Books about culture

They’re all around you, and you may not even realize it.  In a sense, they may even be in your own family.  If you’re aware of them, they can enrich your life.  If not, they can cause frustration and conflict.  What are they?  Cultures.  Different ways of viewing the world – different ways of thinking.

One of the books that we were asked to read as a part of our training was Ministering Cross-Culturally by Sherwood G. Lingfelter and Marvin K Mayers.  It’s a short book, only about 128 pages.  In the book is a little quiz that rates you on six different culture scales, and then it goes on to explain what all the scales mean.  For example, are you time oriented or event oriented?  In other words, are you comfortable going from event to event and they finish when they finish, or do you prefer a schedule, starting and ending events generally on time?  

The nice thing about the book is that it tries to show that neither end of the scale is wrong, just different.  Though written from an American standpoint, it’s still relevant to Canadians (although interestingly enough, I was different from the typical American on 50% of the scales!  I guess I don’t watch enough US TV).

Interestingly enough, the book that hit home the differences in culture far more was Cross-Cultural Conflict by Duane Elmer.  Although I’m not sure I agree with all his conclusions regarding dealing with conflict, his stories really open your eyes and show you that there really may be another way to see that situation.

If you want to understand culture, these books are a great way to start.  Neither book is very long and they’re both filled with stories, which everyone likes.  Just click on the graphics to get a closer look.  No matter what career you’re heading into, I would recommend an intense inter-cultural experience.  The more you can understand other ways of thinking, the better you’ll be able to get around in our many-flavoured world!