless pastime. Brazil in the IBM research scored lower on MAS than
the three other countries (49, versus 61, 62, and 66, respectively).
Attitudes toward homosexuality are also affected by the degree of
masculinity in the culture. In a comparison among Australia, Finland,
Ireland, and Sweden, it was found that young homosexuals had more prob-
lems accepting their sexual orientation in Ireland and Australia, less in
Finland, and least in Sweden. This is the order of the countries on MAS.
Homosexuality tends to be felt as a threat to masculine norms and rejected
in masculine cultures; this attitude is accompanied by an overestimation of
its frequency. In feminine cultures, homosexuality is more often considered
a fact of life. 28
Culture is heavy with values, and values imply judgment. The issues in
this section are strongly value-laden. They are about moral and immoral,
decent and indecent behavior. The comparisons offered should remind us
that morality is in the eye of the beholder, not in the act itself. There is no
one best way, neither in social nor in sexual relationships; any solution is
the best according to the norms that come with it.
Table 5.3 follows on Table 5.2 and summarizes the key issues from the
past two sections on which masculine and feminine societies were shown
to differ.

Masculinity and Femininity in Education

A Dutch management consultant taught part of a course for Indonesian

middle managers from a public organization that operated all over the
archipelago. In the discussion following one of his presentations, a Javanese
participant made a particularly lucid comment, and the teacher praised him
openly. The Javanese responded, “You embarrass me. Among us, parents
never praise their children to their face.” 29
This anecdote illustrates two things. First, it demonstrates how
strong, at least in Indonesia, is the transfer of behavior models from the

family to the school situation, the teacher being identified with the father.
Second, it expresses the virtue of modesty in the Javanese culture to an
extent that even surprised the Dutchman. Indonesia is a multiethnic coun-
try, one for which national culture scores may be misleading. Indonesians