What cultural dimensions to understand the Greens in Germany.

What cultural dimensions to understand the Greens in Germany



The intent of this article is to analyse the reasons for the political success of the Green Party in Germany by using in an original way the classic cultural dimensions of Geert Hofstede present in statistical / sociological studies as well as the concept of "face" present in the domain of linguistic politeness from Brown and Levinson.

While in the Italian media context too much time is always spent talking only about European populist parties such as the party of the AfD (alternative for Germany), in the European elections the Greens were seen to prevail with their very relevant political success in the future political management of Germany. In general, it can be argued that the greens in Germany are an institutional party that wants more Europe and more balance in the European Union, with a moderately left-wing and deeply ecological approach, using a moderate, good and liberal communication style. Their intent is to protect institutions by defending men and their environment. The Greens fought against populism by showing that if a party has good ideas and a good ruling class it can certainly become a popular party.

To get into the merits, it is important to note that the green party (the greens) is made up of a ruling class of young people as well as for a large part of its electorate. This means for Greens the possibility of building a "long-term" cultural dimension because its ruling class and its electorate can place their most important results in the future, where the role of investments for the future is crucial and the effort and the commitment is rewarded with the concept of "managerial class" of quality. In a young party, the life of the party cannot adhere to a cultural dimension of "high social distance" because the hierarchy within it is only about "roles" and not of an existential type such as when there are large age differences between management classes and electorate.

The party's goals are modernization in the ecological field with Germany's gradual exit from coal and full membership of the UN's 2030 sustainable agenda on sustainable economy issues.

These examples of political objectives are certainly anchored in the "long-term temporal" cultural dimension because the German coal tradition must be modified with an attitude of saving and with the ability to persevere to achieve these objectives over time. These examples of political objectives are certainly anchored in a "long-term temporal" dimension because the tradition of "coal" in Germany must be modified, with an attitude of saving and persevering over time. These long-term temporal goals are possible because the Green Party is not in charge of the national government and therefore can live its agenda within the cultural dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty", that is, with a tendency towards tranquillity and tolerance for divergent ideas on the agenda of other parties.

In order to conquer an "out-group" in politics such as the one made up of young people, the Green Party deals a lot with the social rights of young Germans. This is a way to create a feeling of a "conscientious we" of the situation of young people trying to build an "in-group" that can become loyal to the party. Furthermore, a party led by young people creates an automatic feeling of "collectivism" among the younger population. This is a much more difficult point to make in Italy because parties are usually led by the elderly but even when apparently they are young they always carry out a "short-term" policy as do all Italian parties with their perennial adherence to the "short term temporal orientation" as the main cultural dimension.

An important pillar of the German green policy is that focused on the right to housing and popular housing as a way to be able to be close to this "in-group" of young people but also of many people who are unable to become owners of housing in Germany. Fighting against this situation is a way of showing that I want to defend my electorate's or my potential electorate's need for a negative face (right not to be hindered in his actions). In essence, a young party tries to give birth to a "collectivism" dimension to create a "conscientious type" with a sense of belonging in exchange for loyalty obtained through the respected tasks in political programming. In practice, a party in order to conquer a "positive face" (need for recognition of its actions) must identify causes that are threats to the negative face of citizens addressing them immediately with a dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" because they are a strong threat to the negative face of people. This action require therefore a degree of intolerance towards ideas that are dangerous for the potential electorate.

The right to work and the quality of one's free time must be understood as the way to get out of a "restrained" cultural dimension in which it is difficult "being happy" when you live for example without work and in absence of the possibility of recognizing your own person. This right to work must be exercised within the cultural dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" because its absence constitutes a threat that does not allow for consideration for one's well-being and personal welfare. On the contrary, work must allow the achievement of this "satisfied" cultural dimension in which the use of my free time becomes a quality factor in my life as a way to say that I am happy, I remember positive emotions and ultimately I embrace a cultural dimension focused on "personal well-being and welfare". This feeling of well-being means joining a cultural dimension with a "short-term temporal orientation" because it becomes important to spend money on one's social life and on consumption. This quality of free time can also become a way to consume in an alternative way, that is to consume to make a personal development and to use the "present" to create an attitude of perseverance towards the future as true objectives of the party. The solution proposed by the Greens in order to increase the social protection of Germans and European citizens is to make GAFA (google, apple, facebook and amazon) pay more taxes.

In other words, the possibility of reducing the social distance between European citizens is to obtain a greater redistribution of taxes by the web giants to obtain a European continent with a "low social distance index". To implement these purposes, it is necessary to have an intolerance towards the monopolistic behaviour of the GAFA, which fully adhere to a cultural dimension of the "high social distance" type because their power is a basic fact and their legitimacy is completely irrelevant in their work. . This "social distance" dimension created by the GAFA allows them to live in the "weak avoidance of uncertainty" dimension because they are at ease in the legislative chaos. Basically, the GAFA are aware that they have developed strongly within society the cultural dimension of "individualism" in which the right for privacy is in force and speaking for themselves is a good thing since everyone is forced to use these tools from the GAFA. For them, carrying out their duties is much more important than protecting social relations within society. The socio-economic model opposed by the Greens is that of the "circular economy" in which everything is used and regenerated without creating any waste because everything is transformed, that is the need for clarity in the use of products becomes a way to adhere to a  cultural dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty". This circular economy creates an economic system with a "long-term" time orientation because "nothing is thrown away" and therefore the product adapts to the circumstances and savings become a real objective in this economic model. In short, the economy must try to offer a feeling of control over the life of the products that allows people to say that they are happy, thus adhering to the "satisfied" cultural dimension. This economy as an attempt to offer a "positive face" to the community in the face of this economic crisis requires the protection of the State intended as a legal collective face to help this economic model to grow.

To grow an economic model it is necessary to live within a dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty" because changing a model may not be a problem only if the State manages to guarantee adherence to a "strong avoidance of uncertainty" for these companies offering them a need for structures and clarity. For example, incentives are a demonstration of "us conscientious" in harmony with the "collectivism" dimension because the State always protects with the aim of seeking loyalty from these new companies. This aid would aim to create a long-term temporal orientation because the circular economy could really take place in the near future.

 To win the elections, the Green Party has left its initial radicalism intended as a strong avoidance of uncertainty with a strong intolerance towards the proposals of the other parties and this has allowed it to grow its own "in-group" of reference.

The Green Party has focused on the issue of integrating migrants and controlling migration without asking for closures at the borders. This issue of the integration of migrants in Germany is to be understood as a way to get out of the "tied" dimension because the social situation seems to me to be out of control and therefore I have to deal with people to be able to find a "satisfied" cultural dimension by trying to increase my need for a sense of reality control. This "integration" falls within the cultural dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" because I need to create rules for migrants such as: taking German courses, taking apprenticeship courses and supporting jobseekers. These tools are ways to avoid intolerance or misunderstanding towards potential divergent social behaviours and therefore intended as dangerous by large groups of populations.

Certainly the attempt to "integrate" is an attempt to seek the maintenance of harmony within society in harmony with the "collectivism" dimension in which the services offered must seek to obtain people's loyalty. The policy of open borders has the function of keeping the country within the cultural dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty" because Germany as a collective face wants to show its tendency to (economic) well-being and tries to live with little stress this presence of non-German people on their territory.

The Green Party is very active regarding policies devoted to women with requests to open more kindergartens in Germany to allow women to work more easily. The intention is to contrast a fairly high gender difference in social and emotional terms in which the man works and the woman stays at home to take care of the children.

The collective face of Germany understood as an "economic" country needs the workforce of women and therefore the creation of nursery schools would allow a greater balance between work and family in the country in harmony with a "femininity" dimension. This result would lead to greater participation in the economic life of the country and therefore would increase an "in-group" with more women in the world of work and at the same time it would concretize a long-term temporal orientation because the facts of the country take place in the future when a country has a large birth rate.

The Greens are a party with young and empathetic leaders, that is, capable of creating a long-term temporal orientation in German political life as well as "empathic", that is, capable of emphasizing a "conscientious type of us" as a form of adhesion to a purely cultural dimension "collectivism" type.

An important point on the agenda of German greens is the theme of renewable energies with solar and renewable energies as a whole to place their work within a dimension with a long-term time orientation in which savings and perseverance are true objectives to pursue. In the green program we find the issue of breaking down architectural barriers for the disabled and the elderly to be interpreted as a reduction of the social distance within society because society feels it must legitimize its choices before everyone's eyes. This represents a way of respecting the elderly and disabled people understood as adherence to a parameter of a "conscientious us" within the "collectivism" dimension with an increase in one's own electoral "in-group" of reference for the party.

This creates a long-term orientation in society because investments are made to increase social cohesion and in the immediate term you get a party serving others as within the dimension of a short-term temporal orientation. This removal of barriers allows more people to say that they are happy and to regain a feeling of control in their lives in harmony with the "satisfied" cultural dimension. Another important topic is that of equality of opportunities between men and women, that is, adhering to a dimension of long-term temporal orientation in which what is good or bad depends on circumstances and traditions are modifiable.

In this case, the intent is to increase the "femininity" dimension with greater balance between the various social and emotional roles present in social life, with a greater balance between work and family in order to make women more involved in life public in the country. In short, the idea is to give women a feeling of control in order to be happy so that men can be happy that women can become what they intend to be in their life.

The adhesion of society to a "female" dimension allows to enhance the positive face of both women and men.

Within the green program, it is noted that discrimination is not accepted in a society focused on equality, that is, the green society model is that of a society with a low index of social distance, in which we have tolerance towards people and ideas. as divergent as within a society with a weak avoidance of uncertainty, emphasizing the practice of speaking for oneself and the right to privacy as within the "individualism" dimension. This fight against discrimination allows to create a long-term temporal orientation in society because traditions are modifiable according to change. This attitude avoids building a majority "in-group" based on the exclusion of other people according to their sexual or religious opinions or orientations.

Digitization and data defence are important issues on the political agenda of German greens. These purposes can be translated with the role of the internet capable of reducing social distance with power because the latter is forced to legitimize their choices in front of citizens active on the network and therefore also becomes a way to see citizens as increasingly competent as described in the dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty". The network enhances the cultural dimension of the "individualism" type because everyone is required to look after themselves, with a right to privacy and the tasks are more important than relationships.

The digitization of the country is a sign of the party's adhesion to the cultural dimension of a "long-term temporal orientation" because traditions are modifiable according to the change and the role of investments in the life of the country is highlighted.

Data defence, on the other hand, is part of the fight against the threat to the negative collective face of citizens who feel this intrusion as a danger in their daily life in harmony with the dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" through a request for clarity in the use of the network. This collection of data by the GAFA is the tangible sign of their adhesion to a society with a high social distance, in which it does not feel the duty to legitimize this fraudulent behaviour because basically citizens are perceived as incompetent. The fight for data defence serves for the Green Party to reduce the impact of its adhesion to the "tied" dimension by its electorate, where freedom of speech is not of primary necessity and therefore there is a feeling of frustration because things don't depend on my will. Consequently, to return to a "satisfied" type dimension, it will be necessary to eliminate these points present in the "constrained" type dimension. Greens are in favour of cultural diversity as a way to adhere to a cultural dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty" because we live with a tendency to personal well-being and well-being, with a tolerance towards difference as a positive factor of curiosity. In fact, others are seen as individuals within the framework of cultural diversity as envisaged by the "individualism" dimension instead of always being perceived as members of a supposed "out-group" in which their adherence to a other group. This creates a long-term temporal orientation within German society because "a good person adapts to the circumstances", tries to learn from other cultures as a positive fact and this is possible within the "satisfied" dimension because the freedom to word is an important fact and we try to remember positive emotions.

It is interesting to note that the approach to cultural diversity as an "umbrella" term to talk about immigration is correlated with the issue of security and the police force.

From here we observe how the introduction of elements of "cultural diversity" as a factor of curiosity or cultural innovation is an element automatically linked to the dimension of "strong avoidance of uncertainty" in which intolerance for difference prevails, clarity is sought and rules for every situation and every element of uncertainty is perceived as a threat to be fought.

The emergence of cultural diversity should be linked to the expansion of an extended family in exchange for loyalty with the search for harmony in society but above all trying to make society adhere to a "satisfied" dimension because these social inclusion steps overall they allow greater control of your company.

The ideological framework of the greens is represented by this statement "the goal of the EU is peace and prosperity. To achieve this it is important to break down barriers and borders in Europe."

This frame has the function of giving a "positive" collective face to the whole green family to enhance the sense of belonging to an extended family like the European one. Therefore membership is emphasized with the creation of this reference "in-group" such as the European one to create a cultural dimension of the "long-term temporal orientation" type because "peace" means wanting to place the most important facts of the continent in the future, where tasks between Member States are shared and perseverance for building this European area is a real goal. The possibility of Europa creates the possibility of a goal to have a reservoir of "positive emotions" as within the "satisfied" dimension. Prosperity is certainly connected to this dimension in which it is easier to say that you are happy and increase your own control of your life. The feeling of prosperity serves to make people adhere to the cultural dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty" because we live with less stress and with a greater tendency towards personal well-being and well-being. Prosperity also falls within the dimension of a "long-term temporal orientation" because it will be possible to place the most important facts of one's life in the future and to invest in one's future. To obtain these fruits it is necessary to "eliminate the borders and barriers within Europe", that is to say a strong adhesion to a cultural dimension of "weak avoidance of uncertainty" is needed, showing a certain tolerance towards divergent ideas and being at ease in ambiguity on the one hand and at the same time, the formation of a new "collectivism" that is ever wider to create a "conscientious" us and to increase a sense of harmony within the European space will be needed. This would automatically create a new "long-term temporal orientation" because the facts of the continent would place themselves in the future, with people capable of adapting to circumstances, with state traditions modified according to the change to face and with an increase in the possibility of learning from others .

This step is certainly very complicated from the point of view of the axis of the "constrained" or "satisfied" dimensions because these boundaries have the function of eliminating situations of uncertainty and ambiguity coming from the outside in harmony with a cultural dimension of "strong". avoidance of uncertainty "and of the concept of" out-group ", apparently allowing a greater feeling of control over one's life. Unfortunately, in an interconnected world, the state dimensions are not up to offering "protective" answers in terms of a "collectivism" cultural dimension for the European population. In fact, for now it only receives responses in line with the "tied" dimension because the national plan cannot decide the fate of its national population but needs a European level at least to be able to start restoring a "satisfied" dimension in which it is possible to regain a feeling of control over the global life of the continent. This challenge is far from being won but represents perhaps the only compelling challenge for all those who intend to "believe, invest, strive" in the future as a concrete event in their life and not abandon themselves to the perennial victimization prevailing in the frightened Italian society and culture.

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