When two very different cultures meet it is always interesting to analyse the
differences. The Western culture and the Chinese culture are an example of two
cultures differing in many ways. In the following paper the cultural differences
between the West and China will be outlined.

Concerning this topic problems are going to be explained, an example will be given and solutions to the occurring
problems are described. In the end some similarities will be shown as well to
point out that there is still a connection between the cultures.

The knowledge is
mainly based on the two by Alexander Thomas, Eva-Ulrike Kinast, Stefan
Kammhuber and Sylvia Schroll-Machl but it is expanded with the information
taken from other publications.

== The problem ==

With the process of globalisation the meeting of cultures began to increase and
involve more and more people. It has become easier to travel around the globe
and the economy has reached a level where it is necessary for growing companies
to interact and trade globally not only in the own region. This situation has come
so far that even in our everyday life and even as a normal worker, we have to be
informed and be able to build our own opinion about different cultures, ways of
life and global politics. Anybody who wants to achieve a good position in his job
is obligated to deal with global topics and should know how to deal with cultural
differences.<ref>Thomas/Kinast/Schroll-Machl (2003), p. 7</ref>

A big problem in recent times has become the huge difference between the
Chinese culture and the Western culture. Especially in this case the gap is very
big. China has grown a very big and influential economy which is connected to
many companies in the West.
The West does not only mean the united states but also European countries.
Although the cultures are different in the countries described as the Western
countries, the people are more likely to understand each others culture and they
find similarities between their cultures faster as if they would compare themselves
to China.

To define the problem one can easily look into the example of a meeting between
Chinese and Western business men. Assuming that both parties are not or not
enough informed about and used to the other party's culture they will have great
problems in communicating with each other even if they could understand each
other and there wouldn't be a language barrier. Sometimes actions looking really
usual and unnecessary to one party can have a very bad meaning for the other
party. Especially the small things can have a big impact on the cooperation and
relationship.

The problem is obviously that the Chinese culture and the Western culture have
different ideas of communicating and dealing with each other or certain situations.
Beyond this there are much more things that one has to understand and know
about the other culture which will be outlined in the following part.

== Differences between China and the West ==

China is a country whose culture reaches more than 5000 years into the past<ref>Pamperrien (2013), p.7</ref>,
whereas the western countries are quite “new” and therefore also their cultural
history is not that long. China has established and manifested its tradition and its
culture throughout thousands of years.
If we would look at all the western countries as one party and at China as the
other we can find differences in the cultures very easily. To be able to track them
one has to see the different cultures from all the western countries as one and
therefore find some typical cultural aspects which are used in more than one so
called Western country. Then we can stereotype this cultural habit as a cultural
aspect for the West.

China's old culture and long history have several superstitious believes that are not
common anymore in Western countries. Those differences can lead to awkward
situations in the everyday life. A good example for superstitious believes which
definitely belong to the Chinese culture are numbers. As the pronunciation of
certain numbers has similar words with a totally different meaning the Chinese
people connect the number with the word which is similar to the number. The
number 4 means for example death. Therefore people do not like to have this
number in their cellphone number and in hotels you won't find a fourth floor.
Another superstitious belief is the belief in evil spirits. Evil spirits are seen as
some sort of zombie who can not think further. In many restaurants one will find a
wall directly at the entrance for the reason that the evil spirits will be blocked
there. Not only in restaurants you will find this cultural aspect but also in a lot of
other architectures. Big buildings sometimes have a hole. This hole is not built in
to secure the building from earthquakes or something like that. The idea behind
the hole is that the evil spirits will fly through the hole and won't be able to enter
the building.<ref>Mentioned in the Class by Dr. M. Woesler</ref>
These are only examples for the diversity between the Chinese and the Western
culture.

For economists or traveling people it is very important to learn more
about cultural differences which' knowledge can be useful.
If a someone is for example in a business meeting or has a discussion with another
person there will mostly arrive problems as there are two different cultural based
virtues. In the Western countries especially Germany people are very direct and
they stick to their position, conviction and ideals even if they risk their social
environment. In China this cultural based virtue is the other way around. Chinese
people are indirect and for them it is only important to stick to their position,
conviction and ideals as long as the social relationship does not suffer from this
argument. In China this relationship to the other people in the close and also in the
whole environment is much more important than sticking to his own conviction
for example.<ref>Thomas/Kinast/Schroll-Machl (2003), p.10</ref>

Being direct or indirect is also very closely connected to the metaphor of “loosing
his face”. In China everything which could get someone in trouble and could
question their authority should not be said in front of others. A good way is to talk
personally with the person afterwords or even let someone else tell this person
your own concern. In most of the western countries it is again the other way
around. People want other people to be direct and honest, even if that could hurt
someones feelings or question the person's authority.<ref>Thomas/Kinast/Schroll-Machl (2003), p.28</ref>
Especially in the marketing of products the Chinese people are a lot different as
the western. Chinese people have other sight customs concerning the advertising.
They have a different imagination how an advertisement should be constructed
and they are also really sensible concerning colours shown in the pictures, even
the skin color.<ref>Thomas/Kinast/Schroll-Machl (2003), p.20</ref>

There are definitely a lot more differences between China and the West but the
last difference described in this essay is the difference between Chinese harmony
and Western context orientation. While Chinese people try to create a maximum
harmony with mutual respect, confidence and esteem, Western people especially
Germans tend to focus on the topic. They try to be nicely and friendly but the
main objective is to show the competence of something and show the other party
the high quality of the object of their meeting.<ref>Thomas/Kinast/Schroll-Machl (2003), p.27</ref>

== Situation in everyday business life ==

To be able to understand the differences between China and the West more easily
the following example is going to include as many differences between the two
cultures as possible.
Imagine a marketing meeting involving Chinese business men and business men
from Western countries.

The reason for the meeting is a planned marketing campaign in China for a
healthy salad brand. When the Chinese business men start to present their idea for
the marketing, the western business men interrupt the Chinese speakers telling
them they would have a much better idea. The idea of the Western business men is
to show big wallpapers everywhere with pictures as shown in the picture. They are even more
proud to demonstrate the cheap phone number for a possible hotline.

[[File:China Salad.jpg|thumb|alt=Chinese Woman in the sun with greek salad|Chinese Woman in the sun with greek salad - Picture by Prof. Dr. Martin Woesler.]]

This meeting probably brought up a lot of difficulties. As the Western business
men were not informed about Chinese culture they did not know how to behave in
this situation. Therefore they did one mistake after the other. Even if they would
have known a little bit, the situation could have ended problematic anyways. As
Edward T Hall already described, people tend to stick to their cultural type of
identification. In the beginning there is an intellectual understanding for the other
culture and people respect the other beliefs and customs but when it comes to
close team work things get more complicated because of the grip of unconscious
culture.<ref>Hall (1976), p.240</ref>

Concerning the marketing meeting the business men from the western countries
did many wrong things. At first they interrupted and revised the Chinese business
men. Then they showed this completely wrong image of the Chinese girl. Wrong
colours, sitting in the sun, the bare feet and that she eats alone are only a few
mistakes which are not compatible with the Chinese culture.
Last but not least the phone number the Western business men presented was
cheap as is has a certain meaning. Therefore they should have taken a more
expensive number to avoid wrong subconscious messages.

== How to deal with differences ==

As China plays a very important role in the international market and almost all
businesses have contacts in China, it is important to deal with cultural differences
to be able to create a good relationship.
This does not only count for business relationships but also for intercultural and
interpersonal relationships.

First of all it is necessary to be willing to accept and learn about the differences.
People working or living in this context have to bring a lot of sensitivity for the
cultural differences<ref>Thomas/Kammhuber/Schroll-Machl (2003), p.8</ref> and should start of using general cultural Dimensions.
Such general cultural models can be a good help when trying to understand
another totally different culture. Those models have been approved empirically
and can be adopted quite easily.

Researchers who try to figure out such cultural standards try to find a typical habit
of the human feeling, thinking, behaviour and perception.<ref>Thomas/Kinast/Schroll-Machl (2003), p.20</ref> They are indeed just an
extract of the whole variety of one nations culture but as they can achieve
categorial identifications the cultural standards can be used as some sort of
stereotypes.<ref>Thomas/Kinast/Schroll-Machl (2003), p.21</ref>
As a person wants to learn something about the other culture or has a reunion with
a person from another culture it is necessary to learn something about the other
culture to create a good climate.
Intercultural trainings can be very helpful and the cultural standards method helps
the person during the learning process as they are continuous, easy to understand
and very close to the reality.<ref>Thomas/Kinast/Schroll-Machl (2003), p.22</ref>

== Finding similarities between the two cultures ==

Although there are a lot of differences between Chinese culture and the Western
culture, similarities can be found. It is important to point out differences to find a
connection between those two cultures. These connections can be a good start for
a intercultural meeting.

When it comes to managing positions both the Western and the Chinese culture
place a high value on relationships. A good relationship is considered at very
important.<ref>Chen/Partington (2003), p. 405</ref> The relationship between teachers and students, or on an economical
level, the relationship between a worker of a higher rank and a worker of a lower
rank (concerning the position in a company but also the level of knowledge) is
similar in both cultures. The person of the lower rank has to respect the one of the
higher rank and to obey them. In most cases they also cannot criticize or question
the higher rank's statements.<ref>Honold (1999), p. 198</ref>

Also both cultures have an embedded will that the
people having grown up in this culture pursue for a higher status in life and for
success. In both cultures tend to move into big cities where they can achieve the
success they are all strive for.

== Conclusion ==

The West versus China is a good example of two very different cultures varying a
lot when it comes to a meeting or to an intercultural exchange.
Throughout this paper the differences between the cultures and problems which
arrive from that are pointed out and a possible solution to avoid these problems is
given.

China has a very long tradition and a culture based on many years. They think
more about the harmony and have several superstitious believes which seem
strange for foreigners, especially those from Western countries. People from the
Western countries are very direct and more focussed on showing the opposite
party it's ability. On the Western side of the world people are really ambitious to
stick to their opinion even if this means to threaten a good relationship. They are
not afraid of loosing face or making someone loosing his face. Again in China this
is the other side around and problems are preassigned.

There are still a lot of things that we can learn from each other and the trend goes
to a greater and deeper understanding of each others cultures in order to create a
harmonious relationship improving business and social connections. It would be
helpful to start the relationship with the few similarities between the cultures to
explore the differences without getting into trouble.

== Bibliography ==

* Thomas, Alexander/Kinast, Eva-Ulrika/Schroll-Machl, Sylvia (2003):“Theoretische Grundlagen interkultureller Kommunikation und Kooperation”, in “Handbuch Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Kooperation, Band 1: Grundlagen und Praxisfelder”, published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 1-31

* Thomas, Alexander/Kammhuber, Stefan/Schroll-Machl, Sylvia (2003): “Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Kulturstandardmethode”, in “Handbuch Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Kooperation, Band 2: Länder, Kulturen und interkulturelle Berufstätigkeit”, published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, pp. 1-23

* Hall, Edward T (1976): “Culture as Identification“, in “Beyond Culture“, published by Anchor Books/Doubleday, pp.223-240

* Pamperrien, Sabine (2013): “Zwischen Anprangerung und Ignoranz der 5000-jährigen Geschichte”, in: “Deutschlandfunk”, URL: http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/essayunddiskurs/2034698 / (March 10th 2013), pp.1-9

* Honold, Pia (1999): “Comparison Between German and Chinese Users“, in “Technical Communication, Second Quarter 1999“, pp.196-205

* Chen, Ping/Partington, David (2003): “An interpretive comparison of Chinese and Western conceptions of relationships in construction project management work“, in “International Journal of Project Management 22 (2004)”, published by Cranfield University, Cranfield, pp.397–406

== References ==

<references />

Culture as Identification

2013-06-26T13:29:17Z

Lutz S:

Presentation-Handout by Marc Mallocci and Lutz Stoffels: Comparing Cultures

Quoted and Based on:
Hall, Edward T (1976): “Culture as Identification“,
in “Beyond Culture“, published by Anchor Books/Doubleday, pp.1-25, 223-240

Hall’s main assumption:

There are two related crises in today’s world:
The population/environmental crisis and
Humankind’s relationships to it’s extensions, institutions, ideas, as well as the relationships among individuals and groups (cultural crisis).
Both crises are closely related to each other!<ref>Hall (1976),p. 1</ref>

The relation lies a.o. in the limited resources of the planet:
There’s a lack of territory for farmers and a Lack of finite resources (in connection to that stand the crises in the middle east, which effects the oil depended countries)

These crises can’t be solved only by technological means. They have a need of cultures collaborating with each other. For that we have to know each other’s way of thinking!
For Hall the solution lies in transcending the limits of individual cultures:

''“The answer lies in not restricting human endeavors, but in evolving new alternatives, new possibilities, new dimensions, new options, and new avenues for creative uses of human beings based on the recognition of the multiple and unusual talents so manifest in the diversity of human race”''<ref>Hall (1976),p. 3</ref>

What he claims, is that human creativity and the talents which every human is born with, should be used, not restrained. In the actual state these advantages are not used properly, but suppressed (by human extensions/institutions)<ref>Hall (1976),p. 3</ref> which leads to his cultural theory.
In relation to his theses, his endeavor tries to answer the following questions:
Why don’t we already use our “full potential”?
Hall’s cultural theory:

Meaning of “extensions” and “institutions”:
Following Hall this is related to a kind of self-restraint of humans against their “true nature”. As he calls it, through extensions, which are e.g., language, tools and especially institutions.
To provide his argument he relates to Freud’s theory of “Sublimation”

Freud’s Theory of Sublimation (in short):
Sublimation is some kind of transformation of emotions.
A pillar on which Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is based, is the libidinal force (erotic energy), a sort of destructive and hard to contain drive, which lies in every human.
The sublimation is the process of transforming this energy into creative and socially acceptable behavior and it ends up in people building institutions. So it is a necessary form to live in a society, and therefore every society deals with sublimation somehow.
Hall’s Theory of sublimation:
When people began evolving their extensions ''“they got incapable of controlling the monsters they created”''<ref>Hall (1976),p. 4</ref> (Which is probably a reference to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein). He calls this process: “extension transference”.<ref>Hall (1976),p. 4</ref>

The consequence of this process is that people fail to fulfill their full potential which leads to gnawing emptiness, frustration, and displaced anger.<ref>Hall (1976),p.6</ref>
How does the limitation of creativity work?
It is a result of the institutionalization of work, e.g. in factories, where your rhythm and life is controlled by the working time. This leads to a feeling of powerlessness and a lack of self-affirmation which turns out into aggression against oneself or others.

These are the basic assumptions towards the evolution of culture in the modern/western world.
Western Men do not use their full mental capabilities due to the self inflicted restraints.
They are trapped in one way of thinking - logic.
Hall sees this system as a linear way of thinking, which additionally restrains the creativity through bureaucracy and institutions; because they make sense (in a logical way).<ref>Hall (1976),p. 21</ref>
Also, models are created to deal with the enormous complexity of the world by leaving a big part of reality outside.<ref>Hall (1976),p. 13</ref>
To show the difference between different ways of thinking, he mentions the monochromic and the poly chronic time. He sees them as two models, which are completely different and have each their advantages and disadvantages.
The downside of the M-Time: Scheduling – Compartmentalization – concentration on one thing at a time – But no context! Topic-Concentrated
While P-time: Has a lot of communication and happens all the time in all the places – The downside: Handling such an amount of information depends on a single person, to arrange the “chaos”(contingency)<ref>Hall (1976),p.23</ref>

Hall’s theory of consolidation and detachment as a core function in the human socialization process

Coming back to Freud's Theory the following quote by Edward T Hall gives an idea of culture as identification.

''"Life is a continuous process of consolidation and detachment"'' – E.T.H.

Everyone experiences that life is punctuated by separations. Whether it is the pet which has past away, friends leaving town and moving far away or the boy-/girlfriend who broke up.
After those separations a person forms a foundation for new stages of integration, can build a different identity and grow psychically.

The first separation already begins at a very early stage of life. As soon as the child realises that it isn't a part of it's mother anymore it starts to explore its own body, its surroundings and everything it gets in touch with.<ref>Hall (1976), p.223</ref>

To be truly alive in a culture and to internalise it, one must grow up in the certain culture.
Growing up involves meeting a lot of challenges which help creating the fundament for the culture.

''The full impact of the process is not realised until one has „cut the apron strings” and established oneself as independent of one's parents.'' “Cutting the apron strings” means to leave home, live alone and not hanging on ones mother/father anymore.<ref>Hall (1976), p.225</ref>

That doesn't always mean that one has to leaf his family behind.
There are those cultures whose members cut the apron strings and establish an own identity;
But also in many other cultures the bonds with the parents, grandparents and ancestors are maintained and reinforced. The families keep living together for all their life and even the old family members are still fully included in the family life.
In this particular case the individual does not establish an identity separate from that of his community.<ref>Hall (1976), p.226</ref>

It is hard to separate oneself from something because of our environment which influents us uncontrollably. This is what is so insidious about environmentally imbedded dynamisms.

Dynamisms such as greed or envy can also be cultural and can control us as well. Those dynamisms can also be positive.

Culture draws the line separating one thing from another.
Not only gender, language, skin colour or ethnic affiliation belong to those differentiations but also the social class and believes.<ref>Hall (1976), p.230</ref>

Depending on the environment in which a person grew up this person experiences a certain culture. Other people having grown up in another culture lack the experience of having grown up in such a group and find it difficult to comprehend the other culture.<ref>Hall (1976), p.231</ref>

Growing up and experiencing a culture is directly connected to the cultural identification.
As the children cut the apron strings they will continue as an individual gaining their own cultural experiences and cultural identification through the process of growing up and meeting challenges.

To be able to refine the term identification one has to take those parts into account that have been dissociated.
Dissociation can be a dynamism or a drive but also an impulse or behaviour pattern that has been disapproved by our parents or sisters or other significant persons. The dissociation starts already as a child. An example can be the small boy who was having some struggle with his younger brother or sister and got punished by his mother.
Those actions influence the identification process and help us finding our own identity.<ref>Hall (1976), p.234</ref>

Intercultural and interethnic encounters are usual in our recent time and there is an intellectual understanding that each party has a different set of beliefs, customs, mores, values etc.
Until this point everything is fine but once people with a different cultural background start working together things are getting a bit more complicated. People are and remain in the grip of the cultural type of identification.<ref>Hall (1976), p.239</ref>

Obviously the most important psychological part of culture is the identification process. It builds the bridge between culture and personality.
The most difficult task for us is to ''“free ourselves from the grip of unconscious culture”''.<ref>Hall (1976), p.240</ref>

== Bibliography ==

* Hall, Edward T (1976): “Culture as Identification“, in “Beyond Culture“, published by Anchor Books/Doubleday, pp.1-25, 223-240

== References ==

<references />

2013-06-19T22:05:25Z

Lutz S: Lutz S uploaded a new version of "File:Example.jpg"

Culture as Identification

2013-06-19T22:02:25Z

Lutz S:

Presentation-Handout by Marc Mallocci and Lutz Stoffels: Comparing Cultures

Quoted and Based on:
Hall, Edward T (1976): “Culture as Identification“,
in “Beyond Culture“, published by Anchor Books/Doubleday, pp.1-25, 223-240

Hall’s main assumption:

There are two related crises in today’s world:
The population/environmental crisis and
Humankind’s relationships to it’s extensions, institutions, ideas, as well as the relationships among individuals and groups (cultural crisis).
Both crises are closely related to each other!1

The relation lies a.o. in the limited resources of the planet:
There’s a lack of territory for farmers and a Lack of finite resources (in connection to that stand the crises in the middle east, which effects the oil depended countries)

These crises can’t be solved only by technological means. They have a need of cultures collaborating with each other. For that we have to know each other’s way of thinking!
For Hall the solution lies in transcending the limits of individual cultures:
“The answer lies in not restricting human endeavors, but in evolving new alternatives, new possibilities, new dimensions, new options, and new avenues for creative uses of human beings based on the recognition of the multiple and unusual talents so manifest in the diversity of human race”2
What he claims, is that human creativity and the talents which every human is born with, should be used, not restrained. In the actual state these advantages are not used properly, but suppressed (by human extensions/institutions)3 which leads to his cultural theory.
In relation to his theses, his endeavor tries to answer the following questions:
Why don’t we already use our “full potential”?
Hall’s cultural theory:

Meaning of “extensions” and “institutions”:
Following Hall this is related to a kind of self-restraint of humans against their “true nature”. As he calls it, through extensions, which are e.g., language, tools and especially institutions.
To provide his argument he relates to Freud’s theory of “Sublimation”

Freud’s Theory of Sublimation (in short):
Sublimation is some kind of transformation of emotions.
A pillar on which Freud’s psychoanalytic theory is based, is the libidinal force (erotic energy), a sort of destructive and hard to contain drive, which lies in every human.
The sublimation is the process of transforming this energy into creative and socially acceptable behavior and it ends up in people building institutions. So it is a necessary form to live in a society, and therefore every society deals with sublimation somehow.
Hall’s Theory of sublimation:
When people began evolving their extensions “they got incapable of controlling the monsters they created”4 (Which is probably a reference to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein). He calls this process: “extension transference”.5

The consequence of this process is that people fail to fulfill their full potential which leads to gnawing emptiness, frustration, and displaced anger.6
How does the limitation of creativity work?
It is a result of the institutionalization of work, e.g. in factories, where your rhythm and life is controlled by the working time. This leads to a feeling of powerlessness and a lack of self-affirmation which turns out into aggression against oneself or others.

These are the basic assumptions towards the evolution of culture in the modern/western world.
Western Men do not use their full mental capabilities due to the self inflicted restraints.
They are trapped in one way of thinking - logic.
Hall sees this system as a linear way of thinking, which additionally restrains the creativity through bureaucracy and institutions; because they make sense (in a logical way).7
Also, models are created to deal with the enormous complexity of the world by leaving a big part of reality outside.8
To show the difference between different ways of thinking, he mentions the monochromic and the poly chronic time. He sees them as two models, which are completely different and have each their advantages and disadvantages.
The downside of the M-Time: Scheduling – Compartmentalization – concentration on one thing at a time – But no context! Topic-Concentrated
While P-time: Has a lot of communication and happens all the time in all the places – The downside: Handling such an amount of information depends on a single person, to arrange the “chaos”(contingency)9

Hall’s theory of consolidation and detachment as a core function in the human socialization process

Coming back to Freud's Theory the following quote by Edward T Hall gives an idea of culture as identification.

''Life is a continuous process of consolidation and detachment'' – E.T.H.

Everyone experiences that life is punctuated by separations. Whether it is the pet which has past away, friends leaving town and moving far away or the boy-/girlfriend who broke up.
After those separations a person forms a foundation for new stages of integration, can build a different identity and grow psychically.

The first separation already begins at a very early stage of life. As soon as the child realises that it isn't a part of it's mother anymore it starts to explore its own body, its surroundings and everything it gets in touch with.10

To be truly alive in a culture and to internalise it, one must grow up in the certain culture.
Growing up involves meeting a lot of challenges which help creating the fundament for the culture.

The full impact of the process is not realised until one has „cut the apron strings” and established oneself as independent of one's parents. “Cutting the apron strings” means to leave home, live alone and not hanging on ones mother/father anymore.11

That doesn't always mean that one has to leaf his family behind.
There are those cultures whose members cut the apron strings and establish an own identity;
But also in many other cultures the bonds with the parents, grandparents and ancestors are maintained and reinforced. The families keep living together for all their life and even the old family members are still fully included in the family life.
In this particular case the individual does not establish an identity separate from that of his community.12

It is hard to separate oneself from something because of our environment which influents us uncontrollably. This is what is so insidious about environmentally imbedded dynamisms.

Dynamisms such as greed or envy can also be cultural and can control us as well. Those dynamisms can also be positive.

Culture draws the line separating one thing from another.
Not only gender, language, skin colour or ethnic affiliation belong to those differentiations but also the social class and believes.13

Depending on the environment in which a person grew up this person experiences a certain culture. Other people having grown up in another culture lack the experience of having grown up in such a group and find it difficult to comprehend the other culture.14

Growing up and experiencing a culture is directly connected to the cultural identification.
As the children cut the apron strings they will continue as an individual gaining their own cultural experiences and cultural identification through the process of growing up and meeting challenges.

To be able to refine the term identification one has to take those parts into account that have been dissociated.
Dissociation can be a dynamism or a drive but also an impulse or behaviour pattern that has been disapproved by our parents or sisters or other significant persons. The dissociation starts already as a child. An example can be the small boy who was having some struggle with his younger brother or sister and got punished by his mother.
Those actions influence the identification process and help us finding our own identity.15

Intercultural and interethnic encounters are usual in our recent time and there is an intellectual understanding that each party has a different set of beliefs, customs, mores, values etc.
Until this point everything is fine but once people with a different cultural background start working together things are getting a bit more complicated. People are and remain in the grip of the cultural type of identification.16

Obviously the most important psychological part of culture is the identification process. It builds the bridge between culture and personality.
The most difficult task for us is to “free ourselves from the grip of unconscious culture”.17

== References ==

1 Hall (1976),p. 1

2 Hall (1976),p. 3

3 Hall (1976),p. 3

4 Hall (1976),p. 4

5 Hall (1976),p. 4

6 Hall (1976),p.6

7 Hall (1976),p. 21

8 Hall (1976),p. 13

9 Hall (1976),p.23

10 Hall (1976), p.223

11 Hall (1976), p.225

12 Hall (1976), p.226

13 Hall (1976), p.230

14 Hall (1976), p.231

15 Hall (1976), p.234

16 Hall (1976), p.239

17Hall (1976), p.240