For those scientists that previously supported Hofstede's work are unlikely to publicly change their view, which creates a problem for later readers.

Politics and the relationships between citizens are an extension of relationships in the family, school, and at work,and in their turn they affect these other spheres of life. S. dollars of public money from the rich countries was spent on the development of the poor ones'' where this ‘development’ was often the privatization of natural resources in conjunction with governmental capture, the wealthy often Western countries happy with bribery/corruption and hollowing out the rights of workers and rendering legal provisions unenforceable. In parts the book might be a bit dated, but imho Hofstede's cultural dimensions are still essential in understanding cultural diversity. A feminine society is where emotional gender roles over lap, where both men and women are supposed to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life. Title may sound dry, but if you, like me, find cultural differences fascinating/annoying you really must read this book, or something similar.It’s written in a simple language and broken down into very understandable bits so even someone without much previous knowledge (like me) can have a pleasant read. INDIVIDUALISM/COLLECTIVISM: Individualism describes societies where the ties between individuals are loose; everyone is expected to look after himself and his immediate family.

Now since we associate with various groups that overlap and comingle and fluididate and dance around in this hypermodern metropolis that we’ve created for ourselves, we need to learn how to navigate this unending complexity. Those dimensions are Power Distance (the psychological distance we feel to superiors - government, boss, teacher, parents), Uncertainty Avoidance (or how much a culture dislikes change and prefers more rules), Masculinity vs Femininity (no misogynism here, this value reflects competitiveness, among others), Individualism (how much we think of ourselves as a person, rather than part of a group - family, work, social network) and Long-Term Relationships (how much we think of the future, how much importance we put in building a social network based on trust and strong, personal ties). Having flown 1900+ hours in a NATO staffed flying unit, I found the insights in this book invaluable for understanding the various effects of culture on cockpit etiquette and flight safety.Collectivism describes societies in which people from birth are integrated into strong, cohesive in groups which protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. INDULGENCE/RESTRAINT: Indulgence stands for a tendency to allow relatively free gratifications of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying life and having fun, whereas restraint reflects a conviction that such gratification needs to be curbed and regularised by strict social norms. A must read for managers, counselors, coaches and those who either work or want to facilitate international business and deals. It is not an easy book, but the interested reader will be able to fully understand the ideas; reading an article about factor analysis in an encyclopedia may help to grasp how the data was interpreted. There is a large discussion of different elements that distinguish different cultures based on survey data.

Although it is not always perceived as such, any study of human behavior, any discipline of the social sciences and humanities, is involved in looking at an aspect of behavioral or symbolic evolution. But amazing Hofstede, he got it right to be the most cited European sociologist in today's sociology. To understand what it means to be human I think it is good to look at how our cultures provide for our basic needs, and how varied these cultures are.

I noticed that the author especially focuses on differences in cultures in Europe and between Europe/US, yet rarely had good insight in Asian, Latin American, or African cultures. The fifth dimension which was later added based on results from the Far East and Asia - Long- versus Short-Term Orientation - is not discussed in this book. Then the ‘enlightened rule’ trope again: ''the development of poor countries is an uphill struggle because population growth often swallows any increase in resources'' that again is not strictly true when China/East Asia is a positive case nor does the author have the authority to impose population reductions in a colonial fashion. The end result is that nations can be evaulauted on the basis of criteria such as "uncertainty avoidance," "individualism" and "power distance from superiors.