Purpose

Building on the “Great Divide” thesis (Goody, 1977; Ong, 1982), this study analyzes the conceptual relationships between the two main communication modes (orality/literacy) and cultural values.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopts a purely conceptual approach to connect orality and literacy with nine cultural dimensions adopted from Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s (1961), Hall’s (1976) and Inglehart’s (1997) frameworks.

Findings

The analyses suggest that orality is associated with values such as high-context communication, poly-chronic time, public space proxemics, collectivism, hierarchical social structure, subjugation, past orientation, religiousness/traditionalism and survival cultural dimensions. Literacy is associated with opposing values, including low-context communication, mono-chronic time, private space proxemics, individualism, egalitarian social structure, dominance, future orientation, secularity/rationality, and self-expression cultural dimensions. The paper relies on modernization theory to explain the socio-economic implications and organizes the nine pairs of cultural dimensions according to the great divide between orality and literacy.

Originality/value

Theoretically, this study conceptualizes orality and literacy, analyzes their salient differences and examines their relationships with cultural values. While many studies have tried to explain the differences in cultural values from an economic perspective, this study offers an alternative view of cultural values’ variations across the world.

中文翻译：

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口语、读写能力和文化价值观的“巨大鸿沟”

目的

基于“大鸿沟”论题（Goody, 1977; Ong, 1982），本研究分析了两种主要交流模式（口语/识字）与文化价值观之间的概念关系。

设计/方法/方法

该研究采用纯粹的概念方法将口语和读写能力与从 Kluckhohn 和 Strodtbeck (1961)、Hall (1976) 和 Inglehart (1997) 框架中采用的九个文化维度联系起来。

发现

分析表明，口语与诸如高语境交流、多时空、公共空间近似、集体主义、等级社会结构、征服、过去取向、宗教/传统主义和生存文化维度等价值观相关。读写能力与对立的价值观相关，包括低语境交流、单一时间、私人空间近义、个人主义、平等主义社会结构、支配地位、未来取向、世俗性/理性和自我表达的文化维度。本文依靠现代化理论来解释其社会经济含义，并根据口语和识字之间的巨大鸿沟组织了九对文化维度。

原创性/价值

从理论上讲，本研究对口语和读写能力进行了概念化，分析了它们的显着差异，并检验了它们与文化价值观的关系。尽管许多研究都试图从经济角度解释文化价值观的差异，但本研究提供了世界各地文化价值观差异的另一种观点。