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What Is Different Is Dangerous 231

country. As examples of world literature from high-UAI countries, she
mentions Franz Kafka’s The Castle from Czechia and Goethe’s Faust from
Germany. In the former the main character is haunted by impersonal rules;
in the latter the hero sells his soul for knowledge of Truth. Low-UAI Brit-
ain has produced literature in which the most unreal things happen: Lewis
Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and J. K.
Rowling’s Harry Potter series. 70
Table 6.6 completes the summary of key differences between weak and
strong uncertainty- avoidance societies started in Table 6.2, adding issues
covered in the past two sections.

TABLE 6.6 Key Differences Between Weak and Strong
Uncertainty-Avoidance Societies
V: Tolerance, Religion, and Ideas

WEAK UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE STRONG UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE
More ethnic tolerance More ethnic prejudice
Positive or neutral toward foreigners Xenophobia
Refugees should be admitted. Immigrants should be sent back.
Defensive nationalism Aggressive nationalism
Lower risk of violent intergroup High risk of violent intergroup confl ict
confl ict
One religion’s truth should not be In religion, there is only one Truth,
imposed on others. and we have it.
If commandments cannot be If commandments cannot be
respected, they should be changed. respected, we are sinners and should
repent.
Human rights: nobody should be More religious, political, and

persecuted for his or her beliefs. ideological intolerance and
fundamentalisms
In philosophy and science, there is In philosophy and science, there is a
a tendency toward relativism and tendency toward grand theories.
empiricism.
Scientifi c opponents can be personal Scientifi c opponents cannot be
friends. personal friends.
Literature dealing with fantasy worlds Literature dealing with rules and Truth