Equality Matching Cultures," "Market Pricing Cultures," and "Cleft National Cultures"

Market pricing cultures are based upon individualism. They place a high value upon the free market culture and a system of enterprises where inequality may result, but this is deemed acceptable because the free market presumably allows for a meritocracy, where the strongest will survive, and because opportunities are equal, even though results are not equal. Equality matching cultures, in contrast, value community over individualism, and sustaining the community through collective efforts and bargaining rather than through monetary exchanges (Gannon, 2006).

American belief in individual merit, the ideal of the self-made person, and also the equation of financial success with personal success are all a product of its market pricing culture. Equality matching has its roots in indigenous community survival, and tends to stress a need for continuity with the past. It might also see individual striving as dangerous to the community.

Cleft national cultures, which are highly diverse nations, may often have...

Country Studies. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 8 Mar 2007 at http://countrystudies.us/israel/59.htm
Education Nigeria" (2007). Country Studies. U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 8 Mar 2007 at http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/49.htm

Gannon, Martin. (2006). Understanding Global Cultures. Third Edition. Additional information available on the web 8 Mar 2007 at http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1095