sfmacaws
Oct 3, 2006, 3:27 PM
Post #11 of 17
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Re: [jerezano] I would like to know about "The Culture"
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As I said, it is old and not politically correct. I did read the derogatory reviews on Amazon and my reading of them put them as knee jerk reaction to un-pc words and concepts. I do know quite a few Mexicans and I have loaned some of them the book to read. They found it funny but pretty accurate. I've also loaned it to several ex-pats who felt the same. A lot of the quick looks at cultural ideas that the book has are of the type that the pc crowd likes to pretend don't exist. Generalizations are always going to have exceptions and be considered wrong by those exceptions. They exist though as a tool to try and understand large groups quickly, as such they are valuable.
Let me quote from the section on Dignidad
When authoritarian governments and religions deny human beings the opportunity and right to develop their own personal attitudes and behavior, people always compensate by going to the extreme in any number of directions. Because this denial results in internalized frustration and anger, these extremes in behavior invariably include a great capacity for emotional outbursts which can range from poetic to violent
Pretty bad pop psychology of the condescending, patronizing variety right? It was however an accepted way of writing and seeing in the early 90's. Still, the conclusions based on it are still valid and if you changed the pop psych words into something hipper and more current, it would not change the conclusions. Here are some from that section:
Such ambivalent cultures invariably breed an extraordinary sense of personal dignidad (deeg-nee-DAHD) or "dignity," and an unbounded need for this dignity to be respected, regardless of the cost to the individual, family members, friends or strangers.
Mexicans must exercise extraordinary care not to damage the dignity of others; something that can be done very easily by such things as failing to address a person properly, making a remark that can be taken as a criticism, acting in some way that can be taken as a slight, not listening respectfully, interrupting someone when they are speaking, failing to praise a person's efforts, treating someone as if they were ignorant, and so on.
As it happens, behavior that is perfectly acceptable to many non-Mexicans -- from speaking frankly and directly to acting in an aggressive manner -- is often construed by Mexicans as being insensitive and arrogant and therefore an insult to their dignidad.
The book was written for businessmen going to Mexico to do business and hopefully not alienate those they wished to work with. I think the above quotes sound old but the advice is good. I purposely picked Dignidad as an example that does sound really old and un-pc while not having as loaded a subject as say Malas Mujeres or Machismo.
Look back through many threads here on MC and you will see some of the same things being discussed as cultural values in Mexico that are not as important in the US. That's what this kind of book can give you, a short course on how your actions are perceived by others and how they see the world different from you. That presumes gross generalizations about both you (the US culture) and them (in this case Mexico). Unless you want to reinvent the wheel with every person you meet casually, it behooves you to try and make some of these generalizations and learn something from them. It you use a book like this to aid you in that then it is valuable. If you use it to make judgements on everyone you meet then it is not. The fault is with the user.
Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán
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