Orality, literacy and the “great divide” in cultural values
International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy
ISSN: 0144-333X
Article publication date: 5 July 2021
Issue publication date: 10 May 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Building on the “Great Divide” thesis (Goody, 1977; Ong, 1982), this study analyzes the conceptual relationships between the two main communication modes (orality/literacy) and cultural values.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a purely conceptual approach to connect orality and literacy with nine cultural dimensions adopted from Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s (1961), Hall’s (1976) and Inglehart’s (1997) frameworks.
Findings
The analyses suggest that orality is associated with values such as high-context communication, poly-chronic time, public space proxemics, collectivism, hierarchical social structure, subjugation, past orientation, religiousness/traditionalism and survival cultural dimensions. Literacy is associated with opposing values, including low-context communication, mono-chronic time, private space proxemics, individualism, egalitarian social structure, dominance, future orientation, secularity/rationality, and self-expression cultural dimensions. The paper relies on modernization theory to explain the socio-economic implications and organizes the nine pairs of cultural dimensions according to the great divide between orality and literacy.
Originality/value
Theoretically, this study conceptualizes orality and literacy, analyzes their salient differences and examines their relationships with cultural values. While many studies have tried to explain the differences in cultural values from an economic perspective, this study offers an alternative view of cultural values’ variations across the world.
Keywords
Citation
Yeganeh, H. (2022), "Orality, literacy and the “great divide” in cultural values", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 42 No. 5/6, pp. 564-582. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-04-2021-0088
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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