Hofstede Cultural Difference” Exploration
of the Hmong people
Collectivism
The Hmong are a very collectivist community who place great emphasis on sticking with family and developing deep bonds with all of their relatives. These kinship patterns often lead them to congregate and form their own communities. As a result 89% of the United States Hmong population is settled in California, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Their collectivist culture has helped them adapt and achieve economic stability in the United States rather quickly because the Hmong families often pool resources and incomes to assist in purchasing homes, businesses and cars for one another. The stable home life has allowed them to assimilate to our culture very easy, but they still make an effort to preserve their culture. The Hmong people gather often to socialize while enjoying rich cultural foods and drinks that they brought with them from their homeland.
Ambiguity and Uncertainty
The Hmong people are very accepting of uncertain situations and I believe this is mainly related to 2 major cultural influences. Firstly, the Hmong culture is a shamanistic society meaning they believe in spirits interacting with the human or “material world”. These spirits are both protective and malicious in nature and they accept that these spirits affect all parts of their daily lives so often time’s events that occur are simply accepted as being “the will of the spirits”.
Secondly, the Hmong have been a migrant culture that have been constantly harassed by their neighbors throughout history and essentially have become a culture of refugees who have continuously moved for the last 200 years. As a result change
and uncertainty are simply not unusual for the Hmong and have simply been a part
of their everyday life throughout history.
Power Distance
The Hmong society is a very hierarchical society that accepts that the power is not distributed evenly among one another. Their culture shows great respect for both those who hold power and those who do not. When it comes to power distance they are often compared to the Japanese who also have quite similar views.
The Hmong society is very unique because not only is it hierarchical, but it is also a patriarchal society where men are respected more than women. The level of respect paid to you is based on seniority with the elders always being addressed first. In the Hmong culture respect and building relationship goes a long way. It is important for those in the western world to respect and recognize the Hmong culture especially when it comes to business, the simplest miss-communication could be seen as a lack of care to learn their culture.
Femininity
The Hmong culture embraces feminine characteristics in their day to day life similar to other Asian cultures. The feminism focus is partially due to two primary things in their life. The first being their profession since most Hmong people work in the service and people industry they make an effort to be kind and treat others well. The second dimension of femininity is being that their focus is on the well-being of their clan. They will go out of their way to ensure that all members are taken care of properly so that they can enjoy a high quality of life.
Time orientation
The Hmong culture has a long-term time orientation. They place great emphasis on
persistence, social status, thrift and shame. They are a laid back culture and will often be late to events unless you specify to them that it is essential that they attend at a specific time. They view life as a continuous journey that they can pursue at any pace they want and see reaching old age as an accomplishment because they have had much time to enjoy their lives.
Restraint dimension
Similar too many other Asian cultures the Hmong society is focused more on restraint and
self-discipline than most other cultures. A lot of this is due to their history of being a culture that has constantly been bullied and pushed out of multiple Asian countries throughout history. They believe that self-restraint is important because it displays inner stamina and the strength to tolerate crisis and remain strong for the family.
The Hmong are a very collectivist community who place great emphasis on sticking with family and developing deep bonds with all of their relatives. These kinship patterns often lead them to congregate and form their own communities. As a result 89% of the United States Hmong population is settled in California, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Their collectivist culture has helped them adapt and achieve economic stability in the United States rather quickly because the Hmong families often pool resources and incomes to assist in purchasing homes, businesses and cars for one another. The stable home life has allowed them to assimilate to our culture very easy, but they still make an effort to preserve their culture. The Hmong people gather often to socialize while enjoying rich cultural foods and drinks that they brought with them from their homeland.
Ambiguity and Uncertainty
The Hmong people are very accepting of uncertain situations and I believe this is mainly related to 2 major cultural influences. Firstly, the Hmong culture is a shamanistic society meaning they believe in spirits interacting with the human or “material world”. These spirits are both protective and malicious in nature and they accept that these spirits affect all parts of their daily lives so often time’s events that occur are simply accepted as being “the will of the spirits”.
Secondly, the Hmong have been a migrant culture that have been constantly harassed by their neighbors throughout history and essentially have become a culture of refugees who have continuously moved for the last 200 years. As a result change
and uncertainty are simply not unusual for the Hmong and have simply been a part
of their everyday life throughout history.
Power Distance
The Hmong society is a very hierarchical society that accepts that the power is not distributed evenly among one another. Their culture shows great respect for both those who hold power and those who do not. When it comes to power distance they are often compared to the Japanese who also have quite similar views.
The Hmong society is very unique because not only is it hierarchical, but it is also a patriarchal society where men are respected more than women. The level of respect paid to you is based on seniority with the elders always being addressed first. In the Hmong culture respect and building relationship goes a long way. It is important for those in the western world to respect and recognize the Hmong culture especially when it comes to business, the simplest miss-communication could be seen as a lack of care to learn their culture.
Femininity
The Hmong culture embraces feminine characteristics in their day to day life similar to other Asian cultures. The feminism focus is partially due to two primary things in their life. The first being their profession since most Hmong people work in the service and people industry they make an effort to be kind and treat others well. The second dimension of femininity is being that their focus is on the well-being of their clan. They will go out of their way to ensure that all members are taken care of properly so that they can enjoy a high quality of life.
Time orientation
The Hmong culture has a long-term time orientation. They place great emphasis on
persistence, social status, thrift and shame. They are a laid back culture and will often be late to events unless you specify to them that it is essential that they attend at a specific time. They view life as a continuous journey that they can pursue at any pace they want and see reaching old age as an accomplishment because they have had much time to enjoy their lives.
Restraint dimension
Similar too many other Asian cultures the Hmong society is focused more on restraint and
self-discipline than most other cultures. A lot of this is due to their history of being a culture that has constantly been bullied and pushed out of multiple Asian countries throughout history. They believe that self-restraint is important because it displays inner stamina and the strength to tolerate crisis and remain strong for the family.