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> There are no written documents. The exchanges are based on mutual trust (perhaps for that reason unpopular in the United States?).

This would make it less popular in most of the developed world, with some exceptions, including (possibly) ones in the US. It's the difference between high- and low-context cultures, with the Arab world being generally more high-context than most of the US, with the exception of the South and Texas.

In addition, some subcultures are fairly low-context even if they exist in a generally high-context culture. A "Good Old Boy's Network" is going to be low-context regardless of where it is. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_boy_network Exclusive? Yes. Exclusionary? Hell, yeah. Those are the costs of being able to do business on a handshake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_and_low_context_cultures

http://www.marin.edu/buscom/index_files/Page605.htm

http://www2.pacific.edu/sis/culture/pub/Context_Cultures_Hig...

This has more context:

http://www.analytictech.com/mb021/cultural.htm




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