Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical Journeys Through 31 Nations, Clusters of Nations, Continents, and Diversity - Softcover

“This is a wonderful text! I encourage other instructors to use it for their comparative cultures classes. It is easy to read and understand, discusses relevant information and helps students become more aware of cultures that they may very well come in contact with. This is the only textbook that I have found that actually discusses relevant information about contemporary cultures from all over the world.” (Heather M. Smith 2011-10-31)

In Understanding Global Cultures, Fifth Edition, authors Martin J. Gannon and Rajnandini Pillai present the cultural metaphor - any activity, phenomenon, or institution with which the members of a given culture identify emotionally or cognitively - as a method for understanding the cultural mindsets of individual nations, clusters of nations, and even continents.

The book shows how metaphors are guidelines to help outsiders quickly understand what members of a culture consider important. The fully updated Fifth Edition includes 31 nation-specific chapters, including a new Part XI on popular music as cultural metaphors, two completely new chapters on Vietnam and Argentina, revisions to all retained chapters, and a more explicit linkage between each cultural metaphor and current economic and business developments in each nation.