Week 6

We’re going to talk about some different ways to think about aspects of culture. Essentially, what makes different cultures different?

Have I given you guys a definition of culture yet? I like this short and sweet one -- Learned rules and behaviors.

The book has a much longer definition, which is fine, but I think this one get you where you need to go.

Culture shapes how we communicate.

Dominant Culture- the values, norms, and practices of the group within society that is most powerful

Social Communities- groups outside of the mainstream culture

May also be called microcultures, co-cultures, sub-cultures

Standpoint Theory- our experiences as members of particular social groups shape the way we perceive the world, ourselves, and the way that we communicate

Ways that scholars have developed for thinking about cultures

Individualism/Collectivism

Low Context/High Context

Analytic/Holistic Worldview

Small/Large Power Distance

Individualism and Collectivism

-Individualism- valuing personal independence, individual’s goals over the goals of the group.

People from cultures with high levels of individualism tend to belong to many groups but have a (relatively) short affiliation with them

-Collectivism- groups bind and mutually obligate individuals. Group goals take precedence over the individual.

Less group affiliations, but with a longer term affiliation and more emotional connection to the group

Adding to this you can think about each in terms of horizontal and vertical

HI- the self is valued but the individual is more or less equal – Sweden, Denmark

VI- the self is valued but seen as different from and unequal to others –the US

HC- the individual is a member of a group whose individuals are similar- complete equality – true communisim

VC- the individual is part of a group but sees the members of the group as different having varying levels of status. -- Japan

There is not an either/or relationship between these concepts, rather dimensions of each exist within cultures.

It’s also important to remember that as with all these aspects, just because we say this group is on one part of the continuum and this group falls on another part it doesn’t mean that we can say all individuals in a culture are this way. We’re just generalizing across the population.

Within the US we can think about individualism and collectivism differences across states. The North and Mid West are the most individualistic, while Hawaii, and the South tend to be more collectivistic

Context

Contextual cues of the environment – the physical location, sociorelations – the relationships between the interactants, and perceptions – attitudes, motivations, dispositions, biases -- impact communication

-High-context cultures rely more “on the contextual elements of the communication setting for information than on the actual language code.” – Asian, Arab, and African cultures. More indirect

Words and word choice are important as is what is left unsaid – the ingroup, culture is able to explain more.

-Low-context cultures rely mostly on the verbal code of the culture. – Europe, the US. More direct

High context cultures are more comfortable with silence – In the US we are very uncomfortable with silence. We perceive it as a problem

Within the US Texas is a more high context culture, while the East coast is low context, even though both are in a low context culture as a whole.

Holistic-Analytic Worldview

Holistic- view everything as connected – universe, nature, humans physically psychologically or behaviorally and analyze the key elements and relationships between them

Greater than the sum of its parts, nothing can be understood in isolation

Confucianism- humans are part of nature, the universe is one integrated unit that cannot be broken into discrete parts

Three fundamental characteristics of holistic relationships:

1. Relations are prescriptive, or given automatically, and determine the roles of the members

2. Whole-Oriented- not about the individual but rather oriented toward helping achieve the goal of the whole-Selflessness and sacrifice

3. Relations are complementary everybody performs different functions to strive toward the goal

Relativism- expressing the self through comparative terms and sensitivity to rank, the view of the self is always changing depending on who they are comparing themselves to,

Perceive others differently based on rank

Think differently status, age, and relations

Analytic-

Structured ways of accomplishing tasks, step by step solutions to solve problems

Tend to be more judgmental, serialist, fact retaining, and methodical

Confrontational

Categorization- rules and categories form a base of understanding

See individual parts better than whole ecosystem, can’t see the forest for the trees

Cause-effect relationships

Power Distance

Power distance is “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally” (Hofstede).

The way that people within a culture perceive differences in power and see these differences as normal.

Large power distance more respect is shown to people with more power and there is little expectation of movement through social hierarchies (China, India, Germany)

Small power distance cultures minimize differences in power among members (U.S.)

Earned power – hard work, individual accomplishments

vs.

positional power- formal authority, family rank

Culture Shock

· The disorientation, misunderstandings, conflict, stress, and anxiety caused by moving to or living in a new culture

· Culture shock is a psychological and social process

· It may last up to a year

1. U-curve model of culture shock stages

1. Tourist phase

· May last days or months

· Marked by feeling of excitement and fun in being immersed in the new culture

· The stresses of being immersed in a new culture are seen as positive

· The individual mostly interacts with the new culture through cultural institutions, much as a tourist would

2. Culture shock

· The excitement and fun give way to stress, confusion, frustration, anxiety, and depression

· The individual may feel tired or burnt-out from the extra energy it takes to navigate their new cultural environment

· Paranoia and irrational fears about the inhabitants of the new culture may occur

· Includes: control factors, interpersonal factors, organismic/biological factors, intrapersonal factors, spatial/temporal, geopolitical, similarity between the host culture and native culture, quality of information about the new culture, and the host culture’s attitudes and policies towards newcomer

3. Adjustment

· The individual develops a positive attitude about solving problems in the new culture

· The individual often comes to the realization that differences in culture are at the crux of the fears, anxiety, etc. that they have been feeling

· Intercultural relationships and an appreciation for the host culture begin to form

4. Adaptation/Acculturation

· The individual actively engages the new culture

· It is at this point that bicultural identities may form

2. The W-curve model of culture shock

· This model is similar to the U-curve model in the first four stages

· The difference is that this model takes into account the reentry shock that may occur when the individual returns to their own culture after an extended stay in another culture

· Reentry shock, or reverse culture shock, is a process of reacculturation to their native culture

3. Managing culture shock

· Be aware of the feelings that you have and don’t have denial about them

· Accept any problems or feelings as being part of culture shock

· Be prepared as prepared as possible to live in the new culture (read guide books, watch media, and visit the new culture if you can)

Empathy- the degree to which we can accurately infer another’s thoughts or feelings

Broome- relational empathy – because our thoughts and perceptions are so centered on our own cultural and individual experiences we can never completely understand what another is thinking or feeling.

We can only really try to understand another’s interpretation of the world and give that shape.

When people interact they create a third culture-

Shared meaning

Empathetic listening

Paraphrasing --rewording

Reflecting feelings – relating to the other persons feelings

Reflecting meaning – restating to confirm meaning

Summarizing – restating the major topics

Similarity – force for attraction, we tend to be attracted more to those that we perceive as similar.

If you perceive someone as similar you are more likely to engage in communication with that person