CULTURE, COMMUNICATION,

CONTEXT, AND POWER

Culture

Communication

Context

Power

FOUR BUILDING BLOCKS TO UNDERSTANDING IC

Learned patterns of behaviour and attitudes shared by a group of people

“Culture provides the rules for playing the game of life.” (Gudykunst, 2004; Yamada, 1997)

Components of culture Culture is learned Culture is transmitted intergenerationally Culture is symbolic Culture is dynamic Culture is ethnocentric

WHAT IS CULTURE?

View culture as a set of learned, group-related perceptions (B. Hall, 1992)

Geert Hofstede, a noted social psychologist, defines culture as “the programming of the mind,” and explains his notion of culture in terms of a computer program:Every person carries within him or herself patterns of thinking, feeling, and potential acting which were learned throughout (his or her) lifetime. Much of these (life patterns are) acquired in early childhood, because at that time a person is most susceptible to learning and assimilating.

Culture becomes a collective experience because it is shared with people who live in and experience the same social environment.

CULTURE AS SEEN BY SOCIAL SCIENTISTS

View culture as shared and learned; however they tend to focus on contextual patterns of communication behaviour rather than on group-related perceptions

Anthropologist Cliff ord Geertz says:Culture denotes an historically transmitted pattern of meaning embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life.

Ethnography of communicationSymbolic significance Embodied ethnocentrismHow much of culture is truly shared? Do we really have

a common culture?

CULTURE AS SEEN BY INTERPRETIVE RESEARCHERS

Red

China: Good luck, celebration, summoningCherokees: Success, triumphIndia: PuritySouth Africa: Color of mourningRussia: Bolsheviks and CommunismEastern: Worn by bridesWestern: Excitement, danger, love, passion, stop,

Christmas (with green)

RED AROUND THE WORLD

Emphasizes the heterogeneity of cultural groups and the often confl ictual nature of cultural boundaries

Is there an American culture?

How many perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs and behaviors are shared among the many diverse people living in the US?

Emphasizing the shared aspects of cultures leads us to gloss over the many interesting differences among US Americans.

Cultural boundaries are often contested and not easily agreed upon; for example, many Americans have multicultural identities, and they resist the efforts by some to pigeon hole their race/ethnicity

CULTURE AS SEEN BY CRITICAL RESEARCHERS

1. Lagniappe is a term used in southern Lousiana for:a) Hurricanesb) Something free or sometimes a small gift given by a store owner to a customer

after purchasec) Inviting someone over for a meald) Helping a friend with home remodeling or yard work

2. What is the name of the dish that features black-eyed peas and rice (although sometimes col lards, ham hocks, stewed tomatoes, or other items) and is served in the South, especial ly on New Year’s Day?

a) Chitlingsb) Jowlsc) Hoppin’ Johnd) Red rice

3. A very sweet pie made from molasses that originated with the Pennsylvania Dutch:

a) Mincemeat pieb) Sugar piec) Shoofl y pied) Lancaster pie

TEST OF US CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

4. Which of the following is NOT the name of a Native American tribe?

a) Seminoleb) Apachec) Arapahod) Illini

5. The month of Ramadan, a month of fasting for Muslims, ends with which holiday?

a) Eid ul-Fitrb) Allahu Akbarc) Takbird) Abu Bakr

6. On June 12 every year, some US Americans celebrate “Loving Day” to commemorate:

a) You legal right to love someone of another raceb) Your legal right to love someone of the same sexc) Your legal right to be a single parentd) Your legal right to get a divorce

TEST OF US CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

7. The celebrat ion of Buddha’s birthday is not held on Christmas, but instead on:

a) Fourth of Julyb) July 14c) Asian Lunar New Year’s Dayd) Hanamatsuri

8. Sometimes viewed as a Scandinavian tort i l la, these potato fl atcakes are often sold in areas with high Scandinavian American populat ions:

a) Lefseb) Lutefi skc) Aquavitd) Fiskepudding

9. This tradit ional Mexican soup is made from tr ipe, hominy, and chi l i :a. Tortilla soupb. Tomatilloc. Chorizo soupd. Menudo

10. Like a coconut pudding, this food comes from Hawai i :a. Lomi lomib. Pokec. Haupiad. Kalua

TEST OF US CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE

As complex as culture and can be defi ned in many ways

Can be understood as a “symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed” (J.W Carey, 1989). It’s defi ning characteristic=MEANING!

Social Science perspective (predictable, pattern)Sender/Receiver Message Channel Context

Interpretive perspective (significance comes from agreed meaning)Gestures Across Cultures

Critical perspective (voices and symbols arranged in social hierarchy)

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?

WHO WOULD YOU LISTEN TO MORE CAREFULLY?

Complex…a dialectical approach assumes that culture and communication are interrelated and reciprocal

First, we will look at how Culture infl uences communication

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck Value Orientations Cultural Values: the worldview of a cultural group and its set of

deeply held beliefs (can you think of a value held by your cultural group?)

IC conflicts often caused by differences in value orientations. For example, some feel strongly about how things have been done in the past, and they use history and tradition to help provide guidance. Others prefer to look ahead and change how things have been done (especially if they feel it’s been unproductive). This happens often in international corporations, but even in the workplace across generations.

WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION?

Range of ValuesHuman nature Basically good Mixture of good

and evilBasically evil

Relationship between humans and nature

Humans dominate

Harmony exists between the two

Nature dominates

Relationships between humans

Individual Group oriented Collateral

Preferred personality

“Doing”: stress on action

“Growing”: stress on spiritual growth

“Being”: stress on who you are

Time orientation Future oriented Present oriented Past oriented

KLUCKHOHN AND STRODTBECK VALUE ORIENTATIONS

Geert Hofstede (social psychologist) extended the work of Kluckhohn & Strodtbeck by examining the value diff erences among national societies (rather than by ethnic communities, as K&S had done). (1984 - Study of international IBM subsidiaries in 53 countries).

Hofstede identified five (5) areas of common problems among the national societies: Individualism vs. Collectivism (K&S also found this) Power distance Femininity vs. masculinity Uncertainty avoidance Long-term vs. short-term orientation

HOFSTEDE’S VALUE ORIENTATION

Power Distance

Low Power Distance High Power Distance

Less hierarchy bettere.g. Denmark, Israel, New Zealand

More hierarchy bettere.g. Mexico, India

Femininity/Masculinity

Femininity Masculinity

Fewer gender-specific rolesValue quality of life, etc.e.g. Denmark, Norway, Sweden

More gender-specific rolesAchievement, ambition, material goodse.g. Japan, Austria, Mexico

Uncertainty Avoidance

Low uncertainty avoidance High uncertainty avoidance

Dislike rules, accept dissent, less formale.g. Great Britain, Sweden, Hong Kong

More rules, limit dissent, more formale.g. Greece, Portugal, Japan

Long-term/Short-term Orientation

Short-term orientation Long-term orientation

Universal guidelines for good and evilPrefer quick resultse.g. Western, Judaism, Christianity, Islam

Definition of good and evil depends on circumstances; value perseverancee.g. Confucianism, Hindu, Buddhism

Not everyone in a given society holds the dominant value

Cannot reduce individuals to stereotypes based on just these value orientations

Cultures are dynamic and heterogeneous

LIMITATIONS OF VALUE FRAMEWORK

Culture not only influences communication but also is enacted through, and so is influenced by, communication

Communication patterns that are situated socially help give a voice to cultural identity Communication ritual- set form of systematic interactions

that take place on a regular basis

Sometimes individuals/groups use their own space to resist the dominant cultural system French youth rioted for days in Paris to communicate their

resistance to the ways the French social system works Occupy movement

COMMUNICATION REINFORCING CULTURE/

RESISTANCE TO DOMINANT CULTURAL SYSTEM

Physical characteristics of the setting influence communication

Social context determined by societal level Calvin Klein ad’s from the 90’s

Political context include those forces that attempt to change or retain existing social structures and relations

Historical context

COMMUNICATION AND CONTEXT

“In every society a social hierarchy exists that privileges some groups over others. Those groups that function at the top of the social hierarchy determine to a great extent the communication system of the entire society.” –Mark Orbe (1998)

Where can we see this happening in the US? Two levels of group related power exist:

Primary Dimensions (age, ethnicity, gender, physical abilities, sexual orientation)

Secondary Dimensions (educational background, geographic location, marital status, socioeconomic status)

Power is dynamic—there can be resistance to the dominant culture. What could you do in college to be resistant to the dominant

culture?

COMMUNICATION AND POWER

ACTIVITY