Offical goodbye to Mr. Hofstede

 Hello G'Day everyone!

The time has come to say a big thank you and goodbye to our legendary Mr. Geert Hofstede as we will be discussing today the last dimension on the list Indulgence vs Restraint.

Generally speaking this index describes the relation towards "doing what your impulses want you to do"[1], friendship importance and understanding of life. So an indulgent culture will be characterized by: feeling good following the impulses (all sorts of'em - from shopping to sexual ones), high value of friendship (the more friends the better) and a notion that everything in life is in our control; fate does not dictate our path. 

Let's leave the mic to our guest and allow him to outline the restraint culture: 

"In a restrained culture, the feeling is that life is hard, and duty, not freedom, is the normal state of being." [1]

 Thank you Mr. Hofstede. Moving on to our favorite country comparison...

 [2]

[From the left: Canada, Japan, Poland] 

 Ah yes, the depressive Poland as always. I did my own research, and I found that the countries affected by communism (both in Europe and in Asia) tend to have lower scores on this scale. Communism = depression? 🧐

Anyways, got a bit off-topic. 

As we can perfectly see from the chart that Canada sores relatively high, while Japan and Poland remains on the lower end. 

 Meaning that Canadians tend to enjoy life more, surround themselves with many friends and generally think that life is in their hands. In my personal experience, I can tell it's true. When I was a bouncer at a pub, people would be coming in a large groups of friends (usually above 5 people) and indulging in the act of drinking and having fun fully, which made me actually do my job. (sorry buddy I had to drag out of the establishment on February 10th, rules are rules). It was not uncommon to find myself being approached by promiscuous individuals, which for my poor polish brain was just hard to comprehend.

Poland (and I'm guessing Japan too) is more known for a little groups of very trusted friends, considered a part of family. The general population is pessimistic and complaining a lot. If you don't know how to start a conversation with a Polak you can just start ranting about the weather or a given situation you both find yourself in, and viola! you just befriended a Pole (disclaimer: you might even get invited to a dinner filled with amazing polish food and some vodka).

The relationships in Poland are more on a moral side, you'd not expect cheating and many partners from the majority of people - we are more on the traditional side. I shall keep my silence forever when it comes to Japan, for the things I've heard were just diabolical. 

Well, my creative genius was depleted today, so I will leave you on this note.

Cheers lads! 

 References
[1]  https://geerthofstede.com/culture-geert-hofstede-gert-jan-hofstede/6d-model-of-national-culture/
[2] https://www.theculturefactor.com/country-comparison-tool?countries=canada%2Cjapan%2Cpoland

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