Cross-Cultural Communication Vol. 9, No. 2, 2013, pp. 31-35 doi

2.3  Self-Evaluation Reflect Culture Diversity

——From the perspective of power-distance 

The eyes cannot rise above the eyebrow

—Arab proverb

God helps those who help themselves

—Benjamin Franklin

He who runs alone will win the race.

—America proverb

People who live in Arab countries(except Egypt) believe 

that some people are born to lead and others to follow, 

so authoritarian relationships—from those with the 

ruling family to those with the leaders of the church—

are accepted.The Arab proverb clearly demonstrates this 

accepting attitude.“One does not make the wind but is 

blown by it. ”This saying, found in many Asian cultures, 

suggests that people are guided by fate rather than by their 

own devices. “A zebra does not despise its stripes.” From 

the Maasai of Africa, this saying expressed the value of 

accepting things as they are, of accepting oneself as one 

is, and of not envying others. On the contrary, the America 

proverbs convey that American’s emphasis on oneself, 

and this kind of emphasis closely relates to the American 

value of equality, which is emphasized in everything from 

government (everyone has the right to vote) to social 

relationships (“Just call me by my first name”).Americans 

believe that all people have a right to succeed in life and 

that the state, through laws and educational opportunities, 

should ensure that right.

This can be explained through the perspective 

of “power-distance”. According to Hofstede’s value 

dimensions, people in high-power-distance countries 

believe that power and authority are

 

essential parts of life. 

This can be interpreted that in these cultures, members 

hold the opinion that people are not equal in this world 

and that everybody has a rightful place.

 

Different from 

this, low-power-distance cultures hold the opinion that 

inequality in society should be minimized.

 

People in these 

cultures believe that they are close to power and should 

have access to that power.

 

To them, a hierarchy is an 

inequality of roles established for convenience. Therefore, 

it is clear that many Asian countries and Arab countries 

are high-power-distance countries while America is a low-

power-distance culture.

Further speaking, America’s view on equality has 

great relationships with America’s individualism. For 

culture in that value the individual believe that all people 

should have equal rights and complete control over their 

destiny. While this kind of individualism has something 

to do with its own history. The early settlers of America 

came to the new land to establish colonies that were free 

from the controls existed in European world. They wanted 

to escape the controls placed on their lives by kings and 

governments, priests and churches.

 

The establishment of 

a new nation believed that the power to govern should lie 

in the hands of people

. 

And the written of the constitution 

greatly limited the power of the noble.

 

The historic 

decisions made by those first settlers have had a profound 

effect on the shaping of the American character. They 

have exerted great influence on the emphasis of the role of 

individual. Maybe just like the advice offered by the Latin 

poet Quintus Ennius two hundred years before Christ: 

“Do not expect stranger to do for you what you can do 

for yourself.” Thus it clearly spelled out the independent 

nature of the individual. And think of the power of the 

concept in the words of former Supreme Court Justice 

Felix Frankfurther: “Anybody who is any good is 

different than anybody else,” while the emphasis was put 

on the individualism, it indicates the value of equality at 

the same time. American’s values on individualism and 

equality are closely connected to each other.

On the context of individualism, the value Americans 

place on individualism, self-reliance and independence is 

perceived by persons of different cultures as being self-

centered. While the Chinese, Malaysians and Japanese’s 

concern with following family traditions and with 

respecting the opinions of their parents is perceived as 

sign of weakness and indecisiveness by Americans.