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Broad claims about 'culture' set off alarm bells for me and is sort of a classic error of scholarship (not to hold a random HN post to the standard of 'scholars

Broad claims about 'culture' set off alarm bells for me and is sort of a classic error of scholarship (not to hold a random HN post to the standard of 'scholarship' - my point is it's a signal of flaws). Culture is very difficult to define, which makes it compatible with any claims - every listener perceive different meanings that make sense to us, so we can agree while meaning different things. Also, we have nothing specific to test. For example, if someone said crime is prevelent in Russia's economy, we might have data on the size of the black market, and data and information on how other factors generally affect black market size (such as, as a guess, authoritarian government, oligarchy, and of course poor delivery of goods and services by government and market). Also, such claims are almost always made by outsiders, who know least about the 'culture' and at the same time are prone, being humans, to make broad, powerful claims about extremes in 'the other', who are slightly alien and thus might do anything. Edit: I'm very familiar with the stereotype of Russian hackers, but stereotypes are very misleading. There are Russian government disinformation campaigns, where we do have specific claims and lots of evidence, but that seems like a different issue.

unsupp0rted 3y ago
“Slowmads”, I.e. slow digital nomads who stay in places for a long while but ultimately see many different places, wouldn’t have much difficulty relating some “culture” things about one place vs. another. Often it’s plain to see. The causes maybe aren’t. But the effects are.
- femiagbabiaka 3y ago
  An expat by their nature will have a completely skewed and subjective view. Empiricism is possible, and much better than random anecdotes.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
RugnirViking 3y ago
cultures do certainly exist. Consider for example the difference between high-context and low-context cultures. As an anecdote about russian culture, a russian coworker once told me how amused a shopkeeper was back in russia when he asked them if they could please give him something. Where in russia it is typically not done (and its not at all rude to simply instruct a shopkeeper to give you something without please or thank yous, and certainly not asking someone if they can do something but just telling them to do it). The shopkeeper thought it was endlessly funny to just say no, as though it was an earnest request. Living in the UK had changed how my coworker spoke even in their native language. Sure some may regard these as aspects of language still, but imo the fact that it affected how my coworker spoke even in their native language perhaps shows its more a cultural thing. Now I WOULD be very wary of making cultural arguments as relates to crime. Imo its only really appropriate for analysing individual interaction.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  > cultures do certainly exist That depends on how we define culture - some ways it's defined in people's minds don't really exist, some do. Also, to the extent something called 'culture' exists, we also can say that alien lifeforms exist, but that doesn't mean we know anything about them. I'd ask, 'how are you defining it', but that seems unfair on HN: Answers are far too long and complex to explore here - I'm certainly not trying! :) > russian culture That seems like two words for an incredibly large, diverse, complex collection of - of what? how is that part of the sentence accurately written? > an anecdote I think this story supports my point about our reasoning about culture. We infer about all of Russia and its 'culture' (whatever that is), based on a second-hand anecdote. Of course, social customs depend somewhat on time, place, participants, and many other factors (language, participants' ages, recent events (don't be too cheerful after a tragedy), etc. etc.) and we have an instinct that helps us grasp what will fit in any moment. But that is a very complex, undefined thing.
  - boeingUH60 3y ago
    I agree with the video. Culture plays a huge role in countries’ trajectories even if people like to deny it because of fears of racism or being accused as one. It doesn’t take much to observe that Russian culture is largely accepting of bullying, dog-eat-dog mentality, and cheating to get ahead…Putin and the leadership is a reflection of that. I live in a country known for cybercrime of a different kind (Nigeria) and will never deny that culture plays a part. Our local culture is largely accepting of corruption and cheating to get ahead, which is one of the reasons many engage in crime. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve worked with and continue to work with some wonderful Russians. But, it doesn’t change the fact that the culture needs reforms for the good of the country. Of course, I’m not in support of profiling. I’ll never like to be profiled as a cyber criminal because I’m from Nigeria, but I’ll never deny that our culture has a big issue with rationalizing corruption and theft and needs reform to make us better-behaved.
avgcorrection 3y ago
> Also, such claims are almost always made by outsiders, who know least about the 'culture' and at the same time are prone, being humans, to make broad, powerful claims about extremes in 'the other', who are slightly alien and thus might do anything. True. The problem with insiders judging the culture is that they might be blind to it. But it’s best to not get caught up in narratives about “culture” and other such idealistic things. > Edit: I'm very familiar with the stereotype of Russian hackers, but stereotypes are very misleading. There are Russian government disinformation campaigns, where we do have specific claims and lots of evidence, but that seems like a different issue. There was a very strong interest in Russian government disinformation campaigns because Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election. And I don’t doubt that there is evidence of election interference. But the amount of money that was behind that seems like a pittance considering the big election advertisement industry.[1] None should be surprised that you will find shady and underhanded things done by the more clandestine arms of some government. But we should be wary of people using that well-of-course-they-are as an outsized scapegoat to explain a big event like a federal election. [1] Are run of the mill smear campaigns to be classified as “disinformation” or just regular ads?

unsupp0rted 3y ago

“Slowmads”, I.e. slow digital nomads who stay in places for a long while but ultimately see many different places, wouldn’t have much difficulty relating some “culture” things about one place vs. another. Often it’s plain to see. The causes maybe aren’t. But the effects are.

femiagbabiaka 3y ago
An expat by their nature will have a completely skewed and subjective view. Empiricism is possible, and much better than random anecdotes.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

RugnirViking 3y ago

cultures do certainly exist. Consider for example the difference between high-context and low-context cultures. As an anecdote about russian culture, a russian coworker once told me how amused a shopkeeper was back in russia when he asked them if they could please give him something. Where in russia it is typically not done (and its not at all rude to simply instruct a shopkeeper to give you something without please or thank yous, and certainly not asking someone if they can do something but just telling them to do it). The shopkeeper thought it was endlessly funny to just say no, as though it was an earnest request. Living in the UK had changed how my coworker spoke even in their native language. Sure some may regard these as aspects of language still, but imo the fact that it affected how my coworker spoke even in their native language perhaps shows its more a cultural thing. Now I WOULD be very wary of making cultural arguments as relates to crime. Imo its only really appropriate for analysing individual interaction.

wolverine876 3y ago
> cultures do certainly exist That depends on how we define culture - some ways it's defined in people's minds don't really exist, some do. Also, to the extent something called 'culture' exists, we also can say that alien lifeforms exist, but that doesn't mean we know anything about them. I'd ask, 'how are you defining it', but that seems unfair on HN: Answers are far too long and complex to explore here - I'm certainly not trying! :) > russian culture That seems like two words for an incredibly large, diverse, complex collection of - of what? how is that part of the sentence accurately written? > an anecdote I think this story supports my point about our reasoning about culture. We infer about all of Russia and its 'culture' (whatever that is), based on a second-hand anecdote. Of course, social customs depend somewhat on time, place, participants, and many other factors (language, participants' ages, recent events (don't be too cheerful after a tragedy), etc. etc.) and we have an instinct that helps us grasp what will fit in any moment. But that is a very complex, undefined thing.
- boeingUH60 3y ago
  I agree with the video. Culture plays a huge role in countries’ trajectories even if people like to deny it because of fears of racism or being accused as one. It doesn’t take much to observe that Russian culture is largely accepting of bullying, dog-eat-dog mentality, and cheating to get ahead…Putin and the leadership is a reflection of that. I live in a country known for cybercrime of a different kind (Nigeria) and will never deny that culture plays a part. Our local culture is largely accepting of corruption and cheating to get ahead, which is one of the reasons many engage in crime. Don’t get me wrong…I’ve worked with and continue to work with some wonderful Russians. But, it doesn’t change the fact that the culture needs reforms for the good of the country. Of course, I’m not in support of profiling. I’ll never like to be profiled as a cyber criminal because I’m from Nigeria, but I’ll never deny that our culture has a big issue with rationalizing corruption and theft and needs reform to make us better-behaved.

avgcorrection 3y ago

> Also, such claims are almost always made by outsiders, who know least about the 'culture' and at the same time are prone, being humans, to make broad, powerful claims about extremes in 'the other', who are slightly alien and thus might do anything. True. The problem with insiders judging the culture is that they might be blind to it. But it’s best to not get caught up in narratives about “culture” and other such idealistic things. > Edit: I'm very familiar with the stereotype of Russian hackers, but stereotypes are very misleading. There are Russian government disinformation campaigns, where we do have specific claims and lots of evidence, but that seems like a different issue. There was a very strong interest in Russian government disinformation campaigns because Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election. And I don’t doubt that there is evidence of election interference. But the amount of money that was behind that seems like a pittance considering the big election advertisement industry.[1] None should be surprised that you will find shady and underhanded things done by the more clandestine arms of some government. But we should be wary of people using that well-of-course-they-are as an outsized scapegoat to explain a big event like a federal election. [1] Are run of the mill smear campaigns to be classified as “disinformation” or just regular ads?