There are many ways to try to visualize the concept of what makes up someone’s culture, but a popular model is to compare one’s culture to an onion. It’s a popular metaphor because like an onion, culture has many layers. The four key layers according to Hofstede are Symbols, Rituals, Heroes, and Values.
In this section of the website we have taken the four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) and analyzed their “Cultural Onion”. These four countries have been deemed to be at similar stages of newly advanced economic development. While they may have that in common, comparing these countries side-by-side within in the same four categories shows how vastly different they are as well. Brazil Russia India China |