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The Relation Between Values and Culture

Another Western value, romantic love, is underplayed by the Chinese but is cultivated by the Japanese. Erotic pleasure, on the other hand, is a moral issue or even a taboo to the Americans, whereas the Japanese see no need to be moralistic about sex pleasures. In Indian culture, too, the erotic is accepted and expressed. Salvation, an American value, when translated into Dutch seems to be irrelevant. The literal translation is the same word as delivering a baby. In the Dutch value study, it was listed as problem solving. All concepts related to religion or to belief in higher beings are culture-bound.

The Japanese cannot cope with concepts relating to God at all. For them, the concept of salvation is nonexistent. When they seek comfort, they seek it in nature. Belonging is an important end-goal for individualistic cultures: Being "by your-self" or "going it alone" is part of the individualistic value system, but not always desirable, so one has to make an effort to be with others. For collectivistic cultures, belonging is part of existence: The individual exists only as part of the group. Achievement is a value complex that has high priority in Anglo-Saxon cultures that score high on masculinity (importance of visible results) and low on uncer-tainty avoidance (willingness to run risks). This combination is the recipe for the economic success of Anglo-Saxon culture, as it is a component of entrepreneurial activity. Other cultures show different components of success. The French, Swedes, Dutch, and Japanese will either not use the word or will change its meaning into something with better culture-fit. Thus, in Japanese it has become "inner harmony, personal attainment."

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