Same-Same, But Not: Comparing Aspects of Cultures in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand

Abstract

Oftentimes nations, societies, or communities are categorized based on cultural values, such as time orientation and social self-construal. Here, time orientation is represented by the dimensions of monochronism and polychronism; and social self-construal as individualism and collectivism. In some cases, it has been argued that individualism is complementary to the traits of monochronism, and collectivism is complementary to that of polychronism. Consequently, cultural communities have often been grouped as monochronic and individualistic (MONO+INDV), or polychronic and collectivistic (POLY+COLL), with little focus being allocated to unique cultural nuances. This paper represents cross-cultural philosophy, where cultural values are compared through the strategies of philosophical conceptual analysis and interpretive philosophical reflection. Specifically, this paper accentuates that focus should be allocated to cultural nuances of POLY+COLL cultures instead of grouping such cultures under one blanket conceptualization. Attention is allocated to three POLY+COLL cultures that are similar in some aspects but different in others. The cultures that receive such attention is to be found in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The purpose is thus threefold. First, it introduces the categories of cultural values; second, it presents three different POLY+COLL cultures; and lastly, the three seemingly similar POLY+COLL cultures are placed in comparison—based on themes identified in the discussion—to facilitate better differentiation. As a result, it is elucidated that attention must be allocated to cultural nuances when conducting cross-cultural studies as this is identified as a gap in the knowledge-base.