Venezuela Culture
In all cultures, there are different dimensions that can be categorized into a continuum. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck have functions of cultural patterns such as common human problems, preferred solutions and most importantly, a continuum. A continuum is how things are rated by percentages. For example, happiness. It could be either more or less in certain situations. In Hofstede’s dimensions of culture, there are two topics and only one can be higher in certain cultures than others. The country I chose to do is the culture of Venezuela. Venezuela is very similar to the rest of the Latin American countries but has exceptional characteristics when it comes to the dimensions that Hofstede describes. The dimensions of culture that will be discussed fall into the four common ones: collectivism, power distance, masculinity and low uncertainty avoidance. Venezuela is a unique country with many different ideas that relate to their culture. Venezuela falls into the collectivism category. This means that the country unites as one, focusing on the needs of groups rather than the individual themselves. The other side of the dimension is individualism. Individualism, as its name says, focuses on the individual where they have to sand up for themselves. Collectivists tend to have large, extended families which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty (Individualism 2009). Also, they work on becoming very skilled at something they are interested in. Venezuelan people are all about being loyal to each other. They see more good in a group, than good in the individual. In Venezuela, the labor force has grown a lot over the past few decades. The unemployment rate has been very low and even woman have been getting jobs. The government has worked together so that almost everyone is employed. Labor relations in Venezuela were consultative rather than confrontational, and the Confederation of Venezuelan Workers had good working relationships with the major
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