Characteristics of Sharp Cultural Clashes Within the Eu

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Joint Master Degree in “European Business and Finance”

Module “Cross Cultural Issues in the European Human Resource Management”

COURSE WORK

on the topic

“The characteristics of sharp cultural clashes within the EU”

Student:                                                            Supervisor:

Ivelina Kirova                                                assoc. prof. K. Dimitrov, PhD

                                Sofia, 2016

Sofia, 2016

Contents:

1. Introduction

1. Culture Definition
2. Culture Characteristics
3. Cultural levels

1. Cultural differences within the EU

1. Geert Hofsetede’s model
2. Unity in diversity
3. Immigrant tensions: should we fear for our culture?

1. Conclusion
2. References

1. Introduction

The objective of this paper is to explore and define “The characteristics of sharp cultural clashes within the EU”.  Specifically I am going to give some explanations related with the topic, examine different sets of cultural differences, find and explore the characteristics of culture and define the cultural levels. I will present the classic differences between the members of the European Union and the different divisions within them and after that the newly-appeared sharp cultural clashes between member-states and the constant flow of refugees.

1.  Culture Definition

Before we start analyzing in depth the characteristics of the cultural clashes we have to understand the meaning of culture and what is incorporated in it. For the purpose of this matter I am going to present a couple of definitions of culture given by different authors.

One of the earliest definitions of culture was put forth by Tylor in 1871: “Culture, or civilization, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”

According to Geert Hofstede, “culture is the collective programming of the human mind that distinguishes the members of one human group from those of another. Culture in this sense is a system of collectively held values. “

Another way to describe the concept of culture is given by Edgar Schein who thinks that “culture is the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organization, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic ‘taken for granted’ fashion an organization's view of its self and its environment. “

Edward T. Hall has asserted that beliefs and values dictate the way people think, behave, solve problems, make decisions, plan and lay out their homes and cities, and even organize their economic, political, and transportation systems.

Another definition is the one given by E.A. Hoebel who states that “culture is the sum total of integrated learned behavior patterns which are characteristics of the members of a society and which are therefore not the result of biological inheritance.”

According to H.T. Mazumadar, “culture is the sum total of human achievements, material as well as non-material, capable of transmission, sociologically, i.e., by tradition and communication, vertically as well as horizontally”.

By combining most of these definitions we can arrive to the conclusion that culture is the heritage, the way of life, the perceptions that one person transmits to another by communication and tradition. The culture as a whole is what makes us “us”.

1.  Culture Characteristics

From all of the given definitions above we can extract the following characteristics of culture.

Culture is learned. This is something that you inherit from the environment around you: your family, your neighbors, friends, colleagues, groups, etc. Culture is shared within the members of a given society or group. It is transmitted from one person to another. Culture is abstract; it exists only in our minds. Culture can’t be touched, it can be experienced. It can be seen in our ways of thinking or acting. Culture is constantly changing and is not the same everywhere around the world.

Culture is a way of life. As Kluckhohn and Kelly define it,” A culture is a historically derived system of explicit and implicit designs for living, which tends to be shared by all or specially designed members of a group.”

Language is one of the main characteristics of culture. Language is the basis of interaction and communication among people.

All of the norms, rules of behavior and expectations are defined by the influences of both external and internal factors. Values are everything that we think of as an important thing. For every person can be a completely different thing: love, loyalty, work, knowledge, family, etc. Values define the human being; they give a sense of what’s good, just or wrong in a certain society or group.

Beliefs are the things in society that are considered to be true. They work as a connection between individuals sharing the same culture. But beliefs shouldn’t be mistaken with religion.

Culture can be seen as the most powerful integration tool because it unites people that share similar preferences, values, perceptions, etc.

1. Cultural levels

As Maged Ali and Laurence Brooks point out in their joint work, culture can be divided into different levels: national (macro level, cross-cultural), organizational, group (sub-culture, professional, special interest, social class, etc.) and individual (micro level, subjective culture).

At macro level lays the culture shared between individuals in a certain society or country. The organizational culture is the one shared between people working in the same organization. Culture on a group level is when people share similar professions or occupations and individual culture is the “personal” culture that each person creates for himself. The personal culture is what makes each individual stand out from the others; this is what makes us unique.

1. Cultural differences within the EU

The cultural differences between the members of the European Union can be found on all cultural levels. These dissonances date way back in history; through two World Wars and many centuries of different altercations and restructurings within the continent. Even though we share a lot of things that bring us together the differences that tear us apart are far more. We can explore these differences starting from the creation of the idea for the European Union and its implementation. As Philip Marfleet (2003) mentions in his publication: “This complex project involved harmonization of policies among states which had long been rivals and often enemies”.