Download Cultural - Bakersfield College

3: Inter-Act,
th
13
Edition
Culture
1
Intercultural
Communication
Interactions that occur between
people whose cultures are so
different that the
communication between them
is altered
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Culture
• The system of
beliefs, values,
and attitudes
shared by a
particular
segment of the
population
Culture Shock
• The psychological
discomfort of
adjusting to a new
cultural situation
3
Dominant Culture
Culture within a society whose
attitudes, values, beliefs, and
customs hold the majority
opinion
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Co-Cultures
Groups of people living within a
dominant culture who are
clearly different from the
dominant culture
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Co-Cultures
1. Gender
2. Race
3. Ethnicity
4. Sexual orientation and gender identity
5. Religion
6. Social class
7. Generation
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Identifying Cultural
Similarities and Differences
• Individualism-Collectivism: extent to which people in a
culture are integrated into groups
• Uncertainty Avoidance: extent to which people in a
culture avoid unpredictability regarding people,
relationships, and events
• Power Distance: amount of difference in power between
people, institutions, and organizations in a culture
• Masculinity-Femininity: extent to which notions of
"maleness" and "femaleness" are valued in a culture
• Time Orientation: differences in how cultures perceive
time
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Individualism-Collectivism
Individualistic
cultures value:
 Personal rights and
responsibilities
 Competition and
personal achievement
 Self-expression
 Privacy
Collectivist cultures
value:
 Community, strong
connection to groups
 Harmony and
cooperation
 Avoiding
embarrassment
 Group interests over
self-interests
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Uncertainty Avoidance
Low Uncertainty
Avoidance
 Comfortable with
unpredictability
 Takes risks
 Few rules
 Accepts multiple
perspectives of “truth”
High Uncertainty
Avoidance
 Creates systems of
formal rules
 Believes in absolute
truth
 Less tolerant of
deviant ideas or
behaviors
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Power Distance
High Power Distance
 Power distributed
unequally
 Power imbalances
seen as natural
 Power is respected
Low Power Distance
 Power is distributed
equally
 Inequalities are
downplayed
 People with power are
not feared
 Democracy is valued
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Masculinity-Femininity
Masculine Cultures
 Traditional sex-based
roles followed
 Men are assertive and
dominant
 Women are nurturing,
service-oriented
 Male traits valued over
female traits
Feminine Cultures
 Roles not based on
one’s sex
 People free to act in
nontraditional ways
 Feminine traits valued
 Both men and women
demonstrate both
masculine and
feminine behaviors
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Time Orientation
Monochronic
 Value punctuality
 Follow plans
Polychronic
 Value flexible
schedules
 Multitasking
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U.S. Rankings
(among 53 Countries/Regions)
15th
38th
43rd
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Cultural Context
Low-Context
 Direct verbal
messages
 Speakers expected to
say what they mean
High-Context
 Indirect meaning
 Understood by
referring to unwritten
cultural rules and
subtle nonverbal
behavior
 “Read between the
lines”
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Barriers to Effective
Intercultural Communication
• Anxiety
• Assuming similarity or difference culture
• Ethnocentrism
• Stereotyping
• Incompatible communication codes
• Incompatible norms and values
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Pyramid Model of Intercultural
Competence
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Intercultural Communication
Competence
• Intercultural competence: effective and
appropriate behavior and communication in
intercultural situations
• Internal outcomes:
• Informed frame of reference, filter shift
• Adaptability, flexibility
• Ethnorelativism: point of view that allows you
to see value in other cultural perspectives
• Empathy
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Intercultural Competence
External outcome: Behaving and communicating effectively
and appropriately to achieve your goals
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