The Influence of Cultural Relativism
summary
Argues that national-scale models of culture fail and that design needs a culturally relative lens, backed by field methods: ethnographic visits, usability tests and frameworks like Hofstede’s six dimensions and Edward Hall’s tacit vs explicit culture. Gives concrete failures (Best Buy’s $318M Europe push, eBay losing to Taobao’s chat model) and successes (WhatsApp $19B exit; 62% of Americans get news via social media). Reports building a coupons app whose settings/notifications mental model breaks with users — observed, tested, and unresolved.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Introduction
- 6:05Cultural Relativism
- 12:30User Research
- 17:20What is Culture
- 20:30Explicit Culture
- 25:35Pretzel Salad
- 28:25Culture is no longer geography
- 30:27Cultural Influence
- 32:20Understanding Cultural Relativism
- 34:30What makes you you
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