Exploring Culture: Exercises, Stories and Synthetic Cultures

This book was very well written and informative. I had to read it for a class and I’m glad too.

This book is a helpful companion book to Gert Hofstede and Geert Hofstede's Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. It is useful in two ways: it provides descriptions of the extremes for each of the five cultural dimensions he discusses in the basic book; and it suggests ways of conducting culture simulations. A disappointment was that the book does not lay out every last detail of a cultural simulation; rather, as I said above, it suggests a framework. The teacher is then left to his or her own creativity to flesh out the nuts and bolts of a simulation. If the teacher has not done this previously, that makes for a difficult affective barrier to climb in taking the risk of conducting such a session. That said, I still recommend this book if you intend to teach the material in Cultures and Organizations. And that material is well worth teaching! See: Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind .

I bought this book , because I need it to write a paper in my Psychology class for "Social-Role Theory (A.K.A. gender role theory)" my paper had to be 9 pages long ,...yes apparently that is how is done in Psychology lol. Anyway this book is fairly easy to read and understand , I love to read , but reading the scholar originals articles is hard for me , can be alot of none sense and I have to cross most with a marker because they have to credit everyone if they used it an experiment etc...like I said no fun. This book got me a 90% and the only reason I didn't get the 100% is because you were supposed to explain your paper in a presentation. Well public speaking is not my greatest asset so I froze a bit lol. I hope this help :)

The information and activities in this text is valuable in multicultural courses.

The intercultural field has long been aware of the insightful models pioneered by Geert Hofstede. His seminal research is to be found, now updated, in the 2nd edition of the weighty volume, Culture's Consequences (Sage Publications, 2001). Exploring Culture provides the long-awaited, user friendly introduction and extension of this work, which has become the boilerplate of western intercultural education and practice. Reality-based cultural models plus experience are the key to effective management in a global economy. Now the authors of Exploring Culture provide both professionals and curious readers with a clear menu for cultural analysis along with a varied buffet of easy-to-digest information in the form or stories, examples, exercises and simulations that both nourish understanding and fortify intercultural competence. These flash insights and tools invite us to both plumb and organize what we learn in our interactions with people different from ourselves. By introducing activities around what are called synthetic cultures, the authors invite us to identify and practice in safe, simulated circumstances, the various dynamics of cultural difference. With this work in our system, we will have embedded the clues that will lead us to be more perceptive and understanding of cultural difference, as well as choose better responses when we hit the playing field of everyday global reality. No models, however well researched and designed, can replace experience. The sole caution we would give is not about the content or quality of this book. It would rather be about not letting "the tail wag the dog." The user must resist the temptation that the book's lucidity, despite its cautions, might offer to simplistically impose the model on reality, rather than use it to think through the richness and variations of what we lean and experience about those different from ourselves. Definitely a book for trainers and educators in the diversity and intercultural fields, Exploring Culture allows us to recognize that, as the authors point out, "We all have the capacity to communicate with other people, however unlike ourselves they might be, and to learn to understand them."

Exploring Cultures gave me the tools to look deeply into another culture, society or group and get a look at how each operates thus giving me the understandings needed to accept, change and adapt to each culture rather than condemn, sanction or destroy it. The main tool that’s explained is the Dimensions of Culture. The Dimensions are identity, hierarchy, gender, truth and virtue. Each culture, society or group handles each Dimension in a different way. The explanations of how different cultures did this greatly extended my awareness of these issues and how they show up in various groups. I, also, found the summary of myths on page 161 enlightening. These are the myths that are continually shoved down our throats such as: the world is essentially a global village; the world would be a better place if everybody behaved like the people in my country, etc. It felt good to finally have someone explain that these are false and why.

The book was good and informative. It used synthetic cultures as a way to learn how to be more open and diverse when dealing with people from other real-world cultures. What they had to say was good, though it did begin to drag on after a while. The book has many stories and excercises to help individuals and classes productively encounter various cultures. All in all, a good...but not great, introduction.

Very interesting book for scientists who deal with interculturalism. Very helpful and good text and simple for understanding for all.

Adorei o livro!!! Super indico. Completinho para quem gosta do tema.

Muy explicativo!

In questo difficile periodo storico, questo libro aiuta in maniera semplice a comprendere culture diverse dalla propria e a facilitare il dialogo.

O livro apresenta a teoria desenvolvida por Geert Hofstead de uma forma bem simples e com muitos exemplos práticos. O problema é que o livro é muito repetitivo, parecendo não avançar no assunto. Além disso, a teoria proposta considera as diferentes culturas de forma muito restritiva, como se se pudesse enquadrá-las em uma fórmula.

Libro di facile lettura e molto interessante, con esercizi pratici per stimolare e allenare sensibilità multiculturale in contesti di formazione per adulti