Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #723388 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

fascinating
Although the writer mainly does his (extremely highly paid) work for marketing and advertising purposes, the book gives an unusually deep insight into the underlying meanings of certain concepts for various cultures.

Based on the learning of the particular culture as constructed in early childhood, he defines (for instance) what the word "love" means to several different cultures - and backs up his claims. He says that to the Americans (an adolescent culture) "love" really means "false expectation"; that in France "love" and pleasure are intertwined; the Italians expect love to contain strong dimensions of pleasure, beauty and (above all) fun (and that for them true love is maternal love); and for the Japanese (an older culture) love is a "temporary disease".

Most of what he says resonates as true (I have lived for more than a decade each in Western Europe, America and Japan). [...]. I'd love to read more on this subject by this author.

Bringing Meaning To The Unconscious
CONCEPT

The principles of human behaviour and thought are fascinating and useful in their own right. However, the fact that this knowledge can be applied with such clarity to business challenges such advertising, marketing and sales - to the enhanced benefit of the consumer and business - is truly exciting. Dr. Clotaire Rapaille brings this principle to life in "The Culture Code". He explains that the Culture Code is the unconscious meaning we apply to any given thing and he goes on to describe how giving due consideration to this unconscious meaning can have profound positive effect for all concerned. Considering and understanding the `Culture Code' for any given situation or set of circumstances can be truly revealing.

BACKGROUND

3 Unconsciousness's

There are in principle 3 human unconsciousness's at work: Freudian individual unconscious that guides us as individuals; Jungian collective unconscious that guides us as the human race; and, a core concept to this book, Cultural unconscious that guides us as a nation.

3 Levels of the brain

The human brain can be expected to respond to situations on any of 3 levels: the Cortex which handles learning, abstract thought and imagination; the Limbic System which handles emotion; and the Reptilian brain which deals with survival and reproduction.

3 Human Structures

By looking at how people act in certain ways, Dr. Rapaille shows how to look past the content of what people say and into the structure, principally in 3 categories: our biological structure, dictated by our DNA; our individual structure which defines our identity; and our culture (language, art, habitat, history etc) which defines us as a group. This concept aligns closely with what Richard Dawkins writes in `The Selfish Gene' - something I found interesting given Dawkins comes from the biological and Darwinian science camp rather than that of social science and anthropology.

COMMENT

I found the latter chapters of the book lost their appeal for me - perhaps because I understand the American culture and other Nations' perception of this culture less well than I think I do. However, I was genuinely struck by a few of the earlier `Culture Codes'. First and foremost, the reality that when we are asked `What do you do', we understand the question as `What job do you do', or essentially `What is your purpose'. Dr. Rapaille's suggestion therefore that the Culture Code for WORK is WHO YOU ARE had great resonance for me. Equally the suggestion that the code for MONEY is PROOF of who you are is pretty revealing. To go outside the world of work, I really liked the perspective given by the Culture Code for FAT being CHECKING OUT. Dr. Rapaille offers some great insight and it is well worth reading the first part of the book if not all of it.

Cracking the Culture Code
A cross-cultural consultant colleague of mine recommended this book to me. As a professor of undergraduate and graduate courses and also a cross-cultural consultant myself, I found Rapaille's book to be both approachable and useful.

He writes in a a way that US business leaders can ascertain most quickly what code works in what market for different products.

I have not seen many books on this topic, so I recommend Rapaille's approach as it contains valuable information for combining business with the most overlooked component of business: culture.