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Costa Rica Part One
Costa Rica ranks medium to high on the scale of power distance (According to Hofstede). This means that education is quite organised and controlled. According to the student from Costa Rica, "there is more control in the sense that they do control if you did your homework and if you don’t . . ." On the other hand, Costa Rica is a more collectivist country, that is, the individual should follow the group in morals and values. In collectivist cultures the relationship with other members of the group gains significance. One should be careful to avoid doing things which are not acceptable. In fact, how the others judge you becomes very important. The individual cannot simply say: This is what I want to do or have decided to do, and I don’t care what the others think about it.
The definition of responsibility of the individual also changes. It is not that the individual can decide and act according to what s/he finds correct, but the responsibility is to follow the norms and criteria of the group. There is a mixture of guidance and freedom within the limits set for the individual. The interviewee verifies this: ". . . [if you don’t do your homework] people will notice in class, where it can be– well, let me give you an example, okay, if you did the homework, you had a homework and you didn’t do it, it will show in the class, and then in a way you’ll be embarrassed so, of course there is more control, so in that way, you’re completely responsible . . ."[emphasis added by the writer]. The work, however, is guided by the authority in the group. The students are told what to do from the very beginning of the course: ". . . in terms of –guidance . . . it’s absolutely guided. They tell you this and this, and you have to read. And if you read those one, two, three items that the professors said, you’re done, you’re safe for the test . . ."
If one is accepted by the group because one has followed all the written and unwritten rules, one is safe and will be given opportunities. The acceptability of the behaviour of the individual is decisive for the amount of support one gets. "Obviously, if you’re a bad student I don’t think that they’re going to like you very much, but if you’re a good student and you had interest, they’re absolutely open, they’re willing to give you guidance to tell you yes, do this, read this book or, I mean, if you go to their office they always welcome you, I mean, most of them. They ‘re willing to talk to you about whatever you want to talk to them, and they’ll give you guidance . . ."
In such a close relationship the influence of those who are seen as the authority, intellectually or materially, increases. A teacher, father, or any person who one looks up to, can influence and determine the course of one's future life. ". . . I actually got interested in this cross-cultural whatever, ha, ha, because I, my, I was so excited I really liked this class that this teacher taught, and I really liked her although I was terrified from this teacher, but she was a great teacher . . ."
In response to the question about the importance of politics in relations, the interviewee answers in the negative: ". . . in my studies, I think in my field specifically, none whatsoever, none." In collectivist cultures, politics in relationships play an important role. This contradiction then can be explained as follows: First, Costa Rica, according to Hofstede, is an exception in Latin American countries, in which leaders play very significant roles. Costa Rica is a country with a long history of democracy – it is maybe the only country in the world which has no army, and high levels of investments in education. The Costa Rican student lists some of the services that are provided: ". . . we have access to email, we have our own library, we have health services, psychological services - even if you have economic problems, there is an office which deals with them." Second, when an individual does follow the norms and rules, there are fewer grounds for a conflict with the authorities. Therefore, the possibility of realising that politics do play a role decreases.
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