Tolukanni
Masculine and Feminine Culture Read the following reading selection…
Masculine and Feminine Culture
Read the following reading selection carefully, annotating the text according to the
guidelines we discussed last week. Next outline the following reading selection,
presenting its major points and important details and according to the four
components of an effective outline.
Cultures differ in the extent to which gender role are distinct or overlap. A masculine culture
typically views men as assertive, oriented to material success, and strong; people in such a
culture tend to see women as modest, focused on the quality of life, and tender. In a feminine
culture both men and women are supposed to be modest, oriented to maintaining the quality of
life, tender. On the basis of Hofstede’s research on 53 countries, the 10 countries with the highest
masculinity scores (starting from the top) are Japan, Austria, Venezuela, Italy, Switzerland,
Mexico, Ireland, Jamaica, Great Britain, and Germany. The top 10 countries with the highest
femininity scores (starting from the top) are Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark, Costa
Rica, Yugoslavia, Finland, Chile, Portugal, and Thailand. Of the 53 countries ranked, the United
States rank 15th most masculine.
A study of babies raised in Japan and the United States illustrates the way in which masculine
and feminine cultures teach boys and girls differently. Boys raised in Japan are significantly
noisier than girls; girls raised in the United States are significantly noisier than boys. This
difference is most likely due to the ways in which mothers and (to a somewhat lesser extent)
fathers react to the babies Both of these cultures are relatively high on masculinity and so, not
surprisingly, teach girls and boys differently. In the dominant cultures of the United States,
Japan, and Germany, for example, the emphasis on material success is seen in the importance
that students place on grades. Students in such cultures are conditioned to strive to be the best,
and school failure is shameful and extremely significant. Students from more feminine cultures
place greater emphasis on the quality of life and give much less importance to such issues as
grades. Students in these cultures are content to be average and failing in school is unpleasant but
nothing serious.
The masculine culture socializes its children to be assertive, ambitious, and competitive. A
masculine organization emphasizes the bottom line and rewards its workers on the basis of their
contribution to the organization. The feminine culture socializes its children to be modest and to
emphasize close interpersonal relationships. A feminine organization is more likely to emphasize
work satisfaction and reward its workers on the basis of need, and an employee with a large
family, for example, may get a raise that a single person would not get even if the single person
contributed more to the organization.
4. Masculine cultures are more likely to confront conflicts directly and to competitively fight out
any differences; they are more likely to emphasize with-lose conflict strategies. Feminine
cultures are more likely to emphasize compromises and negotiation; they are more likely to
emphasize win-win solutions to conflicts.
Write your outline below
