Rules for social relationships in four cultures

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Abstract
A British study of the rules for 22 social relationships was replicated in Hong Kong, Italy and Japan, and a number of cross‐cultural hypotheses tested. It was found that there were rules for all relationships and that for each relationship certain rules were endorsed in all four cultures. In Hong Kong, Italy and Japan the relationships formed three clusters, in terms of similar rules. However in Britain only two clusters were found. In the Eastern cultures, especially in Japan, there were more rules about obedience, avoiding loss of face, maintaining harmonious relations in groups, and restraining emotional expression. In Japan there were more rules for hierarchical work relations, fewer for family. In Hong Kong rules about respect for parents were important. In Italy there was more endorsement of rules prescribing emotional expression, and for keeping up intimacy in intimate relations; sex was endorsed as permissible in a wide range of relationships. It is acknowledged that a more emic approach would have been desirable; there were some negative results which might be explicable in terms of cultural variations in the expression of basic processes, for example there was no greater endorsement of exchange of rewards in Japan. The fact that more rules were endorsed in the British sample is probably because the rules were taken from a British study. Suggestions are made for rules which might have been included if the study had originated in Japan.

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