When Cultural Dimensions Become Perilous

A country of exotic animals and lush forests with innumerable natural resources, Africa is one of the most historically impoverished, diseased, and corrupted countries. Corruption is unfortunately common around the world today, as are economical, political, legal, and socio-cultural struggles. So why is it, that Africa seems to be the country with the hardest time breaking the struggle?

To understand this trend, I first looked to Hofstede’s dimensions to gather if anything in particular made African cultures different from those of other geographical locations. The first country I chose to study, simply because I know people who have gone to this country to take part in service work, was Ghana. The first thing I noted was that the two highest scores for the country were an indulgence score of 72, and a power distance score of 80. A search of African country Angola returned an even higher indulgence score of 83, with a similar power distance score of 83. According to Hofstede’s definition, the dimension of indulgence studies the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, based on how they were raised. Therefore, a high indulgence score means that the people of that culture have weak impulse control (Geert Hofstede. (n.d.)).

Impulse control is an essential part to living a productive life. It is a form of emotional intelligence that determines how a person handles stress and pressure. This is where African leadership comes into play. It is arguable that, as a culture, certain moral values have gone to the wayside because personal indulgences have taken precedence. When we think of bribery in an American sense, it might be paying off a lawyer to falsify papers, or even something more legally acceptable such as, significant campaign contributions.

This is not the same bribery that the African people face. 70% of African’s say they have had to pay bribes in order to access basic human needs (Veselinovic, 2016). And this was where I began to see the connection between the values of indulgence and power distance, and a struggling socio-political system.

A high power distance score represents that a country has more or less “accepted” that they live in an unequal society. Corruption fuels an environment of exclusion and poverty. The acceptance of this inequality has prevented people from fighting against this exclusive society. Government officials are self-serving, because they can be, and people continue to pay them off, because they have to.

This is where the question becomes; is there an end in sight? After decades of government corruption and self-serving attitudes, is it even possible for the country to break the cycle? The answer is yes, but it does require the want and need to “step-up” and address the issues of their corrupted government. For example, Senegal, created a National Office for the Fight Against Fraud and Corruption, which works to make laws and standards to restrict the power of political forces (Veselinovic, 2016). Leadership is the only answer to escaping a cycle like the one that Africa has been faced with for a notable history.