Indulgence versus Restraint in 10 minutes
Geert Hofstede
January 2015
Origin of the terms “Indulgence” versus “Restraint”
• Coined by Michael Minkov for covering certain societal
differences revealed by the World Values Survey (WVS),
and unexplained by Hofstede’s other five dimensions
• Mainly related to national levels of subjective happiness
and life control
• Based on 1995-2004 WVS data for representative samples
of the population in 93 societies
Indulgence versus Restraint as a societal culture dimension
• Indulgent societies allow relatively free gratification
of basic and natural human desires leading to enjoying
life and having fun
• Restrained societies suppress gratification of needs and
regulate it by means of strict social norms
Indulgent societies
• People feel healthier and
happier
• A perception of personal life
control
• Leisure ethic
• Optimism, positive attitude
• More extraverted personalities
• Having friends very important
• Active participation in sports
• Less moral discipline
• Looser sexual mores
Restrained societies
• People feel less happy and less
healthy
• What happens to me is not my
doing
• Work ethic
• Pessimism, cynicism
• More introverted personalities
• Having friends less important
• Less sports participation
• Stricter moral discipline
• Stricter sexual mores
How is a society’s degree of indulgence vs. restraint measured?
• There is no absolute standard for the degree of
Indulgence versus Restraint
• What we can measure is differences between societies
• The position of societies relative to each other is
expressed in an Indulgence versus Restraint Index
score (IVR)
• IVR values have been plotted on a scale from 0 to 100;
scores close to 0 stand for a more restrained, scores
close to 100 for a more indulgent society
Some Indulgence versus Restraint (IVR) scores, out of 93
Indulgent
97 Mexico
84 Nigeria
78 Sweden
71 Australia
69 Britain
68 Netherlands
68 U.S.A.
59 Brazil
Restrained
48 France
42 Japan
40 Germany
30 Italy
26 India
24 China
20 Russia
04 Egypt
Some examples of what these IVR scores correlate with
Indulgent societies
• Freedom of speech for all is
rated as very important
• Higher crime rates, smaller
police force
• In countries with educated
population, higher birthrates
• In wealthy countries, more
obesitas
• Higher approval of foreign
music and films
Restrained societies
• Maintaining order in the nation
is rated as very important
• Lower crime rates, larger police
force
• In countries with educated
population, lower birthrates
• In wealthy countries, less
obesitas
• Lower approval of foreign
music and films
Long/Short Term Orientation x Indulgence/Restraint
INDULGENT, SHORT-TERM
INDULGENT, LONG TERM
NIGERIA, SOUTH AFRICA
SWEDEN, NETHERLANDS
SOUTH AMERICA
AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND
USA, CANADA, AUSTRALIA
POLAND, PORTUGAL
ZIMBABWE, BURKINA FASO
ISLAMIC COUNTRIES
RESTRAINED, SHORT-TERM
BRITAIN, BELGIUM
ITALY, GERMANY
EASTERN EUROPE
JAPAN, INDIA, CHINA
RESTRAINED, LONG-TERM
Don’t the IVR scores change over time ?
• The scores reflect values transferred from parents to
children, that rarely change in later life
• Research by Sjoerd Beugelsdijk comparing answers to the
same questions by two successive generations 30 years apart
shows a modest worldwide shift towards more indulgence
• However, the position of countries relative to each other
remained the same; and this is what the scores are based on
• So, the scores can be assumed to be stable over time