Title: Conceptualising national cultures: an anthropological perspective

Authors: Philippe D'Iribarne

Addresses: Gestion et Societe, 140 rue du Chevaleret, 75013 Paris, France

Abstract: The considerable advances made over the past few decades in research on culture have led to the virtual disappearance of the notion of national culture. Culture has tended to be seen as a transient, local reality, rendering the idea of national culture obsolete. At the same time, this tendency has led to ignore the fact that although every society changes continually, certain forms of continuity nonetheless persist that are associated with what today seem rather quaint concepts such as |the spirit of a nation| (Montesquieu, 1748) or |national character| (Weber, 1905). In this article, I propose an interpretive approach to conceptualising culture that allows us to take account both of that which changes and that which remains unchanged. I will illustrate this theory using examples from the USA and Mexico.

Keywords: national culture; USA; United States; Mexico; theory; anthropology.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIM.2009.024320

European Journal of International Management, 2009 Vol.3 No.2, pp.167 - 175

Published online: 31 Mar 2009 *

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