Globe taxonomy in my big fat greek wedding

Introduction

What is Globe Taxonomy? Where did Globe Taxonomy come from? Globe Taxonomy was developed by Geert Hofstede, and it describes the effects on society and the members of society. Geert Hofstede conducted all of his research and formed nine different areas that we will focus on today. The topics include Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, In-group Communication Conversation, Institutional Collectivism, Gender Egalitarianivism, Assertiveness, Performance Orientation, Future Orientation, and Humane Orientation. Although this seems like a lot, below I will break these down into different paragraphs for further explanation.

In our Intercultural Communications class watched the movie, “ My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” After watching the movie “ My Big Fat Greek Wedding” we were expected to identify the nine Global Taxonomy’s that we saw demonstrated in the movie.

Power Distance

First, we will focus on Power Distance. Power Distance is best described as, that we as humans should accept that power is distributed unequally, and not distributed equally. An example of this from the movie would be that the Greek culture looks as if they are more powerful than other cultures. Meaning, that there are more members of the Greek family than there were on the grooms side of the family. Although the Greeks might not be as powerful, it gave a visualization that looked like the Greeks’ were more powerful it due to the population.

Uncertainty Avoidance

Next, we will focus on uncertainty avoidance. Uncertainty Avoidance is how cultures differ on the amount of tolerance that they have. Some examples from the movie that are relevant to uncertainty avoidance are when the grooms’ parents went to their new daughter in laws and son’s wedding. The wedding was a Greek wedding and the parents of the groom were in a cultural shock because of how different the cultures were. During the wedding ceremony the non-Greek parents often stated, “ What are they saying? What is going on?” The grooms parents almost looked as if they were left out because they were confused, and uncertain. Another example of uncertainty avoidance is when the guy first asked out the girl to be his girlfriend. The girl denied him when he asked her out on a first date because she was Greek and he wasn’t which is against the Greek culture, and she had stated that she did not want to upset and disappoint her family.

In-Group Communication

Following, in-group communication is described as a conversation with two or more people. In the movie there were several examples of in group communications, especially in the Greek culture as a whole. From the movie, Greek cultures are very social. With this being said, the wedding was also a very good example of in group communication due to all of the wedding festivities; such as the wedding dances, the pre wedding festivities (bridesmaids getting ready), and the after wedding festivities such as dancing together, eating together, and drinking together. In the Greek culture many of things are done together as a family, and family get togethers often looked like big social events.

Institutional Collectivism

Moving on, we will discuss Institutional Collectivism. Institutional Collectivism is described as, “ The degree to which organizational and societal institutional practices encourage and reward collective distribution of recourses and collective actions.” The example of this that I found in the movie was how the Greek culture took pride in being Greek, marrying Greeks, and sending their children to Greek schools. It is a sense of pride that is very strong in their culture.

Gender Edgalitarianism

Next, we will talk about Gender Edgalitarianism. Gender Egalitariniamisn is described as either feminity or masculinity. This basically describes the role of in which women and men should play in their lives. From the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding I saw multiple examples of Gender Egalitarnism. For example, in the Greek culture it was stated throughout the movie that, “ Women are meant to marry Greek men, make babies, cook food, and stay at home.” The men were meant to work and provide for their family. This put a label on men and women and described what they should do in their own personal lives. It was stated multiple times by the girls’ father that he wanted her to get married, and have Greek babies.

Assertiveness

Moving on, we will discuss assertiveness. Assertiveness is best described as the quality of being confident without being aggressive towards the object. An example of this from the movie is when her dad was pushing her to get married, and to have babies without being aggressive. The dad always pushed her and discussed with her the importance of finding a good, Greek man, and to have babies. Although the father was very opinionated and wanted her to do that, he was never aggressive about the situation, and she still went on about her own life.

Performance Orientation

Following, I will discuss Performance Orientation. Performance Orientation is the extent to which a community encourages and rewards high standards, and one’s overall performance. Performance Orientation was shown in the movie by sending the students to a Greek school and continuing to raise their children in the Greek culture. Greek school is a different form of an education system in which the Greek families often time believe in sending their children to. The Greek school system holds to a higher standard of education in which they are extremely proud of.

Future Orientation

Moving forward with our nine global taxonomies, I will now discuss Future Orientation. Future Orientation is the extent to which an individual thinks about their future before acting upon doing something else; they take all things into consideration. An example of this from My Big Fat Greek Wedding is when the parents were pressuring their middle aged daughter to just get married to some Greek man and have babies. However, the young woman had told her parents that she was interested in going to college to study computer technology to further understand computers to help them in their family restraunt, but that wasn’t enough for them. The woman was trying to focus on her future, by going to college and getting a degree before she settled, got married, and would have children of her own. This is a great example of future orientation.

Humane Orientation

Lastly, we will discuss Humane Orientation. Humane Orientation is, “ The degree to which an organization of society encourages and rewards individuals for being good, generous, and caring people.” The Greek Culture as a whole is very generous and giving, but so were the grooms’ parents. An example of this from the movie was when the Greek family had invited over the grooms family. The grooms’ family had brought a cake with them so they had something to give their future daughter in law’s family members. The Greek family was very appreciative of the cake that they were given and the two cultures celebrated as a whole family, for the first time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I have discussed the nine global taxonomies today and I have also described what each global taxonomy is and how it was shown in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding.