Cross Cultural Communication Vol.2- Collectivsim Vs. Individualism

COLLECTIVIST
.Loyalty to the group's interest
.Strong, cohesive groups

INDIVIDUALIST
.Pursuit of own interest
.Looser ties between individuals

A typical feature of collectivist societies is for example the strong cohesive feeling between people in whatever they do. Generally spoken, these communities act like one block, moving forth and backwards all together. On the other hand, loyalty is a keyword as well. Loyalty towards the interests of the group more specifically. There are a lot of common interests which can be or be caused by race, religion, a strong bond with the land, common history, etc. The most obvious of those interests in today’s world is probably religion. It bounds people in a very spiritual way and causes people to have faith in one another or even only have faith in people with the same religious convictions. You just have to turn on the tube at home and you will hear about all kinds of religious conflicts.

The model that stands opposite to collectivism is individualism. The word clearly puts the individual, the identity of one person in the spotlights. Selfishness is a word that directly popped into my mind in relation to the word and actually that is not a bad comparison at all. Individualist societies put the stress firmly on each individual himself. Decision-making happens for the benefit of oneself. Of course both models are extremes and would never fully dominate a culture but what can definitely be said is that most countries clearly lean to one of both models. Western culture and lifestyle are mainly individualist oriented. As Elvis put it: “one for the money, two for the show”.

Belgians follow this western pattern and stress the importance of the individual. As cited before, religion plays a big role to the extent people feel connected with each other. Since less than 10% of the Belgian population still considers itself religious, this important factor falls out for the greater part. Apart from this, individual oriented thoughts are required to really be able to participate in western life. If not, you are probably going to drop out anyway because other people just are not there to help you in the same way as collectivist societies do. To be successful, you need a job. To get a job, you have to prove yourself better than other candidates. It is like survival of the fittest.

There are strong relations between the country’s regime and social behaviors. In order to find out social behaviors related to individualism-collectivism that are exhibited in Turkey, firstly status quo must be determined. In the 21st century, there are a few exceptions though. Most of the countries are affected by liberal economic movement because of the globalization process. As a direct result, people are shifted from a collectivist to an individualist approach inevitably. In other words, liberalism which is relying on self-interest understanding affects social relations. Turkey is a typical example of this situation. In early Turkish history, collectivism was stronger than individualism because of Turkish culture, custom and tradition. For example, moving house, planting and harvesting the field are collectivist activities. Relations are in general tighter in all the different neighborhoods. Even cooking and having dinner is usually a shared activity altogether with the neighbors. Nowadays, these activities are less frequent though. Because of the fact that modernization period and liberalism, individualist approach is mainly stressed all around world. People aim to maximize their interest and pleasure. Money, time, power and nutrition become the most important matters for each and every person. None of these issues are shared. And undoubted, status quo (liberal economy) is main deterministic factor for this change from collectivism to individualism. People only gather when interests and purposes are common. The east part of Turkey, where traditions and customs are still intensively practiced, is more collectivist in comparison to the west because factors such as money and self-interest, all liberalism-related subjects, are less important in the east. Consequently, in the modern world the individualist approach is an unavoidable characteristic surrounded by globalization and liberalism. A lot of countries, mainly western states are largely individualist but Turkey is less individualist in comparison to those countries due to the different religion, tradition and custom.

Kadir Can Türkoğlu
Maxime Dewalhens

Cross Cultural Communication-Monochronic Societies Vs. Synchronic Societies

MONOCHRONİC SOCIETIES
.time needs to be controlled
.punctuality is important: TİME is MONEY
.the porject is
.deadlines, schedules and plans can be relied on
.emphasis on past and future
.one thing done at a time
.link with specific culture

SYNCHRONİC SOCIETIES
.everything takes its own time
.punctuality is less important: you GİVE people TIME
.people and relations are important
.deadlines, schedules and plans are frequently changed
.emphasis on here and now
.many things done simultaneously
.link with diffuse culture

In this part of the blog we will talk about the experience of time of Turkish culture compared to Belgium’s. Monochronic cultures prefer doing just one thing at a time but thoroughly. They value a certain orderliness and presence of an appropriate time and place for everything. Synchronic perception of time is exactly the opposite. A culture leaning more towards this model prefers doing multiple things at the same time. A manager's office in a Synchronic culture typically has an open door, a ringing phone and a meeting all going on at the same time.

If we are to describe the differences in the experience of time between Turkish and Belgian culture we could say that in Turkey time is perceived in a more flexible way than in Belgium.

By comparing university policies for instance, schools in Turkey are rather loose when it comes to deadlines, appearance in class, punctuality, etc. If you are not able to reach class in time, or you are just late due to circumstances, teachers will still more easily admit you to attend the class. In Belgium repeated absence will definitely not be taken in gratitude and is often even considered rude behavior. Punishment measures can sometimes be taken.

Another example of a more flexible lifestyle in Turkish culture is the frequent postponing of appointments with the doctor, the dentist, a business meeting...
Cancelling an appointment up to three times is no exception. One can definitely say that this is “not done” in Belgium. Doctors have the authority to charge you a fine for doing so.

When talking about transportation, we can make a very similar comparison. The time schedules of buses, trains, ferries and many other mediums in Turkey are more of a guide of around what time something is departing or arriving. Departure and arrival times are the only times displayed and they are only available in the main and final station or on the internet. None of the stops in between are equipped with time schedules.

By comparing these two different cultures in sense of importance of time, the discrepancies can easily be noticed. In Turkey, when people apply to the courthouse for the necessary documents and letters you need in order to register a new job for example, they will respond to you too late because of the excessive bureaucracy. Because of this and the absence of necessary documents people often don’t get the job. This example only occurs in a culture where flexible time understanding exists. In other words, people are not aware of the preciousness of time and consider it less important

Kadir Can Türkoğlu
Maxime Dewalhens