Transcript Unit 3: Dimensions of Culture

Unit 3: Dimensions of Culture
Unit 3: Objectives
At the end of this unit, you should be able to:
• define 'culture' and 'intercultural communication' in your
own words;
• explain the general features of culture and sub-cultures;
• discuss the differences between individualist and
collectivist cultures, and identify three other dimensions
of cultural variation;
• explain briefly the major theories of culture within the
context of intercultural speech communication; and
• suggest implications of principles of intercultural
communication for speech strategy use.
Defining ‘culture’
'Culture' is complex and has far-reaching implications for
speech communication practice
• Simple definition - "the way of life of a particular group of
people".
• Extended definition: "the relatively specialised life-style
of a group of people - consisting of their values, beliefs,
artefacts, ways of behaving, and ways of
communicating. Also included in a culture are all that the
members of a social group have produced and
developed - their language, modes of thinking, art, laws,
and religion" (DeVito, J. 1997: 85).
• Culture tends to underlie all aspects and forms of speech
communication.
Defining culture (cont’d…)
• Distinction between 'primary culture' and
'secondary culture(s)‘
• Primary culture refers to ‘native’ culture i.e the
culture one is born into
• secondary culture refers to the sub-cultures we
belong to in relation to the social roles that we
play in our daily lives.
– membership in special interest communities
– involve different ways of thinking, values, beliefs,
ways of behaving, and ways of communicating
– language (both spoken and written) plays a dominant
role in all forms of cultural activity.
Defining culture (cont’d…)
• Some Features of Culture
• Culture is passed from one generation to the next
through communication, not through genetic inheritance.
Ethnicity is NOT culture, but religion can be part of
culture.
• Culture is not the same as race or ethnic origin, but
members of a particular race often share the same
culture by being taught through communication. It is not
uncommon to find sub-cultures within a large
population of people who are of the same ethnic group.
• Enculturation is the process of learning one's own
native culture. Agents include parents, peer groups,
schools, religious institutions, and government agencies.
Culture (cont’d…)
•
•
Acculturation is the process of learning a
non-native culture. Factors that promote
acculturation include cultural similarity,
extroversion and risk-taking.
Ethnocentrism is one of the major problems
that negatively colour cultural awareness and
sensitivity towards people from other cultures.
DeVito (1999, p. 24) defines this problem and
provides some very useful information. Read
this section and Table 1.3 about 'the
ethnocentrism continuum'.
How do Cultures Differ?
Useful to look at differences between
cultures in three ways:
• Orientation (general tendencies of
members),
• Context (how much information is shared),
and
• Power distance (differences in social rank
and status).
Culture Orientation
Collectivism versus Individualism in a continuum:
• Individualism – the tendency of people in a given
culture to value “individual identity over group
identity, individual rights over group rights, and
individual achievements over group concerns”
(Ting-Toomey & Choong, 1996: 239, cited in Tubbs
and Moss, 2000: 284).
• Collectivism – the tendency of people in a given
culture to value “group identity over individual
identity, group obligations over individual rights, and
in-group oriented concerns over individual wants
and desires” (ibid.)
Culture Orientation
(cont’d…)
Individualistic orientation:
• personal goals
• independence
• being direct in communication
• being less influenced by friends, family, school, religion,
etc.
Collectivist orientation:
• group needs
• interdependence
• avoiding direct conflicts
• generally working towards group solidarity
Culture Orientation
(cont’d…)
Important points about culture orientation:
• not mutually exclusive
• people have dominant tendencies towards one
orientation or the other
• team player (collectivist) vs. individual player
(individualistic)
• Opposing orientations may lead to conflict – mostly
affect speech practice in small groups and organisational
contexts:
individualistic members tend to favour clarity and
directness while collectivists adopt ‘face saving’ to avoid
being negative in their evaluation
Culture context
High-context vs. Low-context Cultures
• Context – ways in which information is
coded, shared and transacted
• High-context cultures:
– More skilled in decoding non-verbal behaviour
– Assume that other people will also be able to
do the same
• Low-context cultures tend to depend more
on explicit, verbal behaviour
Culture context
(cont’d…)
• High/Low contexts at opposite ends of a
continuum
• Culture scholars compare high-context cultures
to collectivist cultures and low-context cultures to
individualistic orientations
• Japanese and Arab cultures are said to lie at the
high end of the continuum vs. German, British,
and Scandinavian cultures
Culture context summary
High-Context
Information implicit
More shared info.
More spoken
transactions
People listen more
Low-Context
Information explicit
Less shared info.
More written contracts
and rules
More oral agreements
and understandings
Power Distance
• Power distance – the distribution of power among the
members of a given culture.
• PD refers to the degree to which people accept authority,
leadership, and multi-tiered government as a natural part
of their culture E.g. some people have higher status and
are therefore more powerful.
• The term ‘power’ may be roughly defined as the ability
that people have in making decisions that involve and
influence other people’s lives.
• People who have more power have more freedom of
choice
Power distance
(cont’d…)
High power distance
• power tends to be concentrated in a few people,
and there are great differences in the power held
by these people (e.g. political leaders) and by
the ordinary citizens, e.g., in countries like Brazil,
the Philippines, India, China and Mexico
• Communication between those in power and the
ordinary people tends to be authoritarian in
style.
Power distance
(cont’d…)
Low power distance
• Power is more or less evenly distributed among
groups and individuals such as in countries like
Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden, and Australia
• Greater sense of equality among the masses
• Power that some people do have is only due to
some specific role that they are playing in
society, e.g., teachers, doctors, and government
officials.
• Perceived abuse of power tends to be openly
questioned
Theories of Culture, Language
and Communication
• Can there be thought without language? Is
thinking simply 'inner speech', that is,
intrapersonal communication?
• Does language shape our ideas as well as
our cultural practices, or is it a mere tool
that serves to express what we already
have in our culture?
Language Relativity
Hypothesis (LRH)
• From the field of linguistic anthropology
(the study of language and culture)
• attempts to trace the origins of language in
the practice of culture, and how language
influences thought and behaviour in
particular cultures (E. Sapir 1929; B. L.
Whorf [1956; J. B. Carroll 1956; J.
Fishman 1960)
(LRH cont’d…)
• Originally known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
• our thought is shaped by the language(s) we speak
• Benjamin Lee Whorf (1956): the world is perceived
differently by members of different communities, and that
this perception is transmitted and sustained by language
• Language as the primary way by which culture is
expressed and passed on from generation to generation
• Language influences our experience of the world:
language is our 'window on the world‘
• Whorf studied the semantic and syntactic differences
between native American Indian languages e.g. ‘verbs’
and ‘nouns’ and their meaning
(LRH cont’d…)
• Research by Stolz (1997) and Losoncy (1997) seems to
provides further evidence in support of the Whorfian
hypothesis.
• Stolz: brain research suggests that the language we use
influences our perception of success and failure, and
even our actual successes and failures.
• Losoncy: 'relabelling skills' can help us think about and
deal with our failures and misfortunes in more useful,
constructive ways. E.g. we can relabel the setbacks we
experience as "annoyances", catastrophes as
"hindrances", failures as "growth experiences", and
rejections as "inconveniences“
• Possible link with positive/negative self-talk?
(LRH cont’d…)
• DeVito (1997: 91): subsequent research
and theories have not supported the
strong view of the original hypothesis
• A more moderate view is now accepted:
that the language you speak helps to
highlight the things you see and feel, and
how you talk about them
(LRH cont’d…)
• linguistic differences between languages do not
by themselves contribute to differences in
perception, thought, or behaviour, and by
extension, to conflicts and problems in
intercultural communication
• Difficulties in understanding between people
from contrasting cultures are more due to
ineffective communication practices rather than
language differences
Culture Shock
Theory (CST)
• term 'culture shock' was first coined by the
anthropologist Kalervo Oberg in 1960
• CS refers to the psychological reaction that is
experienced at being in a culture different from one's
own
• CS accompanies feelings of alienation and loneliness,
and conspicuousness (being constantly conscious about
being different from others)
• CS can produce a vicious circle:
• inability to communicate effectively >> serious mistakes
>> more inability to communicate
CST (cont’d…)
CS situations sometimes involve the following speech acts:
• (a) how to pay a compliment
• (b) extending/accepting a dinner invitation
• (c) how early or late to arrive for an appointment
• (d) how to distinguish between seriousness and
playfulness
• (e) how to distinguish between politeness and
indifference
• (f) how to dress for formal, informal, or business
functions
• (g) How to order a meal at a restaurant or to summon
the waiter
CST (cont’d…)
CS stages (Oberg 1960):
• Stage 1: The Honeymoon - involves fascination and
enchantment with the new culture
• Stage 2: The Crisis- the differences between your
culture and the new culture create problems, and the
actual ‘culture shock’ occurs during this stage
• Stage 3: The Recovery - you gain the skills and
strategies necessary to function effectively in the new
culture
• Stage 4: The Adjustment - you make the necessary
adjustments and start to enjoy the new culture
Intercultural
Communication
• cross-cultural situation vs intercultural
communication
• some people use the terms ‘cross-cultural’
and ‘intercultural’ interchangeably
• IC involves communication between
persons who have different cultural beliefs,
values, and ways of behaving because of
cultural distances that are variable
between people
IC (cont’d…)
Strategies of Intercultural
Communication
• Prepare yourself
• Recognise your fears and face them.
• Recognise differences between your
culture and the target culture.
• Recognise differences in meaning
• Follow cultural rules and customs.
Dimensions of Culture:
Summary
• Refer to the transactional model of speech
communication for role of culture
• Speech communication is about cultural
contact (refer to theories)