本期节目邀请文化心理学家Michele Gelfand，她将世界文化划分为“紧密”和“宽松”两类，并解释了文化为何会变得紧密或宽松，以及它们不同的社会态度。节目内容对于发展专业人士、政策制定者和国际商务从业者来说充满启发。

🤔 **文化紧密与宽松的定义:** Gelfand认为，紧密文化拥有大量社会规范，以维护秩序和一致性，这类文化通常出现在面临众多自然和人为威胁的国家。而宽松文化则拥有更宽松的规范，容忍更广泛的行为，它们通常面临较少的长期威胁，但在遇到急性威胁时可能会暂时收紧。

🚀 **紧密与宽松文化的利弊:** Gelfand指出，紧密和宽松文化各有利弊，可以通过调整国家规范来解决长期社会问题。这种调整同样适用于私营部门。

🤝 **文化差异对企业的影响:** Gelfand解释了企业如何发展出紧密或宽松的文化，以及文化差异如何导致并购失败或企业部门之间合作受阻。她以克莱斯勒和梅赛德斯-奔驰为例，Demetri还提到了美国在线-时代华纳，这可能是90年代末期股票市场繁荣时期最著名的失败案例。

🌎 **紧密与宽松文化在日常生活中体现:** 紧密文化，如沙特阿拉伯、新加坡和德国，拥抱严格的规范，对偏离规范者施以严厉的惩罚。宽松文化，包括新西兰、美国和巴西，对各种行为更加宽容。Gelfand认为，当国家、家庭、公司和美国各州根据其对“正常”的不同理解行事时，就会出现误解和冲突，这些误解和冲突有助于解释我们在日常生活、商业和政治中遇到的许多现象。

⏰ **文化规范的演变:** 本期节目还包括关于工作场所文化规范变化的讨论，以及西方国家在经历恐怖袭击后文化规范如何发生改变。

In Episode 103 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with cultural psychologist Michele Gelfand, who argues that the world’s cultures can be classified into two categories by virtue of their norms. She offers a lucid explanation of how and why cultures become tight or loose, outlining their different societal attitudes. This episode is full of eye-opening insights for development professionals, policymakers and those working in international business. 

According to Gelfand, tight cultures have a large number of social norms that enforce order and conformity and tend to evolve in nations that face many natural and human-made threats. Loose cultures, on the other hand, have more lenient norms and tolerate a wider array of behaviors. They generally face fewer chronic threats – but may tighten up temporarily in the event of an acute threat. Furthermore, says Michele, tight and loose cultures each have advantages and disadvantages and it’s possible to modify a nation’s norms in order to address protracted social problems. This is also true in the private sector. In a particularly relevant part of the conversation, Michele describes how businesses also develop tight or loose cultures and how a cultural mismatch can doom a merger or undermine cooperation among a corporation’s divisions. The example she provides is that of Chrysler and Mercedes Benz, but Demetri also raises the example of AOL-Time Warner, perhaps the most prominent failed marriage of the late 90’s stock market boom. 

“Tight” cultures, like Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Germany, embrace rigid norms and mete out harsh punishments for those who deviate. “Loose” cultures, including New Zealand, the United States, and Brazil, are more tolerant of a wide assortment of behaviors. According to Dr. Gelfand, when countries, families, companies, and US states all act in accordance with their divergent conceptions of “normal,” misunderstandings and conflict often arise that help to explain many of the phenomena we encounter in daily life, business, and politics.

The overtime to this week's episode includes a conversation about changing cultural norms in the workplace, as well as how the norms in some western countries began to change after terrorist attacks. 

This overtime segment, as well as the transcript and rundown to the full episode, are available to audiophile, autodidact, and super nerd subscribers through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers also gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily be added to your favorite podcast application. 

Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas

Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou

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