Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 28 Nations, Clusters of Nations, and Continents (Paperback)

by Martin J. Gannon (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dear Dr. Gannon,

A round of applause for your book Understanding Global Cultures. We are using it as one of our reference books in my MBA class at Arizona State University. I believe that you capture an extremely valuable picture of the culture and provide information that allows one to travel a little more comfortably, whether for business or travel. I am purchasing an extra copy for my son, a senior at ASU. He is spending six weeks in London this summer with an internship and will visit other countries as well.

Thank you for a great book, not only for my use, but as a basis of hours of enjoyable conversation with a fantastic young man who happens to be my son.

Sincerely,

Ladee K. Rickard
MBA student, Arizona State University

(Ladee K. Rickard )

Product Description
 

Understanding Global Cultures, Third Edition presents the cultural metaphor as a method for understanding the cultural mindsets of a nation, a cluster of nations, and even of a continent. This method involves identifying some phenomenon, activity or institution of a culture that all or most of its members consider important and with which they identify closely. Metaphors are not stereotypes; rather, they rely upon the features of one critical phenomenon of a culture to describe the entire culture. The characteristics of the metaphor then become the basis for describing and understanding the essential features of the culture. For example, the Italians invented the opera and love it passionately. Five key characteristics of the opera are the overture, spectacle and pageantry, voice, externalization, and the interaction between the lead singers and the chorus. These features are used to describe Italy and its cultural mindset. Thus the metaphor is a guide or map that helps such outsiders as students, travelers, and managers on short-term and long-term assignments understand quickly what members of a culture consider important.

New cultural metaphors for nations added to this edition:

- The Canadian Backpack and Flag

- The Danish Christmas Lunch

- French Wine

- China’s Great Wall and Cross-cultural Paradox

- The Singapore Hawker Centers

- Australian Outdoor Recreational Activities

- The Sub Saharan Bush Taxi

A unique feature of the third edition is that it develops a cultural metaphor for the base culture of China (the Great Wall), showing how it influenced both a unifying cultural metaphor among the large Chinese Expatriate communities living in various nations (the Chinese family altar) and the cultural metaphor for Singapore (the Hawker Centers). Another unique feature is the description of cultural metaphors for two continents, Africa and Australia. The Third Edition also groups these cultural metaphors by book parts into overriding themes or general types of cultures such as Authority Ranking, Equality matching, Market Pricing, Cleft, and Torn.

There is now a Web site that the instructor can use to obtain over 100 concepts, applications, and exercises that serve to enrich the learning experience associated with the third edition. It is tailored specifically to the Third Edition. Go to: ww.csusm.edu/mgannon

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Product Details

• Paperback: 459 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc; 3rd edition (December 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761929800
• ISBN-13: 978-0761929802
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #157,809 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A practical approach to other cultures, May 15, 2007

By	Joachim Faust - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book uses metaphors as tools to engage with other cultures. And very useful tools they are, indeed. I have been using this book with students for several years now, and the biggest initial obstacle is that people mistake the metaphors for stereotypes. Once this obstacle is overcome, a very creative and productive examination of the reality of another culture can occur.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Be Careful, January 30, 2008

By	C. Zulawski "Zmizzle93" (Deptford, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Be careful when buying this book. I am in a class for Fairleigh Dickinson and it requires this book. I am in a class of about 30 students and about 90% of us complained about misbound books. They could be missing pages at the 340 page mark or so. Some students had two sets of the same pages in their book. It went from like 346-356, and then instead of page 357, it was pages 346-356 again. (These aren't the actual page numbers missing, just to give you an idea of what to look for). I would probably contact the publisher if you get a mis-bound book and see if they will send you a good copy.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Purchasing Review, October 25, 2007

By	Edward Levy (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book came promptly when expected and was recieved as described. Excellent condition. Thank you so much.