A joke is a very serious thing /Winston Churchill/

Recently, I have read an article (here) about humor across cultures. I want to shortly share the information with you, because it relates with the topic of previous lesson – culture dimensions (individualism/collectivism; low/high uncertainty avoidance; low/high power distance).

Joking is a universal thing, isn't it? Jokes allow us to address taboo subjects in a playful way. But on the other hand, the sense of humor and humor itself varies between cultures.

I want to give a vivid example – in 2005 one of Danish newspapers posted cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad. (here) Some of those cartoons offended Danish Imam, it provoke indignation in parts of the Arab world. In a while another more offensive cartoon (here) was added and falsely bond with the same newspaper. It caused demonstrations in the Arab world with burning Danish flags (here). What in the beginning was pure joke, ended with huge diplomatic trouble.

So is there any way to know if and how to joke around people from different countries/cultures? There kind of is, cultural dimensions can help us to deal with unpleasant situations.

Individualism (low context) vs. collectivism (high context)

Edward Hall describes high-context cultures as those who communicate directly, non-verbally and implicitly. So low-context cultures communicate explicitly, verbally and directly.

The outcome is that – individual culture will be the major joke producers, while collectivism cultures will adopt more implicit and contextual ways of humor.

Low power distance vs. high power distance

In the countries where power distance is high, people tend not to see themselves as leaders; they live in a separate world. While in higher power distance cultures everyone is perceived equally.

I would conclude, that in higher power distance cultures it’s forbidden to joke about leaders, dictators and so on, but it is not quite true.

Even if the hierarchy is strict, people tend to joke about leaders. As it’s written in the article, it is like healthy skepticism about their political system. The main difference in particular culture dimension is that in countries with high power distance you should be careful where and whom you tell the jokes.

Low uncertainty avoidance vs. high uncertainty avoidance

Cultures with High uncertainty avoidance prefer formality and social norms are very strict, so the humor should be the same – only allowed in the right place and moment (and appropriate context).  In the same time cultures with high uncertainty would stay tolerant and calm whatever happens.

If we talk about Low uncertainty avoidance then those cultures prefer informal norms and behaviors instead. It means that few jokes wouldn’t bother.

To conclude everything joking can be risky if you deal with a culture of collectivism, large power distance and high uncertainty avoidance, because there people are quick to take offence at anything out of the norm.

In Latvia

As an example I can (of course) describe Latvian humor.

We are individualists, and indeed we like to joke a lot – black humor, sarcasm, stereotypical jokes etc.

We live more in dimension of low power distance, so we joke a lot about our president, government and politicians; we even have a television show “Everything is OK in our country”, where the main topics are always about the dumb things Latvian politicians have done.

We avoid uncertainty a lot, so before you make a joke in Latvia, it’s better to think if it’s an appropriate moment and if we will catch the funny part of the joke, otherwise dealing with an uncomfortable silence will be the outcome.

I hope I have shown you that joking across cultures should be taken seriously, so don’t be shy to share opinion about my blog and humor in your country.