1. CULTURAL PATTERNS & COMMUNICATION:TAXONOMIES
CHAPTER 5
CULTURAL PATTERNS & COMMUNICATION:TAXONOMIES

2. Chapter Summary
Communication and Context

3. Low Context German, Swedish, European American, English Explicit codes
Every statement must be precise
Overt messages
Time highly organized
Low-Context = most information is stated explicitly in the verbal message

4. High Context Japanese, African American, Mexican, Latino
Implied messages
Apart of values, norms, beliefs, social practices
Covert messages
Ingroups
Time less structured
High-Context = most information is the context or person rather than the verbal message

5. II. Hofstede’s Cultural Taxonomy
Power
Masculine/Feminine
Individual/Collective
High/Low Context

6. individualistic 2.

7. India Brazil Power Differences
1. High Power Distance = power is in the hands of a few
Brazil
India

8. Low Power Distance = power is evenly distributed throughout the citizenry
Denmark
New Zealand

9. B. Masculine vs Feminine
C. Individual vs. Collective Orientation
1. Individualistic = puts the individual first, over the group

10. 2. Collectivist = promotes group values as most important

11. Uncertainty Reduction = the more we reduce uncertainty, the greater comfort we feel

12. D. Culture Shock = the. psychological reaction. you experience when
D. Culture Shock = the psychological reaction you experience when you’re in a culture very different from your own.

13. III. Theories of Culture & Communication
A. Language Relativity = theory that the language we speak influences our behaviors and our perceptions of the world

14. C. Maximizing Outcomes =. trying to gain the. greatest rewards while
C. Maximizing Outcomes = trying to gain the greatest rewards while paying the least costs

15. What is Culture? Three approaches:
Social science - how culture influences communication.
Interpretive - cultural patterns within specific contexts.
Critical - communication as instrumental in resisting power and oppression.

16. What is Culture? High Culture and Low Culture
High culture includes the cultural activities of the elite or well-to-do.
Low culture – reconceptualized as popular culture—refers to cultural activities of the nonelite.

17. What is Culture? Social Science Approaches
Anthropology: shared and learned patterns of beliefs and perception
Psychology: the collective programming of the mind

18. What is Culture? Interpretive Approaches
Ethnography of communication - symbolic significance of verbal and nonverbal activities
Hymes' eight-part “SPEAKING” framework for studying naturally occurring speech in depth and context.

19. What is Culture? Cultural Studies:
Views culture as a site of struggle for contested meanings.
Argues for the significance of popular culture
Draws attention to the struggles of marginalized groups in society

20. What is Communication?
A symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed.
A dynamic process: when we negotiate meaning, we are creating, maintaining, and transforming reality.

21. The Relationship between Culture and Communication
Culture influences communication.
Communication is shaped by deeply held cultural values and beliefs (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961)
Human nature
The relationship between humans and nature
Relationships between humans
Preferred forms of activity
Orientation to time

22. The Relationship between Culture and Communication
Communication influences culture.
Culture is enacted through communication.
Cultural communication scholars study how cultures are performed and expressed through communication rituals.
Cultural studies researchers try to discover how individuals use their own space to resist dominant society.

23. The Relationship Between Communication and Context
Context is defined as the physical and/or social aspects of a communication situation.
People communicate differently depending on the social, political, and historical contexts of their interaction.
Context is not static or objective, and it can be multilayered.

24. Communication and Power
Power is always a part of communication interactions.
A. Individuals rarely have equal power in communication interactions.
B. People in power consciously or unconsciously create and maintain power systems that support their own ways of thinking and communicating.

25. Communication and Power
C. There are two levels of group-related power:
1. Primary dimensions, which are more permanent in nature
2. Secondary dimensions, which are more changeable
D. Dominant cultural groups perpetuate positions of privilege in many ways, but disempowered people may find creative ways to negotiate power.