 Cultures role in the formation and maintenance of relationships

 A shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shapes and influences perception and behavior

Understanding culture’s role in relationships  With this definition, one can hypothesize that culture plays a significant role why we develop relationships and how they are maintained.

Understanding culture’s role in relationships  Friendship is a relationship that has existed across historical times in all types of societies.  Across the world, friendships are seen in different ways.  In many Western cultures for example, friendships are seen mainly as “ voluntary and spontaneous, in contrast to family or work relationships” (Martin & Nakayama, 2010, p. 393).

 How many close friends do you have? What played a role in this number?

Understanding culture’s role in relationships Cultural Differences in Notions of Friendship:  Friendships are seen in very different ways around the world.  Cultural differences in notions about friendships are related to ideas about identity and values.

Understanding culture’s role in relationships  Individualists tend to view friendship as more voluntary, individual-oriented, and spontaneous than collectivists.  In some collectivist cultures such as China, friendships are long-term and involve obligations such as connection and mutual economic support.

 How can this influence the formation of relationships between individualist and collectivists?

Understanding culture’s role in forming relationships  Reviews of the literature on cultural variations in close friendship often assert that people in individualist cultures tend to cultivate a larger number of friends and these friendships are characterized as being less intimate, less interdependent and less durable than those of people in collectivist cultures, who are thought to have a smaller number of more intimate and lasting friendships.

Understanding culture’s role in forming relationships Individualist cultures tend to:  Believe in quantity over quality. A larger number of friends and more “superficial” friendships. Collectivist cultures tend to:  Believe in quality over quantity. A smaller number of friends and more “meaningful” friendships.

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Cultural influences  Ruut Veenhoven-social psychologists-argues that individualism is measured by three key aspects: moral appreciation for individualism, the opportunity to choose, and the capability to choose. This can play a role in who we choose as friends.

Cultural influences  Ruut Veenhoven’s survey of 43 countries suggests that individualists seek relationships that are diversified.  Individualist cultures are generally seen as more open to intercultural relationships than those of collectivist cultures.

How we interact in individualist cultures  Ruut Veenhoven’s research also argues that individualists cultures are more likely than collectivist cultures to have higher rates of homicide, suicide, delinquency, divorce, and domestic violence.

 What role does your parents play in your friendships/intimate relationships ?

 Arranged Marriage: Trapped Between Two Cultures by JAMIE TARABAY

Arranged relationships (specifically marriages) In many cultures (mainly India, Africa, and the Middle East), marriages are arranged. Even among the educated middle classes in modern, urban India, marriage is as much a concern of the families as it is of the individuals. Although foreign to most of the western world, arranged marriage statistics show that this type of union is often more successful than those we typically see (we will revisit this later).

Arranged relationships (specifically marriages) In such cultures, arranged marriage is viewed as the norm and accepted by young adults. In several cultures, the last duty of a parent to his or her son or daughter is to see that he or she passes through the marital rites. How can influence the formation of relationships in these cultures?

Arranged relationships (specifically marriages) In such cultures, arranged marriage is viewed as the norm and accepted by young adults. In several cultures, the last duty of a parent to his or her son or daughter is to see that he or she passes through the marital rites. How can this influence the formation of relationships in these cultures?

 To what extent should your family play a role in your romantic relationships? What should be the foundation of intimate relationships?

Cultural differences  Cultures vary in their emphasis on love- especially passionate love-as a prerequisite for marriage.  Although romantic love appears to be an etic concept, passionate love as the basis for marriage is a contemporary invention of Western Culture.

Cultural differences  Levine (1995) suggests that there was a positive correlation (+0.56) between a society’s individualism and the perceived necessity of love for marriage  In other words, there was a fairly strong tendency for members of individualistic societies to regard love as more important for marriage, than did collectivist culture.

Cultural differences  As Hatfield and Rapson (1993) note, “Marriage for love represents an ultimate expression of individualism.  Although this practice is declining as a result of contemporary Westernization, collectivist societies still think in terms of “What will my parents and others say?” rather than “What does my heart say”.

Research support  Research has shown that individualism and collectivism are closely related to divorce rates.  A study was conducted on 26 nations by Lester (1996), which investigated on the relationship between societal divorce rates and individualism and collectivism. 

Research support  Using the individualism scores, which were reported by Hofstede (1980), Lester discovered that the more individualistic a country, the higher the divorce rate.  The result had a correlation r value of 0.40 even after controlling for GNP per capita of different countries. 

 What factors in an individualist culture could lead to higher divorce rates?

Interdependence vs. Independence  Individualist tend to be are more self-centred and emphasize mostly on their individual goals. How is this evident in certain Western intimate relationships?  People from individualistic cultures tend to put the need of oneself over the need of the group. Is this evident in Western relationships?

Interdependence vs. Independence  Collectivistic cultures have a great emphasize on groups and think more in terms of “we”. Can this be beneficial in relationships?  Harmony and loyalty within a relationship is very impor tant and is maintained.  Confrontation is usually avoided.

Interdependence vs. Independence  An essential attribute of collectivist cultures is that individuals may be induced to subordinate their personal goals to the goals of some collecti ve (which in this context, would be the romantic relationship)  This is usually a stable in-group (e.g., family, band, tribe), and much of the behavior of individuals may concern goals that are consistent with the goals of this in-group.

Interdependence vs. Independence  In collectivist cultures the relationship of the individual to the in-group (which in this context is the romantic relationships) tends to be stable, and even when the in-group makes highly costly demands (such as the difficulties of marriage) the individual stays with it.  On the other hand, in individualist cultures people often drop those in-groups that are inconveniently demanding and form new in-groups.

 Questions?