Intercultural Communication Chapter 11: What Diversity Exists in the Study of Intercultural Communication?

Objectives for Chapter 11 Be able to identify and explain three major perspectives on culture. Understand the difference between the implications each of the three major perspectives has for studying and thinking about intercultural communication. Understand the nature of popular culture and its influence. Be able to explain how the mass media (including popular culture) is connected to culture from the three major perspectives.

Three major perspectives Interpretive Critical Traditional

Major Perspectives Goal is to: Interpretive Perspective: Culture helps us make sense of things around us Goal is to: 1. explain action 2. explain how people share meaning and coordinate actions

Major Perspectives Critical Perspective: culture as a power struggle in political, economic, and historical systems Goal is to expose the inequalities of life

Major Perspectives Traditional Perspective: Goal is: culture as practical and predictable Goal is: 1. use quantitative measures 2. predict typical behaviors of people

Popular Culture Popular Culture: (Def.) products of human work and thought, accepted and approved of by a large community or population.

Characteristics of Popular Culture Easily accessed Commercial What we believe and what we should believe Reflects current beliefs and challenges us to adopt new beliefs Who we are and who we should be Role models?

Discussion Question from Text Can you find examples of how popular culture has influenced your friends, your family, or yourself?

Artifacts of Popular Culture Real icons Imagined icons Real celebrities Imaginary celebrities

Discussion Question from Text What is the ethnic makeup of the stars in the shows you enjoy? What range of the roles are played by different ethnicities on a given night on mainstream television?

Traditional Perspectives on Popular Culture and the Media Impact of the Media on Culture: What impact do certain types of media have on cultural values, identification, acculturation, and the way we view other groups?

Reverse the Traditional Perspective on Popular Culture and the Media Impact of Culture on the Media: What is the impact of culture on the way popular culture or media in general is produced?

Traditional Perspectives on Popular Culture and the Media Culture as an Intervening Variable: How can our knowledge of another’s culture improve our chances of using mass media to get the outcomes we desire?

Discussion Question from Text What impact do you think popular culture is having in your own community and around the world? What can or should be done about this? What about the influence of social media in your community and around the world?