Farah Bader H BUS 22

In this seen Anna met the prime minister of Siam. He started asking her personal questions like “Sir is married? “ and “ How long are you in the position of did husband?”. That makes her get angry and nervous. Then the prime minister said that asking personal questions in Siam considers as custom and also to be polite. One of high individualism characteristics is to respect privacy, so this is an example of individualism. (Geert Hofstede, 2015) Anna has high individualism, she felt uncomfortable when the prime minister asked her personal questions. Also, she got angry and nervous. She prefers that they respect her privacy. While the prime minister has low individualism which is collectivism, he considers asking people personal questions as a habit and it is a normal thing to do when you meet someone new. There is no respect for privacy. Individualism vs. Collectivism

Power distance In the first scene king’s son got angry from the teacher’s son Louis because Louis was joking about what he was saying. Then the king’s son said “ son of teacher is forgetting I am son of king” and told him to set somewhere else, but Louis said that he don’t care. In the Second scene Louis pushed the king’s son because he mentioned his father when they were arguing. The king’s son said It is forbidden to touch the royal family. This is an example of power distance (Geert Hofstede, 2015). Both Louis and the king’s son has different social status. The king’s son has a high power because he is the son of the king and Louis is the teacher’s son he has low power, so the king’s son wants Louis to respect him and do everything he tells him. He got angry when Louis pushed him and said It is forbidden to touch the royal family because they have more power. But Louis didn’t know that because he is from the country that almost all are equal and has low power distance.

Masculinity vs. Femininity In this scene Anna met the king because she bought a slave freedom from a woman, then the woman went to the king to complain about that. After that, the prime minister called her to meet the king because she got herself involved in slaves freedom issue. Then the prime minister said that there are enough insults caused by her and she think that she is equal to the man the king answered not to the man the equal to the king. This is an example of low masculinity which is femininity (Geert Hofstede, 2015). The king accepted what Anna said and he didn’t get angry from her about what she did which is she got herself involved in slaves freedom issue. He was smiling when he said that she is equal to the king which means that he respects powerful and successful women. Also, it means that women can be equal to the men in their country and can do what can men do.

High context - concerned about losing face In this scene the king met Anna and he was angry from her because she said to the court that she will tell the king about what they are doing to Tpettm (the king’s wife) to save her. Then the king didn’t accept what she want and said to not make the court and the people feel that she is controlling him and save his face. The king is from the culture that concerned about losing face (Trinder, 2015), this can be found in high context cultures. When Anna told the court that she will tell the king, the king felt that he insulted by Anna in the court and the people will think that she is controlling him. He was concerned about losing face more than saving people’s life or to save his wife life. So the king was only thinking about himself and face maintenance. However, Anna completely disagreed about the king behavior. She was concerning more about people life.

High context - strong sense of family In the first scene the king looked at his family and said that everything he loves will die. He was thinking about his family and trying to protect them from the army. In the second scene the king hugged his children and he was concerning about them. The king also from the culture that has a strong sense of family (Trinder, 2015), so this is an example of high context cultures. Both situations showing that the king cares about his family too much. He hugged them, which mean that he loves them and they are everything to him. Also, he was trying to make them don’t know what is happening to not feel scared and trying to keep his family safe.

References andrews. (2015). Hofstede: Individualism / Collectivism. Retrieved September 6, 2015, from andrews: andrews. (2015). Hofstede: Power Distance. Retrieved September 6, 2015, from andrews: Geert Hofstede. (2015). Country Comparison. Retrieved September 7, 2015, from Geert Hofstede: Trinder, S. (2015, September 8). Intercultural Studies. Retrieved October 6, 2015, from word press: