Davy Rose F.

Falceso
III- BS Accountancy
HOFSTEDES CULTURAL DIMENSIONS

1. Individualism vs. Collectivism
Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose:
everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate
family.
Collectivism pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated
into strong, cohesive ingroups, which throughout peoples lifetime continue to
protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
2. Power Distance
Power distance can be defined as the extent to which the less powerful members of
institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is
distributed unequally.
3. Feminity vs. Masculinity
Feminity pertains to societies in which social gender roles overlap. For example,
both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the
quality of life.
Masculinity indicates the extent to which the dominant values of a society are
masculine. Masculinity pertains to societies in which socail gender roles are
clearly distinct, men are supposed to be assertive, tough, and focused on material
success whereas women are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned
with the quality of life.
4. Uncertainty Avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance can be defined as the extent to which the members of a
culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown situations and try to avoid such
Davy Rose F. Falceso
III- BS Accountancy
situations. This feeling is, among other things, expressed through nervous stress and
in a need for predictability: a need for written and unwritten rules.
5. Long- term vs. short- term orientation
Long- term orientation could be labeled by:
- Persistence (perseverance)
- Ordering relationships by status and observing this order
- Thrift
- Having a sense of shame
Short- term orientation
- Personal steadiness and stability
- Protecting your face
- Respect for tradition
- Reciprocation of greeting, favors, and gifts.

REFLECTION:
All the cultural dimensions mentioned above have their positive and negative sides,
which is the reality of life. In making decisions, were not sure if that is the right decision to
make or not. Likewise, when doing something, we cant make everyone appreciates us.
After reading the definitions and explanations of each cultural dimension, I wrapped up my
mind by choosing the feminism dimension. It is because of the few reasons I have in mind.
First, I like the idea of equality in our society and feminism stresses it out on its
definition. Since Im a strong woman, I think I want to be treated equally as how the others
treat men. I believe that both men and women were equally created by God, and that they
should be given equal rights and treatment. Feminism is not only about the equality
between men and women but also the equality between poor and rich, weak and strong,
young and old, and abnormal and normal. For me, if most of us believe in feminism, there
will be less discrimination in our society and that will give us unity.
Davy Rose F. Falceso
III- BS Accountancy
Second, I believe that the idea of feminism will lead us to solidarity. Theres a
current issue today about the bashes of Devina DeDiva on the subject of Megan Young being
the Miss World 2013. On her post, she said, Miss Philippines is Miss World? What a joke! I
did not know those maids have anything else in them, Ha Ha Ha. Many reacted and
defended the Filipinos; and in fact, shes now facing criminal charges as a consequence to
what she has done. Her action shows discrimination to Filipino races but because we stand
on equality between races, we fight together against him. The actions and comments of
many Filipino citizens and even the foreigners showed how we are united against the
discrimination and inequality. This shows that feminism dimension of culture will bring us
unity and peace.
And lastly, I believe that it will give us a higher quality of life. Both male and female
will have no limits to what they can do and to what they can give. All of us will be motivated
to challenge the impossibilities of life because there will be lesser obstruction on our way.
Because of feminism, I can maximize my wants and goals in life. There will be lesser
hindrances in exploring the world and making changes to it. The possibilities of bringing
out the best out of the best options will be higher and that will result to a better quality of
life.