ABSTRACT
Different societies construct the continuum “society–community–family–individual” in different ways: some are far more “communal societies,” while others are far more centered on the individual. Countries with a high RHD will prefer modes of communication and interaction that tend to be autocratic and paternalistic. One of the invisible but very real barriers to cross-national group work in community care, to take but one example, is that workers may well deal with the same clientele, may use the same professional jargon, but do not have the same fundamental understandings about what constitutes “care in the community.” The sense of national identity is complex, identifying a community of interest founded on a shared history, specific cultural values, religious allegiances, ethnic purity, territorial claims to land or sea, or identifiable language zones.
