Volume 4 • Issue 1 | March 2020
Social Existence Determines Consciousness: How the Economy Matters for Cultural Changes? A Study of Selected Asian Countries
Nguyen Tran Xuan Linh
Abstract:
Based on economic determinism and Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, applying the Bayesian approach throughout the study, the paper confirms the nonlinear relationship between economic performance and cultural changes. First, the results of this paper are different from the previous studies, i.e., individualism and economic performance have a positive relationship; masculinity (MAS) and uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) first decrease, and then increase with economic development. The possible explanation for this is based on the cultural features of the studied Asian countries. In addition, the study found evidence that the English language and economic openness draw Eastern cultural values near to the Western culture, but there are some conservative straits of the Asian culture that hinder the convergence to the Western culture.
JEL classification: A13, C11, C82