The Lewis Cultural Model

 The british linguist and world traveler Richard Lewis decided to analyze and study the different cultures on the world, and  clasiffy each one of them on a chart, Lewis did this acknowledging the huge danger of stereotypes. 

Lewis devided these kinds of culture in three types: Linear-actives, Multi-actives, and Reactives. 

To understand better these three types of cultures, let's describe them in a really summarized way; first ones, the Linear-actives, the people who belong to a culture that it's more probable to has this type of behaviors, are people who tend to be task oriented, highly organized, they listen and talk in equal proportions, they truthful rather than diplomatic, can actually value confronting and like to move quickly. Then, we have the  Multi-actives, that these people are more tend to be loquacious, impulsive and lively, feelings and emotions are highly important, they live under social rules and norms but tend to have limits to them, also because they are so flexible they can be procastinators or late arriving people to differente meetings. And last, but not least, the Reactives, the world best listeners, these type of people respect a lot, and are very calmly, they value silence, and smalk talk and eye contact is not very comfortable or common to do for them. 

After knowing a bit more of the world and the ideas of the Lewis Cultural Model, we are going to understand what type of culture the United States is! 

When it is time to analyze the culture of countries other than that of our residence or origin, great care must be taken to avoid stereotypes, to make a proper documentation and to take into consideration the few real human interactions with individuals from this country from a perspective even a little skeptical, since a single individual could not define an entire nation, however, it is important to consider this experience as valuable for the study of that culture. With that established, we could review the culture of the United States from various sources, own experience and scholars of cultures, this post will specifically take into account the migration website "I want to go", which describes different characteristics that allow us to realize that Northamericans are clearly a Linear- active culture, and to be more specific, we can see it in the following characteristics:

 Individualistic, independent and self-confident, this series of characteristics can be found in the fact that from a very young age these individuals are given responsibility and freedom allowing them to be more autonomous in their adult future, also in the laws of this country, where even though rights as a society in general are important, individual, private rights and equality are priority. They are also seen as frank and direct people, the Northamerican breaks down taboos and values honesty in interpersonal relationships, however, their frankness does not break down their respectfull side, which they always keep in mind in their interactions. Interestingly, they are also seen as informal and friendly individuals, they use many slangs and are close in their interpersonal relationships, they are also competitive and give much importance to personal achievement, to understand this easily and quickly we can recognize the following terms: "blockbuster", "top-ten" and "best-seller", and finally, they are punctual, because they are accustomed to a life full of movements and plans they show up to their different commitments on time.  Having recognized some of their many characteristics it is possible to know that they are totally a Linear-active culture, and the factor of having so many immigrants and influences from different cultures globally in such a significant way would also explain why they possess a type of culture that could share characteristics of the other two (Multi-actives and Reactives).

It´s also important to contrast what would happen if someone with this type of culture from the United States came to your country or city. In the case of the authors of this blog, we think about the posibiliy of someone with Linear-active culture coming to our city Barranquilla, where we have a strong Multi-active culture, i think that would be really insteresting, and even the person that comes from the United States would be amazed and surprised because of our singularity and the intensity that comes with the Barranquillero, thought there is a posibility that in a long term coexistence the person of United States could be out of they comfort zone and would return to their country so they feel more comfortable because it couls seem like too much, but as always, there are exceptions and maybe they end up staying and actually liking the way of the Barranquillero to live and socialize, it´s an interesting question, because Linear-active cultures can understand and share not everything about Multi-actives culture, but some stuff, it feels like they are in the middle, and that makes it ambiguous. 

Finally, it is important to think after this process of reflection and classification of the Northmerican culture, how Lewis' principle allows us to understand with much more ease the different cultures and how we should interact correctly with them. 

Sources: 

*Linear-active | Cross Culture. (2014). Crossculture.com. https://www.crossculture.com/about-us/the-model/linear-active/?cn-reloaded=1

*¿Cómo son los estadounidenses? Vivir en EE.UU. (2012, September 22). MeQuieroIr.com. https://www.mequieroir.com/paises/eeuu/emigrar/como-son-los-estadounidenses/

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