Japan vs Poland round II

Bonjour everyone,

This is JohnnyBloggyBoy and welcome to yet another post about Japanese culture confronted with Polish culture through the lenses of Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions Model.

Today we will be discussing Individuality Index (IDV) in those two countries.

First let us outline what this index actually measures. "This index explores the degree to which people in a society are integrated into groups". Otherwise said, whether we refer more to "I" or "We" in a given nation. Think of America for instance, their core value is independence, uniqueness and personal freedom - therefore it scores 100 in this index. Now think about the sworn enemies of the USA, the Soviet Union, China etc yeah as you might have already guessed their individuality index scores extremely low (chart below for the reference).







Alright so now let us move to Japan and Poland. I'm guessing the picture of yet another chart might be useful eh? You don't have to ask twice here it goes:
Japan is purple, Poland pink.

 Yeah another day and another proof that actually those countries do not differ that much. In Japan, since it is an island nation, the unspoken care for the other fellow Japanese and a sense of unity in the whole society is strongly visible, right? The silence in public communication, carrying around your garbage and only throwing it away in your own house and various other acts of politeness point to the fact that they have a group orientation rather than an individual one. 

Similarly in Poland people rather respect the public spaces, due to the fact that all of us is using them. However, I have to point out that numbers of fines have been introduced to ensure the social harmony, it feels more forced than in Japan.

The other difference concerns the association circle, Poles tend to feel really connected to their families and their cities, they are also very patriotic, thus resulting in not that high level of IDV.

Yeah I think that's it. Ask any questions, I'll be glad to answer.

See you in the next one.

Komentarze

  1. Robert27 października 2025 23:18

    Loved the post and the graphs! Thanks for the info about Poland it was interesting to see it compared to Japan.

    OdpowiedzUsuń

Prześlij komentarz

Popularne posty z tego bloga

Power Distance - Japan vs my nationalities

Obraz
Welcome once again,  This is JohnnyBloggyBoy and today I will discuss the differences between Hofstede's Power Distance Index [PDI] in three countries: Japan, Poland and Canada. But before we begin, let us quickly review what this Dutch social psychologists was on about. During his years working in IBM (1967-1973) Hofstede decided to conduct an international study aiming to better understand the differences between cultures in the workplace. His model consisted of 6 different dimensions, each of which will be discussed in the foreseeable future, and still remains one of the most influential models in regards to cultural differences. Today we will explore only one dimensions namely Power Distance Index. PDI answers the question whether a culture respects more hierarchy or the strength of an individual. Or quoting the author himself " The Power-Distance Index (PDI) measure s how power is distributed and accepted within a specific group or society ".  Alright let us dive rig...
Czytaj więcej

Japanese Work Ethic vs What Is Normal to Me

Obraz
 Hello my dear reader, Welcome to this second blog. It is JohnnyBloggyBoy again and today I'm coming to you with the exciting topic of work ethic in Japan and my critical, as always, reflection on the subject.  Let me begin with one simple phrase: HOLY MOLLY! When you think that corporations are stealing our souls in Europe or America, you should probably visit Japan. Your highest respected value here is the company's good name. Yup, company first, then family, then friends. People here treat their workplace as an extention of their homes and families. Insane right? Do you remember that scene in Lord of The Rings where Saruman was making his army?  This one?  You can picture the guy who invented the  ie  system in his place creating generations of perfect workers. But jokes aside, let's be serious for a moment.  Comparing to what we are used to, as a Western Society, the work here could seem overwhelming. Let me enumerate the basic differences, that co...
Czytaj więcej

Cultural gender crisis: Masulinity vs Femininity

Obraz
Good morning everyone! It's JohnnyBloggyBoy and today we will explore what it means to be masculine and what it means to be feminine.  Please do not get me wrong, you can already erase the image of me as Andrew Tate preaching to poor teenagers how to be super macho masculine man and how a decent feminine women should behave. (picture that might'ev appeared in you mind for reference)     No, we'll be talking about yet another component of Hofstede's model mainly the Masculinity Index, the index that describes the distance and the roles of a man and a women in the society and relationships. Quoting the legend himself, Hofstede describes it as following:   "In a masculine society, men are supposed to be tough. Men are supposed to be from Mars, women from Venus. Winning is important for both genders. Quantity is important and big is beautiful. In a feminine society, the genders are emotionally closer. Competing is not so openly endorsed, and there is sympathy for t...
Czytaj więcej