Цитаты из книги Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind

In another study, citizens from strong uncertanty avoidance countries were less optimistic about their possibilities to influence decisions made by authorities than were citizens of weak uncertanty avoidance societies. Few citizens in high-UAI countries were prepared to protest against decisions by the authorities, and if they did, their means of protest were relatively conventional, like petitions and demonstrations. With regard to more extreme protest actions like boycotts and sit-ins, most citizens in high-UAI countries thought these should be firmly repressed by the government.

Students from strong uncertainty avoidance countries expect their teachers to be experts who have all the answers. Teachers who use cryptic academic language are respected; some of the gurus from these countries write such difficult prose that one needs commentaries by more ordinary creatures explaining what the guru really meant. "German students are brought up in the belief that anything which is easy enough for them to understand is dubious and probably unscientific." French academic books not infrequently contain phrases of a half a page long. Students in these countries will not, as a rule, confess to intellectual disagreement with their teachers. A Ph. D. candidate who finds him- or herself in conflict with a thesis adviser on an important issue has the choice of changing his or her mind or finding another adviser. Intellectual disagreement in academic matters is felt as personal disloyalty.

Students from weak uncertainty avoidance countries accept a teacher who says: "I don't know." Their respect goes to teachers who use plain language and to books that explain difficult issues in ordinary terms. Intellectual disagreement in academic matters in these cultures can be seen as a stimulating exercise, and we know of thesis advisers whose evaluation of a Ph. D. candidate is positively related to the candidate's amount of well-argued disagreement with the professor's position.

In the collectivist family, children learn to take their bearings from others when it comes to opinions. Personal opinions do not exist - they are predetermined by the group... A child who repeatedly voices opinions deviating from what is collectively felt is considered to have a bad character. In the individualist family, on the contrary, children are expected and encouraged to develop opinions of their own, and a child who always only reflects the opinions of others is considered to have a weak character.

Students in countries scoring high on power distance answered that the following were particularly important:

- Having few desires - Moderation, following the middle way - Keeping oneself disinterested and pure

In unequal societies, ordinary people like students felt they should not have aspirations beyond their rank.

Students in countries scoring low on power distance, on the other hand, answered that the following were particularly important:

- Adaptability - Prudence (carefullness)

In more egalitarian societies, where problems cannot be resolved by someone's show of power, students stressed the importance of being flexible in order to get somewhere.