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One last excerpt from Edward Hall’s “Beyond Culture.” Here he riffs on how things keep getting bigger despite evidence humans actually thrive in the opposite sort of environment. In small schools, students participated more, it meant more to them, they were more tolerant of others, they formed closers, more lasting relationships, were more effective in group processes, could communicate better, performed six times more in responsible positions, they were absent less often, were more dependable, tended to volunteer more often, were more productive, were more articulate, and found their work more meaningful....

Edward Hall’s “Beyond Culture,” a fascinating read, draws upon his experiences as a psychoanalyst and cross-cultural anthropologist to examine how things like language, time, brain structure, and education condition our views of the world. Some of the passages touch on themes we’ve addressed here at SvN (e.g. reality vs. plans, small groups, bureaucracy, etc.) so I’ll post a few excerpts over the next couple of days. Let’s start with Hall’s conclusion on the perfect group size: 8-12 people....