Cross-national comparisons of culture-related values are largely based on an ontology that asserts a certain ‘reality’: the perceived sameness of the self with social others. This ontology is predicated on the presumption that comparisons and contrasts among cultures can be based on a universal pre-ordained set of dimensions upon which commensurability of comparisons and contrasts is advanced. The present article argues that a methodological approach combining ‘text’ and ‘context’ demonstrates that the presumed sameness of the self with social others leads to a loss of context-specific, experiential understanding. The approach suggested here thus destabilizes the presumption of a universal set of dimensions upon which comparisons and contrasts among cultures have previously been made. This, in turn, destabilizes the very concept upon which cross-national comparisons have been based.
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