Page 330 - Cultures and Organizations

Light or Dark? 295

and optimism even if they are privately worried about the way their politi-
cal careers are going. Over in Russia, a stern face is a sign of seriousness,
and it only seems to bolster the high rating that Vladimir Putin has always
enjoyed.
Geert postulates that indulgence also explains the norm of smiling in
photographs (“say cheese”). His Eastern European friends lack this habit. 43

Indulgence Versus Restraint and the State

One item in the WVS waves from 1995 to 2004 asks respondents to choose
the most important of four national goals: maintaining order in the nation,

giving people more say, fighting rising prices, and protecting freedom of
44
speech. The percentages of respondents choosing “maintaining order in
45
the nation” as a first goal correlate negatively with indulgence; hence,

they correlate positively with restraint as a cultural trait. People in more
restrained societies are more likely to see the maintenance of order (what-
ever they understand by that) as an important national goal superseding
other goals.
In the WVS there is an even stronger correlation between indulgence
and choosing freedom of speech as the most important national goal. 46

This is a key finding for Western politicians and journalists, many of whom
have trouble understanding the fact that people in quite a few nations do
not prioritize their national goals in the way the Americans or Dutch do.
Freedom of speech may be a prominent goal in an indulgent Western soci-
ety, but in a restrained one it may be downplayed, especially if people have
to make more compelling choices. Percentages of respondents who chose
freedom of speech as the fi rst national goal range from 36.6 in the Neth-
erlands to 1.5—the lowest in the world—in Russia. Russians, as well as
other Eastern Europeans, give low priority to a number of human rights

that citizens of rich Western countries consider very important. This fi nd-
ing explains why such a high percentage of Russians do not mind being
governed by autocrats: in a restrained society with large power distance,
authoritarian rule can be well accepted. It also explains why many citizens
of Russia who have lived abroad and are familiar with life in the West
are far from being impressed with the freedoms that they have witnessed.
Commenting on the strong-arm tactics of the Kremlin, they insist it is a
good thing to have a strong government; otherwise, there would be chaos,
and that is the last thing the country needs.