Singapore is a multi-ethnic society with around 77% Chinese, 6% Indian, 15% Malay and about 2% expatriates. To analyze the country’s cultural specificities, we used the Hofstede cultural dimension tool to help us understanding how different is the culture there compared to France. We started off with Individualism: Singapore, with a score of 20, is a very collectivistic society. This means that the “We” is important, people belong to in-groups (families, clans or organisations) who look after each other in exchange for loyalty. Here we can also see the second key principle of the Confucian teaching: family is the prototype of all social organizations. A person is not primarily an individual; rather, he or she is a member of a family. Children should learn to restrain themselves, to overcome their individuality so as to maintain the harmony in the family. Harmony is found when everybody saves face in the sense of dignity, self-respect, and prestige. Social relations should be conducted in such a way that everybody’s face is saved (paying respect to someone is called giving face). France, with a score of 71, is shown to be a much more individualist society. Parents …show more content…
Singapore has also become one of the five dragons with an immense economic success. The Singaporeans are emphasizing virtue and the way you do things. France is not that far with a score of 63 in this dimension. In societies with a pragmatic orientation, people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. They show an ability to adapt traditions easily to changed conditions, a strong propensity to save and invest, thriftiness, and perseverance in achieving