Roles Social & the Community Intercultural Communication CMUN 4 Mrs. Waddell

A Contextual Model of Intercultural Communication

Roles A role is a person’s relative position/rank in a group Roles do not exist in isolation  Roles relate to other roles  Dictate communication With whom About what How Roles= expected behaviors Formal  Defined (Pastor/Priest)  Contractual Informal  Less explicit  Behaviors must be learned through experience  Varies across cultures

Roles Four dimensions  Personal vs. Impersonal  Formality vs. Informality  Hierarchy  Deviation from ideal role Family Social Occupational

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Self Actualization: Living life to its fullest. Function as autonomous beings Esteem Need: The need for respect or esteem from self, or others Belongingness Need: The need to be a part of a group Survival Needs: Physiological/Safety

Power Distance Small power distance: Inequalities among people should be minimized. Inter-dependence between less/more powerful Family members treated equally Familial decisions made democratically Large power distance: Inequalities among people expected. Dependence expected of those more powerful Obedience of children expected Familial decisions made via hierarchy  Father  Eldest son

Social Roles & the Community There is a contextual application for the formation of roles socially :  religious  self-help groups  activist causes  school  work/occupational

Social roles: Individual/peer work Role Survey Work with peer Choose five roles you each perform socially and/or in community  Why those roles?  List at least 8 behaviors expected of you for each role Compare with your partner What similarities and differences were there between you?

Social vs. Gender Roles 24 months of age: male/female differentiation learned Often linked to religious beliefs and values  Japanese/Vietnamese/Chinese/Korean: Confucianism Men: Task functions/superior gender Female: Social and cultural tasks/subservient gender  Mexican: Catholicism & Christian “Woe to the house where the hen crows and the rooster is still” Men: Dominant role/Income earner/Undisputed authority  Oldest son assumes authority in absence of father Female: Domestic role/Need protection  Represent purity  Sacrifice self for family/Saintly

Gender Islam  Equal religious rights  The woman must give consent for marriage  Men are superior to women  Role and dress must be consistent to gender  Protection needed “A woman is a jewel. You don’t expose it to thieves” (proverb) Economic liability  Gender values can be different regionally Hinduism  Men are the superior gender Make decisions Inheritance of wealth  Male children seen as a gift from the gods Guarantees continuation of family for generations Participation in religious activities  Female: Care for home/Keep family functioning Economic liability Wives can be a threat to greater family good

Gender Christianity  Garden of Eden Women given different role Over time women lost status  Property  Jesus (in rejection of Roman law) changed the way women were to be viewed No longer is it easy divorce Greater female status Protection

Traditional South Social status and self-worth came primarily from the family role for men  husband and father  aggressive, dominant, and virile  protecting and providing for the family  maintaining the family honor  responsible for protecting wives and daughters from the sexual approaches of other men.  The labor roles of men heavy outdoor work of farming conducting family business.  Southern men have also been allowed and/or encouraged display evidence of machismo  sexually active outside of marriage  drinking, gambling, and exhibiting violence  on the surface, condemned by Southern society/church  still considered positive evidence of "manliness."

Traditional South Social status and self-worth came primarily from the family role for women  wife and mother  passive, submissive, docile, and nurturing  White women in the antebellum South pure, seemingly helpless  actually shouldering a great deal of work on the farms and plantations, Delicate  actually enduring ten to twenty rounds of pregnancy and childbirth in less than ideal conditions.  Primary labor roles housework, raise children, and manage the household On small farms, women often spent more time on the production of food--tending a garden and helping their husbands in the fields--and the production of clothing than they did on cleaning and caring for children. Children were viewed as a source of labor and child-rearing had a very different meaning then than it does today. Family morality and church activities were also delegated to women, both black and white. Women were expected to be religious, take an active part in the church, and make sure the children were raised with a religious background.

Social Roles & the Community There is a contextual application for the formation of roles socially :  Self-help groups  -AA  Activist causes - Politics -Social issues -Environmental issues  School -Self -Child/children

Tradition matters Traditional South  Social status and self-worth came primarily from the family Church: family morality/values Traditional North  Status & Familial roots Citizenship Social standing Higher education or career Traditional West  No/limited familial roots  Colleges were few  Status Individualism Self-reliance

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