Different Strokes and Different Folks

In cross-cultural studies, cultures are often described based on their cultural values. Examples of such values are time orientation and social self-construal. Cultures might predominantly represent one of these seemingly bipolar categories, and often dualistic categories of time orientation and social self-construal are grouped, namely monochronism and individualism (MONO+INDV), as well as polychronism and collectivism (POLY+COLL). In academic literature, limited focus is allocated to unique cultural value variations or orthogonal groupings (e.g., MONO+COLL) – a clear gap in the knowledge base. In this article, through conceptual analysis, the author expounds some differences between three POLY+COLL cultures (found in South Africa, the Arab League, and China) based on their time orientation and social self-construal. She also gives accounts of the Japanese and French cultures that present with orthogonal groupings (MONO+COLL and POLY+INDV, respectively) to illustrate that such groupings – much like unique cultural value variants – should receive more focused attention in cross-cultural research.