Asian multiculturalism in communication: Impact of culture in the practice of public relations in Singapore

This study aims to understand the role of cultural values in influencing public relations practice in Singapore. Given that Singapore exhibits a hybrid of cultures, it purposes to comprehend how multiculturalism is operationalized and to uncover if the values that have a greater influence on organizational communication resemble those in individualistic or collectivistic societies. Using Gudykunst’s (1998) seven dimensions that influence individualism-collectivism on communication as a guide, this study interviewed 20 public relations practitioners in Singapore. Our findings showed that although the patterns expressed is slightly more consistent with those found in collectivistic cultures, it does not resemble collectivism in entirety. Multiculturalism in Singapore displays a blend of certain cultural hybridity, which is aligned with it being a multicultural cosmopolitan city that embodies Western modernity while retaining its Asian values. Our findings further reinforced the idea that public relations professionals need to be multicultural themselves to effectively communicate with culturally diverse stakeholders in today’s globalizing era of multiculturalism.     

When symbolism overtakes quality: Materialists consumers disregard product quality when faced with luxury brands

Consumers use extrinsic and intrinsic cues to set preferences and make purchase decisions. However, the extent to which luxury-related extrinsic cues determine consumer preferences and whether the relative weighting of extrinsic vs. intrinsic cues depends on consumers’ values is still unclear. We investigated how luxury vs. non-luxury brands affect consumer preferences, and how this impact is moderated by consumers’ materialistic values. Results from Experiment 1 showed that materialistic and non-materialistic participants similarly appreciated products with luxurious brands. However, compared with non-materialistic participants, materialistic participants devaluated products that were tagged as non-luxurious brands. In Experiment 2, we investigated how product quality interacts with brands and whether materialistic values moderated this interaction. Materialistic participants paid more attention to brand-related cues than to quality-related cues, whereas non-materialistic participants considered these cues similarly. Taken together, the results of these two studies suggest that materialism influences the way extrinsic (i.e., brand) and intrinsic (i.e., quality) information is combined during product evaluation. These results highlight the importance of materialism in consumer decision-making, especially in the context of luxury consumption.     

Individual differences and electronic monitoring at work

Individual differences such as personality and demographic factors have effects on how people react to Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM), yet the literature on this aspect of electronic monitoring has been scattered. The present paper summarizes this body of empirical research and presents a framework for organizing current research findings based on two dimensions: the probability of successful work under the monitoring and the probability of accepting that the monitoring is of value. The framework also allows researchers to make predictions regarding additional individual difference variables. Managers may use this information to select employees who are likely to respond well to monitoring conditions and to structure monitoring procedures so that they are likely to be accepted by their employees with particular individual difference characteristics.     

Transformations over Time in Generational Relationships in Africa

ABSTRACT

Generational transformations over historical time and space in Africa have featured a mixture of the “good” and the “bad.” The valuable interactions and relationships that endured in our traditional communities typify the good. The bad, on the other hand, is typified by the alterations that our cultures have witnessed as a result of profound and, sometimes, negatively influencing foreign contacts that have put in jeopardy whatever we had cherished in our generational relationships in the past. However, it is obvious that Africa cannot remain in the past in a globalizing and modernizing world. We live in the present, and therefore our peoples must engage in the deconstruction, reconstruction and transformation of whatever could help them maintain some degree of cultural development.     

Issues in intervention with battered women in collectivist societies

Over the past three decades, several models for individual and group intervention with battered women have been developed. The common assumption underlying all of these models is that violence and abuse are never appropriate in an intimate relationship, and that battered women have a basic right to safety, which is not negotiable. Because almost all of those models were developed in the individualistic contexts of Western societies, some questions and concerns have been raised as to their suitability for intervention with battered women in collectivist contexts. In this article, we explore the characteristics of collectivist societies based on the conceptual framework of Triandis, Brislin, and Hui, (1988) which focuses on five dimensions: the self, attitudes, values, activities, and behaviors. Furthermore, we explore each of those dimensions and their relevance to various aspects of wife abuse in collectivist societies, such as the way that battered women cope with violence against them, and possibilities for professional intervention.     

MATERIALISTIC VALUES IN HONG KONG AND GUANGZHOU: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TWO CHINESE SOCIETIES

This article integrates two competing perspectives on value orientation. Inglehart's postmaterialism thesis stresses the permanent effects of childhood experience in which economic deprivation leads to materialism in adult life. The human development perspective, in contrast, emphasizes the evolution of a person's value system as life-cycle development unfolds new circumstances and possibilities. We adopt a developmental framework to test claims from these two perspectives. On the basis of micro-level data, we compare the materialistic values of two historically and culturally different Chinese societies, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. Findings support Inglehart's assertions that childhood experience has lasting effects and that rapid social changes create birth cohort differences in materialistic concerns. But life-cycle developments, such as education, marriage, and current social status, are equally important in influencing a person's value orientation. Both perspectives see only part of the picture, and an integrated approach is needed to better understand how people construct and maintain their value system.     

Partnerwahl und Wertewandel —

The rapid change, which happened in the last decades in developed industrialized societies, is described by Ronald Inglehart (1977, 1989 and 1998) as an evolution from a materialistic a postmaterialistic dimension. Values with materialistic preferences related to periods of existential insecurity change to such with post-materialistic preferences related to periods of existential security in which living seems to be natural and in which post-materialistic values gain more importance. This study investigates whether a similar shift of values can be observed, from a materialistic to a post-materialistic dimension of values, in the area of personal partnerships, specifically concerning the partner selection. To test this assumption a new measuring tool based upon the Inglehart-Index has been developed which allowed recording the data of 525 persons for a cross sectional analysis. The results principally confirm the hypothesis that the preferences in the partner selection have changed from materialistic to post-materialistic values. The results clearly demonstrate as well that the level of education has a significant influence on partner selection preferences.     

Money Over Marriage: Marriage Importance as a Mediator Between Materialism and Marital Satisfaction

While the negative relationship between materialism and marital satisfaction is well documented, mediators that possibly explain this association have not been widely explored. Based on the Incompatibility of Materialism and Children Model and Marital Paradigms Theory, this article explores the perception of marriage importance as a potential mediator between materialism and marital satisfaction. Using a sample of 1310 married individuals, we found evidence of partial mediation in that materialism was negatively associated with perception of marriage importance, and this association partially explained why being materialistic was associated with lower marital satisfaction. Thus, as counselors, therapists, and financial planners work with married clients, it is important that they consider how their clients’ materialistic tendencies may influence the family both financially and relationally. Suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Transnational Corporate Elites in Japan: International Career Mobility in East and South Asia

Although mainstream globalization literature has attempted to provide an empirical proof of the rise of transnational business elites using several indicators, it is still not clear how to pinpoint transnationality and to establish whether globalization has led to the erosion of nation‐state boundaries through worldwide mobility and networks, as globalization theorists argue. Using empirical data on career paths and mobility over three decades in Japan – compared with other East Asia economies and India – we examine the shift in career mobility. First, we maintain that a comprehensive understanding of social, political and cultural dimensions need to be considered in a discussion of transnationality. Second, we suggest that the globalizing economy does not necessarily lead to the weakening of the nation‐state territory and its institutions in all sociocultural and political dimensions. In particular, transnationality in career mobility in Asian economies is not greatly evident. We propose instead that a new career pattern, which we call brain circulation, highlighting the importance of international experience, has emerged.     

Typology of causes of poverty: The perception of Iranian farmers

Causal attributions are important mediators of future behaviour because once a cause is assigned; a commensurate action can be taken. The aims of this research were to find how Iranian farmers attribute the causes of poverty, to provide a typology of attribution of causes of poverty as perceived by Iranian farmers and to compare socio-economic characteristics and contextual conditions of farmers based on their causal attribution of poverty type. Findings revealed that 50% of respondents had structuralistic, almost 30% had individualistic, and about 20% hold fatalistic attitudes towards the causes of poverty. Farmers with individualistic attitudes towards the causes of poverty had higher quality of life, well-being, level of agricultural technology, agricultural production, used insurance more often, they had more land, income, access to agricultural extension services and practiced sustainable agriculture more often. Farmers with fatalistic attitudes towards the causes of poverty had the worst condition with regard to the above variables. However, those who had structuralistic attitudes, stood somewhere between the two previous groups. Based on findings, a number of poverty alleviation recommendations are made.     

Durkheim's Concept of Anomie: Some Observations*

Most interpretations of anornie emphasize the normative aspect. However, Durkheim viewed anomie as involving more than a lack of norms or a conflict of norms. Discussions in The Division of Labor in Society and Suicide show that according to Durkheim the primary threats to social solidarity in modern societies are weak or ineffective structural constraints on individualistic needs and desires. In modern industrialized societies the primary mode of social control is not a set of rules or norms, although they do have a cohesive function, but the development of solidary, interdependent social relationships among diverse individuals. Crucial in the development of solidary social relationships is the rate and nature of social change. For modern or modernizing societies the most important form of social change is industrialization. If industrialization is too rapid then the likelihood of social inequality, economic crises, and family disruption is greater. New and solidary forms of social relationships are not allowed to develop properly. This results in weak constraints on individualistic needs and desires that have been “excited” by the industrialization.     

The dowry system in Northern India: Women's attitudes and social change

In spite of modernization and women's increasing role in the market economy, the practice of the dowry in India is becoming more widespread, and the value of dowries is increasing. There are many well‐documented adverse consequences of the dowry system, particularly for women. This is a study of attitudes toward the dowry system among married women in the northern province of Bihar (N= 4,603), in which the dowry has strong roots in tradition. Hypotheses regarding antecedents involving attachment to tradition, exposure to modernizing influences, and self‐interest were developed. Each set of factors has some effects, and nearly two thirds of the women in the survey disapprove of the dowry. The practice may be quite resistant to change, however, because its social and economic consequences carry tangible benefits in an increasingly materialistic culture.     

Sport and globalization: transnational dimensions

Abstract The aims of this special issue are to both raise the social scientific status of sport and to advance understanding of transnational processes through the role of sport in global change. The Introduction argues that sport, like globalization, can be understood in transdisciplinary terms, and the papers included contributions informed by sociology, anthropology, political sciences and history. As well as placing the issue in the context of recent studies of sport and globalization, the Introduction outlines the seven papers. Placed together they move from analyses of broader globalizing and multi‐sport issues towards consideration of how transnational processes impact upon individual sports – with examples from cricket, baseball and association football – ending with regional and national dimensions.     

Mass Communication and Voter Volatility

This study attempts to explicate empirically the concept ofvoter volatility and to test the assertion that the use of televisionfor political news contributes to this electoral instability.Voter volatility is defined as the level of unpredictabilityof election outcomes from traditional demographic and politicalparty variables. The effects of television and newspaper exposureon each of seven volatility dimensions were examined beforeand after the introduction of two control variables: educationand political interest. Neither the media exposure measuresnor the control variables predicted to all volatility dimensionsin a uniform way. Contrary to expectations, the dominant directionof television exposure's relationships was toward lower levelsof volatility. While newspaper use effects were largely in theexpected direction of lower volatility, reversals were shownhere as well. Education and political interest, traditionallythought to be stabilizing electoral forces, also revealed positiveas well as negative relationships to various volatility factors.     

Suburban wildlife: Lessons,challenges, and opportunities

The United States, as well as most developed and many developing nations worldwide, is becoming increasingly urban and suburban.Although urban, suburban, and commercial development account for less than one percent to just over 20% of land use among states, 50–90% of the residents of those states can be classified as urban or suburban dwellers. The population of the U.S. as a whole has risen from being > 95% rural in the 1790s to about 80% urban-suburban today. With these changes in land use and demographic patterns come changes in values and attitudes; many urbanites and suburbanites view wildlife and nature differently than rural residents. These are among the challenges faced by wildlife biologists and natural resource managers in a rapidly urbanizing world. In 2003, we convened a symposium to discuss issues related to suburban wildlife. The papers presented in this special issue of Urban Ecosystems address the lessons learned from the early and recently rapidly expanding literature, the challenges we face today, and the opportunities that can help deal with what is one of the biggest challenges to conservation in a modernizing world.     

The relationship between objective and subjective wealth is moderated by financial control and mediated by money anxiety

Prior research has showed that the subjective perception of objective wealth might be affected by various individual difference variables, such as one’s love of money, level of aspirations, and materialistic inclinations. This paper examines a model of subjective wealth that controls attitudes toward money and objective wealth. Subjective wealth has been operationalized as a combination of the assessment of financial situation, the ability to make ends meet and perceived adequacy of income to fulfill needs and wants. Objective wealth has been captured by personal net income as well as household income. Results show that two dimensions of money attitudes affect the subjective perception of objective wealth. Individuals’ perceived financial control (the ability to budget, monitor, and control their money) serves as a moderator for the relationship between objective and subjective wealth: The relationship between the two is stronger for individuals high in financial control and planning than for those low. Furthermore, money anxiety (worry and indecisiveness regarding moneyrelated issues) is negatively related to objective measures of wealth and its subjective evaluation, and partially mediates the objective–subjective wealth relationship.     

Le nom et le corps. Personnalisation et collectivisation du travail chez les ingénieurs des Ponts et Chaussées autour de 1800

A tension between strong individualization and a holistic conception of activities characterizes most of the French state's major administrative corps. By concentrating on the civil engineering corps (Ponts et Chaussées) during the early 19th century, we can see how this tension was resolved. When the Ourcq Canal was to be built, a conflict during the Ponts et Chaussées Assembly, which was responsible for examining plans for public works and making decisions about them, brought to light two contradictory rationales: incarnation and delegation, two ways of relating the individual and collective aspects of civil engineering during the drawing up of plans and their examination. These two rationales, which come into conflict in controversial situations, are normally combined in a “moral economy” — the civilities that enable this corps to relate the individualistic aspirations of the engineer in charge of a project with the collective dimensions of supervision and integration in a whole. In conclusion, the relations between design and execution, between activity and passivity, are examined in order to show how similar the administrative corps’ tense relation with the state is to the individual engineer's relation with his corps.     

Reconsidering Ideological Lines: Beliefs about Poverty in America*

Our nation's policy to reduce poverty reflects the belief that poverty is caused by institutional discrimination. This study first identifies the ideological and political nature of this position in relation to the classically ideological individualistic and structural beliefs about poverty. Second, it tests a block variable regression model of popular support for the various belief sets to determine how deeply Americans divide along traditional ideological lines. This model includes not only objective status and demographic factors but subjective variables as well. The results indicate only shallow cleavages in beliefs about poverty and account for why previous studies found deeper ones. Support for the institutional discrimination position is especially broad and is independent of support for individualistic or structural beliefs. These findings suggest that this position and its policy represent a successful political compromise and a viable way for people to resolve their ideological inconsistencies.     

Negotiating Family

Abstract

This study sought to determine how several child-rearing behaviors within the Chinese parent-adolescent relationship were predictive of youthful self-esteem through either collectivistic or individualistic socialization approaches. Theoretically based relationships were tested with structural equation modeling to examine whether dimensions of parental behavior (i.e., support, reasoning, monitoring, and punitiveness) influenced the self-esteem of Chinese adolescents through the mediating influences of either conformity (i.e., collectivism) or autonomy (i.e., individualism) in reference to parents. The sample for this study consisted of 497 adolescents from Beijing, China, ranging in age from 12-19 years of age. Data were acquired with self-report questionnaires administered in school classrooms. Results provided support for parental behaviors as predictors of self-esteem development through individualistic patterns of socialization. Although collectivistic parent-adolescent patterns did not predict the self-esteem of Chinese adolescents, several results supported a collectivistic conception of socialization through significant relationships involving parental behaviors as predictors of adolescent conformity to parents. Some results of this study highlight the significance of parental support and dimensions of moderate parental control (e.g., reasoning and monitoring) within the Chinese parent-adolescent relationship, while identifying only a minimal role for punitive behavior.     

Social Relations, Core Values, and the Polyphony of the American Experience

This essay examines social relations and cultural values in the United States, paying special attention to recent characterizations of Americans as increasingly isolated, disconnected, and dangerously individualistic. In this essay, I refute such claims. And building on earlier work ( Cerulo, 2002 ), I show that U.S. social relations and cultural values are more multifaceted than such "new individualism" arguments suggest. Indeed, as Robin M. Williams Jr. discovered 50 years ago, when studied in a systematic way, U.S. values and beliefs present us with a multiplex system—a system in which individualism plays only a supporting role. This is true, I suggest, because Americans'"value focus"—that is, the prioritization of one value over another—shifts in concert with certain social events and structural conditions. In this way, we can think of U.S. values as part of a "cultural toolkit," with actors selecting or foregrounding the values needed to support certain strategies of action.