Journal of Literature and Art Studies, August 2020, Vol. 10, No. 8, 669-675
doi: 10.17265/2159-5836/2020.08.005
The Analysis of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory in the
Novel The Joy Luck Club
XU Yue-han
School of Foreign Language, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China, 430070
The cultural dimension refers to the five cultural dimensions propod by Hofstede and supplemented by later
scholars. Its role is to rve as a framework for measuring the differences between cultures of various countries.
The Joy Luck Club shows the cultural differences between China and America by describing the contradictions
between four pairs of Chine mothers and daughters. At prent, most of the analysis of cultural differences in
novels lack systematic summary and deep excavation. As we all know, the root of the contradiction between
mothers and daughters is the cultural conflicts, and this paper will take Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory as a
framework and u “the joy luck club” as the text to reveal the deeper cultural reasons for the contradictions
between mothers and daughters through literature and theories.
Keywords: cultural dimension, Hofstede, The Joy Luck Club
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Introduction
The author of the novel The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan, is a Chine-American writer born in California in 1952. Her parents are both the first generation of Chine Americans, so she has lived in the United States since
she was a child and has been receiving mainstream American cultural education. She is a typical
cond-generation Chine woman. Due to the environmental impact of growing up in the United States, she has
always overlooked Chine culture, but at the same time, she has also shown the excellent side of Chine
traditional culture to the world and spread the excellent culture to Western society.
The novel tells the story of four Chine women who immigrated to San Francisco in the 1850s with their daughters, lovers and friends. The story is mainly bad on the contradictions between the four mothers and their
daughters Mothers were influenced by the traditional Chine high-context culture, while their daughters born in
the United States grew up in a low-context cultural environment. The contradictions are also the collision of
thinking under different cultural backgrounds. Finally, through mutual love and understanding, the contradictions
are gradually resolved.
According to the cultural dimension theory put forward by the Dutch psychologist Hofstede in the late 1960s, the scale for measuring cultural differences has the following four dimensions: Power Distance, Uncertainty
Avoidance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity. Later, the Canadian Chine
scholar Michael H. Bond added a new cultural dimension to the original foundation of Hofstede, namely,
XU Yue-han, Master of Art, Master Student, School of Foreign Language, Wuhan University of Technology.
THE ANALYSIS OF HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS THEORY IN THE NOVEL THE JOY LUCK CLUB 670
Long-term versus Short-term. This paper will evaluate the cultural conflicts between China and America in the
novel The Joy Luck Club bad on the basic concepts of Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions, and from the
perspective of cultural dimensions, re-examine the cultural differences behind the mother-daughter conflict in
The Joy Luck Club, thus have a deeper understanding of the author’s main ideas expresd in the novel.
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory
Hofstede is the earliest one trying to u extensive statistical data to examine cultural values, from 1967 to 1973, Hofstede conducted a large-scale survey of cultural values in the famous multinational company IBM
(International Business Machines Corporation). He surveyed over a hundred thousand workers in multinational
branch companies in over fifty countries to analyze the dimensions of national cultures. Next, this paper will
analyze the conflict and integration between the four pairs of mother and daughter in the book The Joy Luck Club
from the dimensions.
2.1 Individualism Versus Collectivism
Regarding the dimensions of individualism and collectivism, Hofstede’s definition is that they measure whether a society as a whole is concerned about the interests of the individual or the interests of the collective. In
an individualistic society, the relationship between people is loo, and people tend to care about themlves and
their small families; However, a society with a collectivist tendency pays attention to intra-ethnic relations and
cares about large families. Strong ethnic relations can give people continuous protection, and individuals must be
absolutely loyal to the ethnic group. Whether a country is inclined to individualism or collectivism is determined
by the individualism index, the higher the individualism index shows, it means that the country pays more
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attention to individualism, and aims at independence and “I” consciousness. The lower the individualism index
shows, the more the country pays more attention to collectivism, at the same time aims at group harmony and
“WE” consciousness. As shown in the Table 1, America and some north European countries tend to individual
oriented society, have a looly knit social framework. Asian countries like China tend to group oriented society,
have a tightly knit social framework.
Table 1
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Index (IDV) Rank Conclusion
Country Individualism
United States 91 1 Strong individualism
Great Britain 89 3 Strong individualism
France 71 12 Quite strong individualism
Germany 67 16 Quite strong individualism
China 20 43 Quite strong collectivism
South Korea 18 45 Quite strong collectivism
Guatemala 6
collectivism
Strong
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In the novel The Joy Luck Club, Waverly was once a gifted chess champion, but becau of her mother, she gradually became less fond of chess, she always had the feelings that her mother was using her success to show
off, and this behavior made her annoyed, even wanted to quit playing chess. Finally in a conversation, Waverly
broke out her emotions and said “why you have to u me to show off? if you want to show off, then why don’t
THE ANALYSIS OF HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS THEORY IN THE NOVEL THE JOY LUCK CLUB671
you learn to play chess?” (Tan, 1989, p. 37). Due to China’s high context culture environment, everyone has the
same cultural background, some words are lf-evident, causing people to pay more attention to collective
cooperation and the views of others. Chine people tend to be considered as many groups in the society of
collectivism, People care about collective strength and honor, when they succeed, they should attribute credit to
the help of the collective group harmony and cooperation are also important for them, the family also belongs to
the collective, and when the daughter succeeds in a certain way, it is also the glory of the whole family, so it’s
normal for a Chine mother in a collectivism society to show off her successful daughter and think it is also her
honor. But Americans in the society of individualism are more focud on personal consciousness, thinking that
they are fighting alone on the road to success and are more likely to enjoy the joy of success alone, mother’s
showing off to her is more like stealing her limelight, so Waverly raid such a sharp question. Of cour her
mother can’t answer this question, becau as for the daughter who grew up in America since childhood, her
showing off is just the imposition of her own collectivism on her daughter’s individualism.
2.2 Power Distance
Regarding power distance, it’s the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and
organizations accept that power is distributed equally. Various countries have different understandings of power,
so there are big differences in this dimension. We may find high-power distance countries have a greater
centralization of power, and put more importance on status and ranks. In contrast, people in low-power distance
cultures e hierarchy as an inequality of roles established for convenience, they pay more attention to individual
rights rather than hierarchy. The difference in power distance can be measured by the Power Distance Index. As
we can e from the Table 2, Asian countries, including China, have higher indexes and strict social systems. The
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European countries, including the United States, have lower indexes. Obviously, the indexes of China and the
United States are significantly different, Naturally, the two countries will have very different customs and
perceptions.
Table 2
Power Distance
Country Power Distance Index (PDI) Rank
Malaysia 104
1 Guatemala 95
2
9 China 80
South Korea 60 24
United States 40 37
40
Germany 35
49
Austria 11
And the differences are fully reflected in the novel The Joy Luck Club, Jing-Mei’s mother has been strict
with her since she was a child and asked her to practice playing the piano every day. Finally one day she couldn’t
stand her mother’s request, she just wanted to watch TV, so her mother warned her that Only one kind of daughter
can live in this hou Obedient daughter. Confucian cultural pattern in China’s high-power distance environment
believes that a son should not stray far from his parents while they are alive, Confucianism requires children to
support their parents, be filial to their parents, and obey their arrangements. As for the relationship between
THE ANALYSIS OF HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS THEORY IN THE NOVEL THE JOY LUCK CLUB
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parents and children, the Chine are more inclined to collectivism, and naturally they pay more attention to the
hierarchy. Chine people in high-power distance environment believe that power and authority are facts of life,
more attentions should be paid on rank and status. The parent is also children’s superior, the child should obey the
parent’s order unconditionally, the mother thinks that her daughter should be respect to status differences and
play piano without resist, so she got angry when the daughter didn’t follow her order. But American people in
low-power distance environment believe that inequality in society should be minimized, they don’t like this kind
of bondage, at the same time, they can’t understand why they must follow someone’s orders, so the daughter was
stunned when her mother gave this order.
2.3 Uncertainty Avoidance
Regarding Uncertainty Avoidance, Hofstede’s definition is that it refers to whether a society is threatened by
uncertain events and unconventional environments through formal channels to avoid and control uncertainty,
high-avoidance cultures try to avoid uncertainty and ambiguity by providing stability for their members through
emphasizing connsus and establishing social protocols, and have more ritual behaviors to deal with the
uncertainty, it’s like what is various is dangerous. In contrast, low-avoidance cultures believe that practice counts
more than principles and don’t mind the change, and have a stronger will to take risks, what is various is curious
for them. Its strength can be measured by the Uncertainty Avoidance Index, in Table 3 we can e that the index
gap between China and the United States is not obvious, but the U.S. ranks higher than China.
Table 3
Uncertainty Avoidance
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Country Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) Rank
Greece 112
1
11
Japan 92
Austria 70
23
United States 46 42
47
China 30
Denmark 23
49
51
Singapore 8
However, in the novel, we can learn that when dealing with the conflicts between mother and daughter, due
to the lower uncertainty avoidance index, Chine people have fewer ritual behaviors and tend to be more silent
and avoidant in the face of uncertain factors. As mentioned above, Waverly’s mother often showed off her chess
skills in public, which made she felt very dissatisfied, and yelled to her mother on the street, at the same time she
ran away from home in anger. When Waverly returned home, she thought her mother would be furious, but her
mother didn’t, she just ignored her indifferently. This made her feel very uncomfortable. When faced with
uncertainties, as a child growing up in the United States since childhood, she is more willing to take the initiative
to solve problems. But the mother with traditional thinking is more willing to u silence to escape the problem.
She only talked to other people and ignoresWaverly, which made an invisible wall erected between mother and
daughter.
THE ANALYSIS OF HOFSTEDE’S CULTURAL DIMENSIONS THEORY IN THE NOVEL THE JOY LUCK CLUB673
2.4 Masculinity Versus Femininity
Regarding Masculinity versus Femininity, Hofstede’s definition is that this dimension mainly depends on
whether a society reprents more male qualities such as competitiveness and arbitrariness, or reprents more
female qualities such as humility and caring. Cultures high in the masculinity dimension focus on achievement or
heroism, only a small number of women undertake social work, and most do houwork at home. In contrast,
cultures high in femininity dimension value interpersonal relationship, and caring for the weak and quality of life,
more women are engaged in important social work, at the same time women’s social status is also comparable to
that of men. And this social tendency is often expresd by the masculinity index, as we can e in Table 4,
although China’s masculinity index is higher than that of the United States, the difference of index is not big, but
in China’s old society, the status of women was low, which is also reflected in the novel.
Table 4
Masculinity versus Femininity
Rank
(MAS)
Index
Country Masculinity
2 Japan 95
4 Austria 79
10
China 66
United States 62 13
30
France 43
45
Denmark 16
48
Norway 8
Lindo Jong in the novel is Waverly’s mother, when she was twelve, she was forced to be the neighbor’s
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child bride, then she kept doing houwork at home for years, she soon found out that she and her husband had no
affection, but her cruel mother-in-law kept asking her to give birth to a grandson. She did not agree, so her
mother-in-law forced her to stay in bed until she agreed to have a baby. As a woman with strong will, Lindo Jong
eventually escaped from this terrible family. It can be en that although the social status of both xes in China
and the United States is basically equal nowadays, in the old China, the masculinity index must be higher.
2.5 Long-term versus Short-term
Long-term orientation is the 5th dimension of Hofstede which was added by Michael H. Bond to the original
four to try to distinguish the extent to which members of a culture can accept towards delays in meeting their
material, emotional, and social needs. Long term orientation emphasizes persistence and long-term benefits, aims
at valuing the future. But the members ofshort-term oriented pay more attention to the prent, their personal
steadiness and stability. This distinction between long-term and short-term orientation can be measured by the
Long-Term Orientation index. As we can e form Table 5, China’s long-term orientation index is significantly
higher than that of the United States, and this gap can be vividly reflected in the novel The Joy Luck Club.
