Intercultural Communication Chapter 7

Intercultural Communication Culture: “A unique combination of rituals, religious beliefs, ways of thinking, and ways of behaving that unify a group of people” (p. 170). Intercultural Communication: “The exchange of information between individuals why are unalike culturally” (p. 168)

Describe your Culture What do you celebrate every year? What is acceptable behavior? What is unacceptable behavior? What is expected of you in situations? Any other things that you can think of? Share your ideas with your group.

Intercultural Communication Culture Co-cultures Differ in some small way : dress, religion, values, etc.

Questions: What are some overarching cultural systems? Within these systems, are there any co-cultures that are apparent? In what ways are they different?

Intercultural Communication Ethnocentrism: “Belief that your own group or culture is superior to all other groups or cultures” (p. 172). Consequences of ethnocentricity: Everyone else is wrong. Rejection of others beliefs. Ignorance. Stereotyping

Activity: 1) List some stereotypes of your culture? 2) Share these ideas with your group. 3) What surprises you?

Cultural Dimensions Individualism – Collectivism Low Context – High Context Uncertainty Accepting – Rejecting Implicit Rule – Explicit Rule M-Time – P-Time

Individualism vs Collectivism Individualistic: “Value individual freedom, choice, uniqueness, and independence” USA, Australia, England, Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada, Italy Collectivistic: “Value the group over the individual” Columbia, Venezuela, Peru, Pakistan, Thailand, Singapore, Chile, Hong Kong

Low Context vs High Context Low Context – Understanding within the message. “Face value” Germany, Scandanavia, USA High Context – Minimal information is in the message. “Programmed” Japan, Arabic, Latin America

Uncertainty Accepting vs Rejecting Uncertainty Accepting: “Tolerate ambiguity, uncertainty, and diversity” (p. 176) ; take risks, are flexible USA, England, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Hog Kong (1980) Uncertainty Rejecting: “Have difficulty with ambiguity, uncertainty, and diversity” (p. 176) Japan, France, Spain, Greece, Portugal

Implicit Rule vs Explicit Rule Implicit Rule: “Information and cultural rules are implied and already known to the participants” (p. 176) Middle East, Africa, and Latin America Explicit Rule: Has “explicit information, policies, procedures, and expectations” (p. 176) Europe, USA

M-Time vs P-Time M-Time: “Compartmentalizes time to meet personal needs, separates task and social dimensions, and points to the future” (p. 177) Canada, USA, N. Europe P-Time: View of “time as contextually based and relationally oriented” (p. 177) Latin America, Middle East, Asian, French, African

United States & Japan Rate your culture today… Individualistic 1----------10 Collectivistic Low Context 1----------10 High Context Uncertainty Accepting 1----------10 Rejecting Implicit Rule 1----------10 Explicit Rule M-time 1----------10 P-time In what ways are they different? The same?

QUESTIONS???