A Jungian Perspective on the Cultural Code as a Prism of Perception

by Dr. Carol Shumate*

The Pros and Cons

A cultural code operates like a secret language that all members of the culture understand but outsiders do not. Cultural codes constitute a shared system of meanings that form an unspoken operating system. They reflect the values of the culture and often exhibit a contrast between actions and speech. For example, cultures have codes for social behavior such as: 1) the practice of queuing in the UK which reflects the values of fairness, order, and self-restraint; 2) bargaining in the middle east which is a form of relationship-building; and 3) gift-giving in East Asia which expresses respect for reciprocity and hierarchy. Cultural codes like these are beneficial in fostering a sense of belonging and community, promoting efficient communication, and providing a moral or behavioral compass. 

However, cultural codes can lead to a resistance to change, to discrimination, and to conflict between cultures. Body language codes often differ dramatically from culture to culture. Making eye contact in the US signals transparency and honesty, whereas in Japan it can be disrespectful and seem aggressive. Physical proximity in Latin and South America suggests engagement and rapport, whereas in North America, it can signal a desire for either dominance or intimacy, clearly a two-edged sword.  Speech codes, even within a shared language, can require translation. British English relies heavily on "down-graders" (softening language, understatement) for politeness and indirect feedback, contrasting sharply with the direct, explicit communication style of Dutch English, where polite phrases can be read as literal invitations, leading to frequent misunderstandings in cross-cultural business settings. For example, if a British speaker begins by saying, “With all due respect,” a negative evaluation is sure to follow, but the Dutch speaker hears the word respect and assumes a positive evaluation. Dutch culture values clarity and getting straight to the point, while British culture prioritizes harmony and nuance. When a British speaker says, “That is an original idea,” he is suggesting that the idea is way outside of the realm of possibility, but the Dutch speaker thinks, ‘He likes my idea – he thinks it’s original!’ (Rottier et al., 2011).

Expressions of Archetypal patterns 

In Jungian terms, cultural codes are collective expressions of archetypes, shaped by history and myth. They reveal what a culture unconsciously strives for, what it fears, how it constructs identity, and what it deems meaningful. The American Dream which conceives of life as a triumph of individualism is expressed in the hero/heroine archetype of the self-made man. The Scandinavian ideal of equality, the idea that no man or woman is above any other, is expressed by the archetype of Everyman deriving from the Middle Ages. The Japanese ideal of duty and loyalty is expressed by the archetype of the Samurai warrior.

However, all archetypes are bipolar, able to be either constructive or destructive. When an archetype becomes inflated it can take possession of the individual or the culture. Then the code becomes an imprisoning law. The American archetype of the self-made man who believes he can do anything can be distorted by a lone assassin who believes he has the right, even the duty, to kill. The Everyman archetype of Scandinavia can suppress individual ambition and demean originality. The duty-bound warrior of Japan can become a corporate slave and yes-man. If these seem like unfair stereotypes, it should be noted that they are not the normal expression of the archetype, but the abnormal expression that occurs only when the archetype is inflated.

Subversion of Cultural Codes 

Currently we are witnessing the dissolution of many cultural codes of western civilization that have provided western cultures with a shared intellectual horizon for centuries: the right of self-rule is being challenged, the rule of law is being flouted, civil discourse has given way to uncivil discourse on social media, and even the value for objective fact is giving way to the idea that each person can create his own factual reality. 

The archetype underlying the subversion of so many cultural codes is that of the trickster, identified by anthropologists Paul Radin (1956) and Karl Kerenyi. The trickster is the personification of the manipulative deceiver. Its chief characteristic is transgression. The trickster is a boundary crosser. It does not respect borders or limits or cultural prohibitions. In fact, it is limitless, responsible for infinite territorial expansion. It comes to the fore in times of transition, when cultures are in a state of liminality. The current era epitomizes liminality, as exemplified by the phrase “the post-truth society” (Szakolczai, 2022). 

A Trickster Remedy

The good news is that the trickster, being bipolar, can combat the trickster sabotage of cultural codes. The trickster is a homeopathic remedy. It is an archetype that both inflicts a double bind and enables one to escape a double bind. Some near-impossible feats have been accomplished by individuals who leveraged trickster tactics to undermine destructive cultural codes which trapped their communities in a double bind:

• President Franklin Delano Roosevelt reframed America’s legal codes, created to enforce America’s neutrality following World War I, to provide aid to Great Britain in World War II. To circumvent legal restrictions, FDR created a new code called lend-lease, to loan equipment to any nation whose defense was deemed vital to the defense of the U.S. Neutrality laws governed sales, shipments, and debts, but had nothing to say about lending or leasing matériel. 
• Oskar Schindler, the subject of Steven Spielberg’s movie Schindler’s List, exploited the social codes of Nazi Germany to subvert its prosecution of the war. Schindler was the classic border-crossing trickster who paid no attention to the military hierarchy or to laws against socializing with non-Aryans. His ability to cross these lines enabled him to use his network of social relations with Nazi commanders to rescue more than a thousand Jews from annihilation. 
• Adolfo Suárez of Spain re-purposed the administrative codes of the one-party Francoist regime to undo one-party rule and create a democracy. The regime’s cultural codes required adherence to the party line and engendered corruption among opportunistic politicians. Suárez was able to become the first democratically elected prime minister of Spain by deconstructing the codes of governance that had brought him to power in the first place. Because he had used all the levers of power to create his own political career, he knew exactly where and what they were and how to dismantle them. 

All three men used trickster tactics to use destructive cultural codes for purposes that were the opposite of those they were intended for. When used for the greater good, the trickster’s amorality can be uniquely effective.  At its best, the trickster is a comedian. With the fluidity and good humor of a court jester, it can enable non-judgmental interactions between individuals of opposing ideologies and between nations in conflict. 

President Zelensky exhibits many of the positive qualities of the trickster. Zelensky violated entrenched expectations of what a head of state should look and sound like. By scrambling the cultural codes that dictate leadership standards, he bypasses cynicism and gains international attention. People listen because the pattern is broken. His early jokes about not needing a ride but ammunition show how he rejected the cultural coding that would label Ukraine as merely a victim. By refusing the strongman archetype preferred by many leaders, Zelensky achieves an appealing vulnerability and authenticity that draws allies. His trickster capacity for boundary-crossing enables him to interact with everyone and to keep all routes open. He could be an ideal leader to extricate Ukraine from its current double bind—mastering the cultural codes of both allies and opponents, and reframing them to serve liberation.

References

Radin, P. (1956). The Trickster: A study in American Indian mythology, with commentaries by Karl Kerenyi and C. G. Jung. Schocken Books.

Rottier, B., Ripmeester, N., & Bush, A. (2011). Separated by a common translation? How the British and the Dutch communicate. Pediatric Pulmonology, April 46(4):409-11.

Szakolczai, A. (2022). Post-truth society: A political anthropology of trickster logic. Routledge.

*Carol Shumate’s current work-in-progress is about Trickster Energy for a Narcissistic Culture.