THE HONG KONG INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION
Course Outline
Part I
Course Title:
Ideas, Behavior and Identities: Intercultural Comparison
理念、行為與身份：文化間比較
Course Code:
GEC1021
Department:
C&I
Credit Point:
3
Contact Hours:
39
Pre-requisite(s):
Nil
___________________________________________________________________________
Part II
Synopsis
This module aims at enabling students to have awareness of cultural similarities and
differences and to learn to use concepts to understand diverse ideas and behavior among
countries and issues in and across national cultures. Instead of providing details of different
cultures, the module will focus both on the characteristics of cultures and on the approach to
identify them. The module will first address the basic questions of culture, and then examine
closely Hofstede’s five dimensions of national cultures, say power distance, individualism
and collectivism, masculinity and femininity, the avoidance of uncertainty, and long-short
term orientation. Cases of human ideas and behavior from everyday life will be selected to
compare the culture in different nations. Practical issues of intercultural communication will
be addressed briefly, and at the end, students will have a critical analysis of the Hofstede’s
model and better reflection of Chinese and Hong Kong people’s ideas, behavior and their
national identities.
Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs)
At the end of this module, students will be able to:
• CILO1 Identify similarities and differences among diverse national cultures
• CILO2 Use the five dimensions of national cultures to analyze intercultural issues in
their life
• CILO3 Demonstrate reflection on the Chinese culture in general and Hong Kong
culture in specific and upon their national identities
• CILO4 Display the awareness of diversity and complexity of ideas and behavior
among different cultures
Content and Teaching & Learning Activities
Teaching Content
1. What is culture
• Levels and layers of culture
• Similarities and differences of
characteristics among national cultures
2. Understand ideas and behavior from five
dimensions of national cultures
• Power distance in the family: Inequality in
society
• Case study: families in Malaysia, Hong
Kong, and Germany
• Individualism and collectivism at school:
The individual and the collective in
society
• Case study: schools in the United States,
Hong Kong, and Germany
• Masculinity and femininity in the
workplace: assertiveness versus modesty
• Case study: workplaces in Japan, Hong
Kong, and Sweden
• The avoidance of uncertainty and national
ideas
• Case study: world values survey
• Long-short term orientation and economic
growth
• Case study: “Four Asian Tigers”
• critically evaluate the Hofstede’s approach
to address the cultural difference issue.
3. Intended and unintended intercultural conflict,
communication, and identity
• Intercultural encounters in universities
• Intercultural encounters in tourism
• Ethnic minorities, Migrants, and Refugees
• Self-reflection of national culture
4. Chinese culture in general and Hong Kong
people’s ideas, behavior and identities in
specific
• A brief sketch of the characteristics of
Chinese and Hong Kong culture the issue
of national identity
CILO
CILO1
Teaching & Learning
Activities
Lecture,
Video Screening,
Group discussion
CILO1,2,4
Lecture,
Case Study,
Video Screening,
Group discussion
CILO2,3
Lecture,
Case study,
Video Screening,
Group discussion
CILO3
Lecture,
Video Screening,
Group discussion
Assessment
Assessment Tasks
a.
b.
Case Study:
Students are required to form groups and
•
choose a family/School/workplace from a
region, or a nation outside Hong Kong as the •
unit of analysis and explore the applicability
of five dimensions of national cultures for the
chosen unit, in order to present the cultural
similarities and differences between it and
Hong Kong. The findings will be delivered in
a group presentation, followed by an open
discussion. The group report, which is a
summary of the presentation and discussion,
will be no less than 2000 words in Chinese.
Individual paper
Students are required to pick an intercultural
encounter either from a film/writing or from
their personal experience, such as an incident
involving some kind of misunderstanding or
miscommunication as the unit of analysis.
The paper should use concepts learned from
the module to identify what occurred in the
situation, make analysis on the different
cultural rationales behind, and provide a
reflection on the possibility for a better
communication. The individual paper will be
no less than 2000 words in Chinese.
Weighting
(%)
40
Group presentation
(20%)
Group report (20%)
60
CILO
CILO2,3,4
CILO1,2,3
Required Text(s): Nil
Recommended Readings
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities : reflections on the origin and spread of
nationalism. New York: Verso.
Hall, E. T. & Hall, M. R. (1990). Understanding cultural differences. Yarmouth, Me.:
Intercultural Press.
Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions,
and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Hofstede, G. & Hofstede, G. J. (2005). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind
(2nd edition). New York : McGraw-Hill.
Huntington, S. P. (1997). The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order. New
York: Simon & Schuster.
Kim, Y. Y. (2003). Intercultural personhood: An integration of eastern and western
perspectives. In Samovar, L. A., & Porter, R. E. Intercultural communication: A reader,
436-448. Belmont, Calif. : Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.
7.
Kondo, D. K. (1990). Crafting selves: Power, gender, and discourses of identity in a
Japanese workplace. Chicago: the University of Chicago Press.
8. Lewis, R. D. (2006). When cultures collide: Leading across cultures. Boston, Mass.:
Nicholas Brealey Pub.
th
9. Martin, J. N. & Nakayama, T. K. (2007). Intercultural communication in contexts. 4
Edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
10. Marx, E. (2001). Breaking through culture shock: What you need to succeed in
international business. London; Naperville, IL: Nicholas Brealey.
11. 布魯瑪(2010)，林錚顗譯: 《罪惡的代價：德國與日本的戰爭記憶》，台北市：博
雅書屋有限公司。
12. 林語堂(1980):《吾國與吾民》，台北，遠景出版社。
13. 林語堂(1992):《生活的藝術》，台北，大孚書局。
14. 托多羅夫(2012)，馬利紅譯: 《啟蒙的精神》，上海：華東師範大學出版社。
15. 呂思勉 (2008):《呂思勉中國文化史》，北京市，海潮出版社。
16. 唐君毅(2008): 《中國文化之精神價值》，南京， 江蘇教育出版社。
17. 陳冠中(2007):《我這一代香港人》，香港：牛津大學出版社。
18. 許紀霖編(2012):《何種文明？中國崛起的再思考》，南京：江蘇人民出版社。
19. 勞思光(著) ，梁美儀(編)(1998):《中國文化要義新編》，香港，中文大學出版社。
20. 錢穆(1979):《從中國歷史來看中國民族性及中國文化》，香港，中文大學出版
社。
Related Web Resources:
1. http://geert-hofstede.com/ (The Hofstede Centre)
2. http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/ (World Values Survey)
Related Journals
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Across languages and cultures
Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
Communication, culture & critique
Intercultural communication
Language and intercultural communication
Other: Nil