Decorum and Discipline

How do people behave at home and in public? What means of discipline are used?

Dress and Personal Appearance

What significance does dress have for social identity? What is the concept and value of beauty and attractiveness?

Education

What are the purposes of education? What kinds of learning are favored? What teaching and learning methods are used in the home? What are parental expectations for boys versus girls?

Vocabulary Tasks

1. Find in the text English expressions and explain their meaning:

to compute

a mean score

cumbersome

have middle-class ambitions

the prime criterion

to be perpe­tuated by

to cater

to outline the path

to be treated with deference

to side with somebody against somebody

to accentuate

to be at a disadvantage

to be complemented with

2. Define the following key terms and speak on their differences:

an autocratic -- a paternalistic style

dependence – interdependence – counterdependence

leadership -- subordinateship

student-centered ---- teacher-centered educational process

Find sentences to prove your point of view.

3. Speak on the way this sociological research has been carried out

What questions have sociologists been interested in?

Which basic steps of the scientific research should be followed?

What research techniques have sociologists used to generate data?

Which rules should sociologists abide while conducting research?

4. Translate sentences with infinitive and participial constructions

1. In countries on the opposite side of the power distance scale, where employees are seen as frequently afraid of disagreeing with their bosses and bosses as autocratic or paternalistic, employees in similar jobs are less likely to prefer a consultative boss.

2. Status symbols are suspect, and subordinates will be most likely to comment negatively to their neighbors if their boss spends company money on an excessive car.

3. Privileges for higher-ups being basically undesirable, all should use the same parking lot, toilets, and cafeteria.

4. Organizations are supposed to have structured ways of dealing with employee about alleged power abuse.

5. Some packaged leadership methods may work if given sufficient management attention.

6. Subordinates expect to be consulted before a decision is made that affects their work, but they accept that the boss is the one who finally decides.

7. Given an extreme diversity of feeling towards superiors, relationships between subordinates and superiors in a large power distance organizations are frequently loaded with emotions.

8. Being a victim of power abuse by one’s boss is just bad luck; there is no assumption that there should be a means of redress against such a situation.

9. Organizations are fairly decentralized, with flat hierarchical pyramids and limited numbers of supervisory personnel operating.

10. Subordinates are expected to be told what to do.

11. In the classroom there is supposed to be a strict order with the teacher initiating all communication.

12. Classes differ in their access to and their opportunities for benefiting from the advantages of society, one of them being education.

13. How frequently, in your experience, does the following problem occur: employees being afraid to express disagreement with their managers?'

14. In fact one country scored above l00, because it was added to the list after the formula had been fixed and it would have been cumbersome to keep changing the formula.

15. They tell something about the mental software that comes with having one nationality as compared to another.

16. Most people start their working lives as young adults, after having gone through learning experiences in the family and at school.

17. When a child misbehaves teachers involve its parents and expect them to help in putting the child in order.

18. The entire system is based on the students' well-developed need for independence; the quality of learning is to a considerable extent determined by the excellence of the students.

19. Differences in social status leading to inequality are also the prime criterion by which occupations can be distinguished.

Group speaking

Point out key differences between small and power distance societies.

Use the following criteria: family, school, workplace to complete the table.

Make presentations on both types of culture.

	Small power distance	Large power distance
Family	People are born …	Everyone grows …
	Inequality should be …	Inequality should be …
	Children learn to think …	Children learn to think …
	Parents treat children as…	Parents teach children …
School	Teachers expect …	Teachers are expected …
	The educational process ..	The educational process ..
	Purpose of education is…	Purpose of education is…
Work	The ideal boss is …	The ideal boss is …
	Relationship employer – employee is …	Relationship employer – employee is …
	Hiring and promotion decisions	Hiring and promotion decisions
	Salary range	Salary range
	Privileges and status symbols …	Privileges and status symbols …
Your definition

Home reading # 5 Uncertainty avoidance

Questions to Ask About Culture

Time and Space

What is considered "on time"? What is the importance of punctuality? How important is speed of performance? How are groups organized spatially by age, gender and role?

Natural Phenomena

Who or what is responsible for rain, thunder, floods and hurricanes? Are behavioral taboos associated with natural phenomena?

Health and Hygiene

How are illness and death explained? How are specific illnesses treated?