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Remember when that hypermasculine Russian military recruiting commercial went viral? They only give Russia 36 on the masculinity index. (US gets 62) Here's t

Remember when that hypermasculine Russian military recruiting commercial went viral? They only give Russia 36 on the masculinity index. (US gets 62) Here's the construct description: >The Masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success. Society at large is more competitive. Its opposite, Femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Society at large is more consensus-oriented. >In the business context Masculinity versus Femininity is sometimes also related to as “tough versus tender” cultures. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/ https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/ I checked a bunch of countries -- I couldn't find a country ranked as more masculine than Austria, or less masculine than Sweden.

midoridensha 4y ago
Austria ranks 79 on masculinity. Japan ranks 95, probably one of the highest. >The Masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success. This definitely does not sound like the Japan I live in, almost the opposite in fact. Japanese people are absolutely not known for assertiveness in particular; it's very much the opposite, they're infamous for being passive-aggressive. Heroism is definitely not a thing here. Achievement is so-so: being a reliable company workers and breadwinner is definitely highly valued, but not being a high achiever the way American culture, for instance, would value. Material rewards are valued though, but even here not as much as in America (which only ranks 62 somehow). >Its opposite, Femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Society at large is more consensus-oriented. This is absolutely Japan in a nutshell, for the most part, especially the part about being consensus-oriented. Japanese business culture is completely based on this: no decisions ever get made quickly or unilaterally; they require tons of boring meetings to build consensus before something big gets done. Caring for the weak and quality of life isn't as big as some western European nations, at least in terms of government policy, but it's still there, especially with, for instance, respect for elders (there's even a national holiday just for this). By contrast, America ranking only 62 here seems like a bad joke. American culture is all about achievement, heroism (hello, Marvel movies!), assertiveness (even when you're completely wrong), and certainly material rewards for success. Caring for the weak? Americans hate that: that's why they vote against social programs any time they can. "Quality of life" isn't a concern in America. If these people got these two countries SO completely and obviously wrong on the masculinity index, I really have no trust in their rankings for anything else.
- deleted 4y ago
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- guerrilla 4y ago
  I'm starting to wonder if this is just a frontend issue... Maybe this UI is serving us the inverse numbers.
  - ShredKazoo 4y ago
    Sweden is ranked as having very low masculinity though
- robjan 4y ago
  The page explains that Japan is ranked highly "masculine" because of how competitive the society is. > What you see is a severe competition between groups. From very young age at kindergartens, children learn to compete on sports day for their groups (traditionally red team against white team). In corporate Japan, you see that employees are most motivated when they are fighting in a winning team against their competitors. What you also see as an expression of Masculinity in Japan is the drive for excellence and perfection in their material production (monodukuri) and in material services (hotels and restaurants) and presentation (gift wrapping and food presentation) in every aspect of life. Notorious Japanese workaholism is another expression of their Masculinity. It is still hard for women to climb up the corporate ladders in Japan with their Masculine norm of hard and long working hours.
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    So they explain away why their number is completely opposite of what it should be, given their definition of "masculinity" in a culture. Their explanation is BS: Japan is a very consensus-oriented society, not one based on individual heroism, at all. So one thing must be a lie: either their definition of "masculinity", or their ranking of Japan. They can't be simultaneously true. Their actual definition says nothing about workaholism, or drive for excellence and perfection. In fact, I don't see how those are "masculine" in the slightest (nor are they "feminine", they're orthogonal issues).

midoridensha 4y ago

Austria ranks 79 on masculinity. Japan ranks 95, probably one of the highest. >The Masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success. This definitely does not sound like the Japan I live in, almost the opposite in fact. Japanese people are absolutely not known for assertiveness in particular; it's very much the opposite, they're infamous for being passive-aggressive. Heroism is definitely not a thing here. Achievement is so-so: being a reliable company workers and breadwinner is definitely highly valued, but not being a high achiever the way American culture, for instance, would value. Material rewards are valued though, but even here not as much as in America (which only ranks 62 somehow). >Its opposite, Femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Society at large is more consensus-oriented. This is absolutely Japan in a nutshell, for the most part, especially the part about being consensus-oriented. Japanese business culture is completely based on this: no decisions ever get made quickly or unilaterally; they require tons of boring meetings to build consensus before something big gets done. Caring for the weak and quality of life isn't as big as some western European nations, at least in terms of government policy, but it's still there, especially with, for instance, respect for elders (there's even a national holiday just for this). By contrast, America ranking only 62 here seems like a bad joke. American culture is all about achievement, heroism (hello, Marvel movies!), assertiveness (even when you're completely wrong), and certainly material rewards for success. Caring for the weak? Americans hate that: that's why they vote against social programs any time they can. "Quality of life" isn't a concern in America. If these people got these two countries SO completely and obviously wrong on the masculinity index, I really have no trust in their rankings for anything else.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
guerrilla 4y ago
I'm starting to wonder if this is just a frontend issue... Maybe this UI is serving us the inverse numbers.
- ShredKazoo 4y ago
  Sweden is ranked as having very low masculinity though
robjan 4y ago
The page explains that Japan is ranked highly "masculine" because of how competitive the society is. > What you see is a severe competition between groups. From very young age at kindergartens, children learn to compete on sports day for their groups (traditionally red team against white team). In corporate Japan, you see that employees are most motivated when they are fighting in a winning team against their competitors. What you also see as an expression of Masculinity in Japan is the drive for excellence and perfection in their material production (monodukuri) and in material services (hotels and restaurants) and presentation (gift wrapping and food presentation) in every aspect of life. Notorious Japanese workaholism is another expression of their Masculinity. It is still hard for women to climb up the corporate ladders in Japan with their Masculine norm of hard and long working hours.
- midoridensha 4y ago
  So they explain away why their number is completely opposite of what it should be, given their definition of "masculinity" in a culture. Their explanation is BS: Japan is a very consensus-oriented society, not one based on individual heroism, at all. So one thing must be a lie: either their definition of "masculinity", or their ranking of Japan. They can't be simultaneously true. Their actual definition says nothing about workaholism, or drive for excellence and perfection. In fact, I don't see how those are "masculine" in the slightest (nor are they "feminine", they're orthogonal issues).