Page 268 - Cultures and Organizations

Yesterday, Now, or Later? 241

9
spending their time and their money than middle-class children. Among

societies in the CVS, deferment of gratification varies with LTO.
Marriage in high-LTO countries is a pragmatic, goal-oriented arrange-
ment. Questions in the 1990–93 WVS about “things that make a marriage
successful” showed that for families in high-LTO countries, living with
in-laws was considered normal, and differences in tastes and interests
between spouses did not matter. In another study students in high-LTO
countries agreed most with the statement “If love has completely disap-
peared from a marriage, it is best for the couple to make a clean break and
start new lives.” At the same time, actual divorce rates in these high-LTO
countries were lower. 10
Chapter 5 cited a survey by the Japanese market research company
Wacoal, asking young working women in eight Asian cities about traits
preferred in husbands versus steady boyfriends. The trait that differentiated
most between high- and low-LTO countries was affection. In high-LTO
cultures affection was associated with the husband, in low-LTO countries
with the boyfriend. In the section of the Wacoal study dealing with gender
stereotypes, the trait that differentiated most between high- and low-LTO
countries was humility. In the high-LTO cultures humility was considered a
general human virtue; in low-LTO countries humility was seen as feminine.
As a Chinese student in one of Geert’s classes wrote, “Without a sense of
humility we become worse than an animal.” He saw humility as the conse-
11
quence of “having a sense of shame.” We will come back to this topic.
Another study, this one covering nineteen countries, surveyed stu-
dents’ views about aging. The age at which a person was described as
“old” (an overall mean of sixty for men and sixty-two for women) corre-
lated positively with national wealth and (across ten overlapping countries)
negatively with LTO. In poorer countries, but also in high-LTO cultures,
old age was seen as starting earlier. Then again, the same survey showed

that students in the high-LTO countries expected to be more satisfi ed with
their lives when they were old. 12
In the 1990–93 WVS section about “things that make a marriage suc-
cessful,” mentioned earlier, another question that correlated with LTO was
whether children of preschool age suffer when the mother does not stay
at home. Respondents in high-LTO countries thought the children would
suffer.
A study in Australia asked mothers from two ethnic categories what
was on their minds when choosing presents for their children. White Aus-
tralian mothers mentioned making the children feel good and gaining