1. Communication Across Cultures
Chapter 8
Communication Across Cultures .

2. What is Culture? High Culture Low Culture Popular Culture
Culture of the elite class
i.e. Opera, ballet, literature
Low Culture
Culture of the working class
i.e. Folk art, popular theater
Popular Culture
Culture of common everyday people
i.e. TV, magazine, movies, fashion, music

3. Anthropologic Definition
Culture is passed down from generation to generation through symbols .
Culture allows us to make sense and understand the world.
Culture allows us to express ourselves.
When you share the system of meaning, you become part of the culture.

4. Culture is not shared by everyone, but contested and negotiated.
Culture as a Site of Contested Meaning
Cultural Studies Definition
Culture is not shared by everyone, but contested and negotiated.
Focus on representations of class, race, gender, sexuality, and nationality in the media.
Culture as an apparatus of power, system of domination.
Culture is a site where power relations are negotiated.
Hegemony : Domination through consent

5. Resource for political movement.
Culture as a Resource
Globalization Definition
Culture is used as resource for economic growth in global trade (movies, music, etc.)
Resource for political movement.
Resource for educating people: literacy, health campaigns, etc.
Resource for collective resistance and social change

6. Cultural Identity
A situated sense of self that is shaped by our cultural experiences and social locations
How do you define yourself in terms of cultural identity?
Do you have multiple cultural identities?
How does your cultural identity shape your perspectives, beliefs and relationships with others?
Is the way you identify culturally related to issues of power?
For example, dominant groups identities are often not as salient as non-dominant group identities

7. Positionality
A term that describes how we are socially positioned in relation to each other.
One’s social location shaped by differences--race, class, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, and physical abilities
i.e. I’m a woman, of Mexican descent, upper class, and deaf
i.e. I’m a White American male who is in a committed relationship with another man, educated, from working class, and non-religious

8. Standpoint Theory
Standpoint: A place from which to view and make sense of the world.
Your positionality gives you a particular standpoint.
Different realities depending on the position from which to view it.
People with less power in society often have a fuller and more comprehensive view—both the dominant and marginalized view.

9. Standpoint Theory and Positionality
We may see, experience, and understand the world quite differently based on our different standpoints and positionalities .
Knowledge about ourselves and others is situated and partial.
Knowledge is always and inevitably connected to power.
Oppositional standpoints can be formed to challenge and contest the status quo.

10. Ethnocentrism Ethno: group or nation Kentron: center
Idea that one’s own group’s way of thinking, being and acting is superior to others.
Ethnocentrism can result in dehumanization, prejudices, discrimination, conflict, and violence.
Communication 440 Panama 2012

11. Overview of Themes The importance of intercultural communication
What is intercultural communication?
Intercultural communication and the individual
The individual, intercultural communication, and society
Ethics and intercultural communication
Improving your intercultural communication skills

12. The Importance of Intercultural Communication

13. Increased Opportunities for Intercultural Contact
We have increased opportunities for intercultural contact due to
Relocation of peoples
Diaspora – displacement because of untenable conditions
Increasing cultural diversity within the U.S.
The Internet

15. Enhanced Business Effectiveness
Studying intercultural communication can lead to greater success in domestic and international business
International business failure occurs often as a result of poor intercultural planning

16. Improved Intergroup Relations
We need better communication between countries and ethnic groups
Conflicts may require mediation (peaceful third-party intervention)

17. Enhanced Self-Awareness
Studying intercultural communication can make us more aware of our own cultural identity and communication patterns

18. What Is Intercultural Communication?

19. What Is Intercultural Communication?
Occurs in interactions with people who are culturally different
Culture is dynamic, heterogeneous (diverse), and operates within societal power structures

20. Intercultural Communication and the Individual

21. Intercultural Communication on the Borders
One can become a border dweller (one who lives between cultures) through
Travel
Socialization (cocultural groups)
Participation in an intercultural relationship
Border dwelling can be voluntary or involuntary, for short or long periods
Culture shock - disorientation or discomfort with new surroundings
Reverse cultural shock – culture shock in one’s home culture

22. The Influence of Cultural Values on Communication
Cultural values = are central beliefs of cultural groups that prescribe what should be; these strongly influence individual behavior in interaction
Individualism – cultural emphasis on individual autonomy/independence
Collectivism – cultural emphasis on needs of the group

23. The Influence of Cultural Values on Communication, cont.
Preferred personality refers to a culture’s emphasis on whether it is more important to “do” or to “be”
“Doing” mode – working hard to achieve material gain
“Being” mode - experiencing life and relationships with others
Another value difference is the view of human nature as essentially good or evil

24. The Influence of Cultural Values on Communication, cont.
Another value difference is the human-nature value orientation, which is the perceived relationship between humans and nature
Some cultures believe humans are intended to rule nature
Others believe nature rules humans
Still others believe humans and nature exist in harmony

25. The Influence of Cultural Values on Communication, cont.
Power distance refers to the extent to which less powerful members of organizations within a culture accept unequal distribution of power
Some cultures embrace the minimization of inequality and an emphasis on informality regardless of rank
Some cultures are structured around formal hierarchies with clear roles

26. The Influence of Cultural Values on Communication, cont.
Long-term v. short-term orientations reflect a culture’s attitude toward virtue and truth
Short-term emphasize one fundamental truth (monotheism)
Long-term respect polytheistic ideas of thrift, perseverance, and a willingness to subordinate oneself to a purpose

27. Dialectic Approach
One that emphasizes simultaneous contradictory truths
Challenges dichotomous (either/or) thinking
Cultural/individual dialectic - some behaviors determined by culture, others are idiosyncratic
Personal/contextual dialectic - the individual and the situation are both important in intercultural communication
Differences/similarities dialectic - disjunctures and commonalities between cultures can both be present
Something can be one thing and its opposite at the same time

28. Dialectic Approach, cont.
Static/dynamic dialectic - some cultural patterns stable, but can change
History/Past-Present/Future dialectic - emphasizes both the present and the past influences on a culture
Privilege-disadvantage dialectic - cultural members can be privileged and disadvantaged

29. The Individual, Intercultural Communication, and Society

30. Political and Historical Forces
Broad political and historical forces have the power to influence
Perceptions
Understanding
Communication patterns of contemporary intercultural interactions on all relationship levels

31. Intercultural Communication and Power
Those with less power in a culture tend to notice influential power differences
Power determines whose cultural values will be respected and followed
Significant minority groups within a dominant majority have to decide how they will relate to individuals in a dominant culture

32. Ethics and Intercultural Communication

33. Ethics and Intercultural Communication
Remember that everyone is enmeshed in a culture and is communicating through a particular cultural lens
Be aware of the humanity of other cultural groups and avoid viewing them as an exotic “other”
Be open to alternate ways of viewing the world than the ones you were taught

34. Improving Your Intercultural Communication Skills

35. Improving Your Intercultural Communication Skills
Increase your motivation to be an effective communicator
Increase your knowledge of your own culture and the history, background, and values of other cultures
Avoid stereotypes and prejudices of individuals from cultural groups other than your own, even if these appear to be complimentary in nature