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Culture and Time Part of the fundamental divide that separates cultures from having complete understanding of each other has to do with how they think about time. The six identified dimensions of time
as identified by sociologists include:
Duration, obviously, refers to how long events take place. In developed Western cultures, duration is closely linked to the ticking of a clock. In other less time-clock sensitive cultures, duration is more of a feeling state. Events evolve depending on how people feel. This single notion about time can create huge barriers of understanding. If one culture thinks that 2 weeks is enough to get over the death of someone in your family, another culture might not be able to relate to this at all, because "getting over a death" is a feeling determined issue, and not a clock issue. Planning is another dimension of time that is handled differently depending upon cultural orientation. Planning has to do with basic assumptions. For example, planning a project in more developed nations has to do with certain economic indicators being right. People, money, market conditions, knowledge, etc. are all taken into consideration when planning for events. In "older" cultures, planning be based on a different set of priorities. Planning might, for example, be based on feelings. Does something feel right? Then we can proceed. Speed also has something to do with time understanding. Some cultures are in love with speed. Other cultures see that speed destroys enjoyment of life, that it contributes to mistakes, and that it increases stress. Temporal rhythm differences makes one culture judge another as either too pushy or too laid back and lazy. Time synchronization has to do with various members of the group coordinating their activities. Some cultures place more of an emphasis on the individual. An individual's actions be entirely separated from the group, and this is viewed as a positive in some cultures. Other culture's definitely see the group sense of time and activity as being more important than the individual's. Finally, there is time perspective. Is emphasis placed on past time, or on present time, or on future time? Americans do not spend a great deal of time dealing with the past. Even our rituals, while celebrating long time events, are oriented towards enjoying the ritual in the moment without real regard to what actually happened. The ritual becomes entertainment, such as in Christmas celebrations, rather than a genuine honoring of what Christmas stands for. The success of Christmas has to do with what happens this year, rather than having simple value because it focuses on what Christmas stands for. These are significant differences. They point to the fact that it is easy for differing cultural groups to misunderstand each other. And it's all about time. Perhaps the next time you find yourself
judging a cultural group about something, ask yourself if it could be that
you have different pictures of time. No right. No wrong. Just different.
Janelle Barlow, President
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