Cultural Archetypes
By G. Clotaire Rapaille
The movement to a global society has created a demand for a new level of multi-cultural understanding. This makes cultural archetypes so important.
Cultural archetypes are the laws of the culture in which we are born that pertain to human relationships and human organizations. They are part of a culture’s condition, conscious and unconscious, and represent the degree to which people recognize and live in harmony with such basic concepts as freedom and prohibition, equal opportunity and unequal wealth, individualism and uniformity, fairness and violence.
The 20th century has been very much about nationalism, individualism, uniformity, and borders. All of these notions are now obsolete, and have been replaced with more universal concepts:
Nation~~~~~~~~~~> Culture
Reason ~~~~~~~~~> Logic of emotion
Freedom ~~~~~~~~> Responsibility
Uniformity ~~~~~~> Difference
Independence ~~~~> Interdependence
Borders ~~~~~~~~~> Global concerns
Favorite enemies ~~> Common enemies
The collective cultural unconscious present in the American mind is different from that in, say, the Japanese or French mind.
Cultures such as the Japanese, Russian, British, and French are less likely to adapt in this constantly changing world than young, adolescent cultures, such as the United States, which is constantly in search of its identity and thus views change as good.
A nation’s laws express a level of systemization of its archetypal “grammar.” This is why laws vary so much from one culture to another, or from one religion to another, and why they often seem outrageous to outsiders. How do you feel when female adulterers are stoned to death in the Middle East, or when teenagers are caned in Singapore for spraying paint on cars? How do other cultures feel when we release a woman after she castrates her husband, or when a jury can’t reach a verdict for brothers who don’t deny killing their parent in cold blood?
Certain doors will remain closed until we decode the concept and the culture – and then we need the vision to see and the courage to seize our new marketing opportunities.
The success or failure of an advertising campaign often hinges on early, long forgotten childhood memories.
Most American business corporations have adopted the Japanese quality precept of doing it right the first time. However, studies reveal an unexpected archetype of quality: while we pay lip service to the Japanese concept of first-time perfection, all “imprints” show Americans don’t want to “do it right” the first time. The deeply ingrained American mental highway is very different and can be summarized in the maxim, “No pain, no gain.” There is wisdom in the American culture’s approach. Americans need to try and fail and try again in order to learn. And, if allowed to follow this “mental highway,” Americans actually learn much faster than the Japanese.
The code for food: Never too rich or too thin also means never too poor or too fat. The American code for food is fuel. The average American dinner is a 12 minute process served around 6 p.m., all on one plate. Americans have invented fast food – 60% of Americans are overweight, more than any other nation.
In France, cheese is sensual, usually viewed with wine, and the aroma is associated with enthusiasm and delight. Cheese is alive and ripe in France, while cheese is dead in America. In America, cheese is locked away in the refrigerator and usually associated with meat.
Food, for the Japanese, is made of little pieces that receive a lot of attention, and as a result are much like art. For Americans, the quantity of food is most important; plates are big, servings are enormous, and obesity is prevalent.
Several discoveries on perfume have shown a distinct gap between French and American cultures. For the French, natural odors are erotic and should either be protected or enhanced. The American mind functions differently. Killing germs and destroying all negative body odors with showers and deodorants are of utmost concern. The main function of perfume, then, is to act as a screen between the natural animal side and the fabricated public side.
American archetypes related to seduction – and the way American men and women communicate – show the latent impact of the still dominant Puritan ethic: America may be efficient and even pleasurable in other ways, but the prevailing “mental highway” is that life is not to be enjoyed. Seduction is seen, overwhelmingly, as something intrinsically evil, as an unwelcome and unprofitable distraction for the main purpose in life – work and the accumulation of wealth – but never the enjoyment of it.
Decoding cultures helps illuminate the need for respect of every culture, and the best way to do that is to become aware of our own cultural archetypes.
When Europeans complain about what they call “an absence of culture” in America, they simply don’t understand the essence of the American culture. Of course, what they mean is the absence of European culture in America; but that is why the first Americans escaped from Europe, to create something different, with fewer restraints.
If Europeans like the right balance and harmony, Americans prefer extremes and tensions. While Europeans can stay in the same place for generations, Americans prefer mobility, a reflection of the force that “escape” has in their culture. Many aspects of American society can be understood as manifestations of their need for escape. For example, in America it’s possible to change one’s name, file for bankruptcy, move to another state, and try again. There is almost always the possibility of a second chance.
A large number of myths exist about Americans achieving instant success: “rags to riches,” the door-to-door salesman who becomes president of the company, and myths concerning California, nouveau riches, Wall Street, and real estate. But what is really important is the length of time that it takes to accomplish a radical change in one’s life. In other cultures, this type of change might take generations, or even sound impossible if one is born in, for example, a caste system. In some cultures, it usually takes several generations to reach the dimensions of wealth and power of a millionaire.
Rocky Balboa is a good example of America’s approach to success. He is also a fitting model of the way Americans achieve quality. Rocky is the quintessential underdog, who must fight the champion against whom he has absolutely no chance of winning. But Rocky is the gutsy American; he’s got a big heart, lots of nerve, and a little brain. Initially, he loses. But he picks himself up and goes at it again, and again, and again. In other words, he perseveres; this is the American spirit. Rocky illustrates the opposite of “doing it right the first time,” and this is how Americans achieve quality – through sheer perseverance.
The American code for quality: it works. We’re happy is it does what it’s suppose to do. The German code for quality: standard. In Germany, the dominant element of quality is an obsession with standards. The Japanese code for quality: perfection. In the Japanese mind, perfection is an attainable goal, and the only one that deserves attention. The French code for quality: luxury. The French have a completely different attitude toward quality. In France, quality is a class statement.
Today globalization is seen less as spreading prosperity around the world and more as:
Growing inequality between rich and poor
Failure of law and ethics to control science and technology
Environmental pollution and waste
Rapid spread of financial instability
Destruction of my local culture and tradition
Americanization (i.e., superficialization of the planet)