WHAT ARE CULTURAL VARIANTS? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The cultural variations are the differences between aspects of culture, such as language, customs, traditions, beliefs or ways of thinking. Through the cultural variants, the elements of each cultural configuration that have been established in a certain social group are first identified. This is the first, essential and indispensable step to be able to compare it with others.

In addition to identifying the cultural configurations of social groups, you have to understand the reasons why they are acquired. This entails, in turn, the understanding of its historical evolution and its social composition.

Culture, according to Kroeber and Kluckhohn has more than 164 meanings, according to the compilation they made in 1952. Among the many understandings of the meaning of culture, the Argentine Alejandro Grimson raised in his theory The Limits of Culture: Critique of Identity Theories.

Grimson proposes the concept of cultural configurations, which articulates in a process, with certain requirements to fulfill, the understanding of culture.

Furthermore, the French-Dutch theorist Fons Trompenaars proposed his theory of a seven-dimensional model of culture, in which all the cultural variants that exist between different cultural configurations can be identified.

Cultural variants according to Trompenaars

Fons Trompenaars, born in 1953 in Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is a theorist on cultural issues and has published works such as The Seven Cultures of Capitalism or Riding on the Waves of Culture.

His main field of study is intercultural communication, which is responsible for analyzing the communicative processes that take place between different societies configured in cultures.

Due to his study on this matter, Trompeenars wrote together with his partner, the British Charles Hampden-Turner the Trompeenars Model for the differences of national cultures.

This theory has been very successful in the world of marketing, where it has been widely disseminated, because it explains how cultural relationships can affect or benefit businesses. To do so, the authors involved nearly 9,000 employees from 43 countries.

Trompeenars theory

Trompeenars theory is constituted in seven dimensions. The first five deal with relationships between humans, while the final two theorize the person's relationship with the environment in which they work.

Universalism - particularism

It answers the question of are interpersonal relationships or social rules more important? From this question, a bifurcation of a large part of the world's cultures is achieved.

While some societies consider it essential to comply with the legal and moral rules, established by the dominant factors of the same, other societies prevail the personal and direct treatment between people.

This automatically becomes the exceptions to the rules, so the other question comes in: how many exceptions to the rules are they willing to make?

This type of cultural variable is widely studied by experts in marketing and business administration, and helps to understand intracultural business relationships.

Individualism - collectivism / communitarianism

Again, it raises a dilemma between cultures that identify as individualistic and collectivist.

The question that must be asked for this is: Does the person's commitment to a company, community or community have more value or is it preferred that the individual manifest himself as a representative of his cultural configuration?

Here the difference between private and collective interests is reflected, concluding that there are societies in which we think more collectively and others more personally.

However, both elements are usually present, so the proportion should be studied.

Specific - diffuse

This time the differences are located in the precise, specific, determined and those diffuse beliefs, and often without foundation.

Therefore, it is worth asking, do you pay more attention to the specific data on a certain issue or do you allow yourself to be guided by diffuse experiences and beliefs?

The best way to apply this variant is through concrete and precise facts. The members of the precise cultures analyze all the facts separately and later unify them to understand the phenomenon as a whole, while in the diffuse cultures the whole picture is analyzed before delving into specific details.

This is also reflected in working life, because in the specific ones it is not mixed with the private one and in the diffuse ones there is no clear differentiation between them.

Neutral - emotional

This is one of the most visible cultural variants, because it is responsible for the study of physical and bodily expressions in the face of emotions produced in moments of life.

The question that can be posed would be, are emotions shown in the face of events that make them surface or is it chosen to impose neutrality in those circumstances?

Here the cultural configurations are established more concisely, because the cultures that express their feelings when engaging in conversations, gesturing and using their body as a vehicle for emotions are more noticeable.

Meanwhile, other cultures are more likely to remain immobile and expressionless with similar events.

Achievements - social affiliation

It analyzes the factors inherent to the individual that favor or inhibit him to achieve success. The question to be asked would be to what extent do economic and social factors influence the ability to achieve a certain achievement?

In some cultures, achievements are obtained through effort, in a society that promotes that this situation may exist, and is not an exception.

On the other hand, there are other cultures where social affiliation is decisive to achieve achievements. In many latitudes, you cannot be successful if you are not male, of the region's dominant ethnic group, heterosexual and upper-class. In this way, the social affiliation would be fulfilled and from that the achievements can be harvested.

Sequential - synchronous

It is the first cultural variant that refers to the behavior of the individual with respect to his environment. It deals mainly with the conception of the present time that a certain society has and its relationship with the past and the future. A question asked might be, do you do one thing or more at the same time?

Some cultures understand the present as a consequence of the past, at the same time as the future. Therefore, they visualize the world in a sequential way.

This makes it possible to measure the acts of the present. On the other hand, there are the synchronous cultures that work in the present anticipating what may come in the future.

Internal control - external control

Through this variant, the understanding of cultures about the role of man and his position in the environment is explained.

Do we control the environment or do we let the environment control us? As with other variants, many cultures feature elements of both extremes.

Those who are inclined towards internal control believe that man is in a position to control the environment, while those with external control believe part of it and therefore adapt to its elements.

References

1. Changing Minds. (sf). Trompenaars' and Hampden-Turner's cultural factors. Changing Minds. Recovered from changingminds.org.
2. Dugan, S, Smith, P. and Trompenaars, F. (1996). National culture and the values ​​of organizational employees: A dimensional analysis across 43 nations. Sage Journals. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 27 (2). 231-264.
3. Gortázar, A. (March 21, 2011). Interview with Alejandro Grimson / Agustín Cosovschi. Subjects - Culture and politics. Recovered from subjectssujetados.wordpress.com.
4. Grimson, A. (2011). The limits of culture. Critique of identity theories. Buenos Aires, Argentina: Siglo XXI Editores. Recovered from library.unlpam.edu.ar.
5. Hampden-Turner, C. and Trompenaars, F. (1997). Riding the Waves of Culture. Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business. London, UK: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. Recovered from ocan.yasar.edu.tr.
6. Karaian, J. (March 3, 2008). Trompenaars Hampden-Turner Consulting's Fons Trompenaars. CFO. Recovered from cfo.com.
7. Khorasani, M. (nd). Cultural variables. Khorasani Consulting. Recovered from moshtaghkhorasani.com.