1.6. ANSWERING UNIVERSAL PROBLEMS—DIFFERENTLY

Social anthropologists Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead, and many others since them, developed the conviction that all societies face the same basic problems; only the answers differ. As Louise Damen put it, "Culture is mankind's primary adaptive mechanism."[]

Charles Hampden-Turner defines culture as the way in which people resolve dilemmas that emerge from universal problems. He and colleague Fons Trompenaars have built their work around this premise, outlining key areas that form the basis for cultural difference:

  1. What is the relationship of the individual to others? (relational orientation);

  2. What is the temporal focus on human life? (time orientation);

  3. What is the modality of human activity? (

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