Clash!

8 Cultural Conflicts That Make Us Who We Are

By: Hazel Rose Markus, Alana Conner

Narrated by: Hazel Rose Markus, Alana Conner

Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

As the world gets smaller, hotter, and flatter, people from different cultures are colliding like never before:

• East Asian students now dominate Western schools and workplaces, yet crash into the so-called "bamboo ceiling" before reaching the top.
• Women are getting stuck as they rocket up the corporate ladder, while men are falling off the ladder altogether.
• The have-nots still struggle in the classrooms of the haves, widening the gap between rich and poor.
• Many Blacks, Latinos, and other people of color know that discrimination keeps them down, while many Whites sincerely believe that race no longer matters.
• The politics of conservative Protestants frighten Americans of other religions, while the politics of more mainstream traditions infuriate the conservatives.
• Midwesterners and Southerners get depressed when they relocate to the Coasts, and vice versa.
• Despite the need for more collaboration, partnerships between governments, businesses, and nonprofits too often fail.
• Governments in the Global North and Global South still can't agree about what counts as "fair", "honest", and "efficient".

Although each of these eight conflicts seems unique, we reveal that many stem from the same root cause: the tension between people using the independent, separate, and in-control side of their selves, versus people using the interdependent, connected, and adjusting side. We also show how people can nudge their cultures to call forth their best selves. By knowing when and how to use our different selves, we may not just survive, but thrive in the 21st century.

©2013 Hazel Rose Markus and Alana Conner (P)2013 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"A brilliant and highly accessible exposition of new scientific findings about profound cultural differences. As the world grows smaller and flatter, the wisdom of Clash! will prove essential for effective functioning." (Richard E. Nisbett, PhD, author of Intelligence and How to Get It)

Most useful cultural adaptation book yet!

Excellent content about using the 8 cultural channels we all have in the context of independent and interdependent modes of seeing the self. Everything is logical and well organized, great examples and useful contrasts! The quality of the audible however needs some attention. There are background squeaks and noises, different sound ambience from different narrators and stumbles in the narrator's performance. Such an excellent book requires a higher quality production.

Audible Edition Voice Actor is Bad

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

The voice behind this narration has any number of fatal flaws. First, the voice narrator changes the authors words in a number of contexts from third to first person. She also rearranges the text and graphics putting in an explanation were she feels they could be read over. At various times in the later audio you can hear a phone ringing in the background. Likewise, the author sometimes seems out of breath or needs to take a drink. There is a noticeable difference in voice quality in some sections over others.

What could Hazel Rose Markus and Alana Conner have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Markus and Connor produced a well respected text used in classrooms at colleges, universities, and seminaries. They produced a well researched volume.

How could the performance have been better?

The voice author could read the text as it is written to avoid false impressions of who is speaking, the voice author could record smaller sections of text at a time for compilation, and the voice could be recorded without the phone ringing in the background.

Any additional comments?

A new voice recording is needed