Culture

1. Culture • Learned social behaviours that develop over time in a group ‘culture is shared values and beliefs in a given group.’ (Whiteford, 2000)

2. ‘The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.’ - Hofstede ( 2001)

3. Characteristics of culture • Culture is • Learned • Transmitted inter-generationally • Symbolic • Dynamic • ethnocentric

4. Cultural Norms and Values

5. Culture is like an Iceberg. Most of it is UNDER the water of awareness

6. An iceberg! What is culture? clothing customs etiquette music visible literature history invisible values attitudes feelings patterns

7. WHEN ICEBERGS COLLIDE • VALUABLE – If we know their values we can explain their behavior. • EVALUATE – If their behavior is different than ours, we often describe it both SUBJECTIVELY and NEGATIVELY

8. STEREOTYPE A fixed, commonly held notion or image of a person or group, based on an oversimplification of some observed or imagined trait of behavior or appearance.

9. EXPRESSION OF STEREOTYPE • A single word or phrase • An image • Combination of words and images

10. Characteristics of Stereotype • Views can be positive or negative • Develops superiority or inferiority in the person or group • Ignores the uniqueness of individuals by painting all members of a group in with the same brush.

11. Group Stereotypes • Americans • Indians • Muslims • Africans • Chinese • Rich people • Japanese • Poor people • Obese people • Men • Women

12. Sources of Stereotype • Cultural biases • Cultural ignorance • Media

13. All white Americans are obese, lazy, and dim-witted. Homer Simpson of the TV series The Simpsons is the personification of this stereotype.  • Mexican stereotypes suggest that all Mexicans are lazy and came into America illegally. • All Arabs and Muslims are terrorists. • Italian or French people are the best lovers. • All African Americans outside of the United States are poor. • All Jews are greedy. • All Asians are good at math. • All Irish people are drunks and eat potatoes. • All Americans are arrogant, impatient, and domineering.

14. Ethnocentrism The belief that one’s own cultural norms are superior to those of other social groups

15. Ethnocentrism • Ethnocentrism is “a universal tendency for any people to put its own culture and society in a central position of priority and worth” (Keesing, 1965) • EC becomes a perpetual window through which people of a cultural group interprets and judges all other cultures e.g:

16. Enculturation The process of learning or absorbing one’s own culture. A process where an individual imbibes the values and beliefs of a group as one’s own. e.g.: Meat eating is bad…

17. Acculturation The process of adjusting to the host culture by adopting its values, symbols and/or behaviour e.g.:

18. Characteristics of Acculturation • Integration • Individuals want to maintain their identity with home culture, but also want to take on some characteristics of the new culture • Assimilation • These people do not want to keep their identity from their home culture, but would rather take on all of the characteristics of the new culture • Separation • They want to separate themselves from the dominant culture • Can be called segregation if it is forced separation • Deculturation • These individuals don’t want anything to do with either the new culture or the old culture

19. Cultural Relativism/ Cultural Intelligence The acknowledgement of cultural differences and acceptance that each social groups has its own set of norms

20. Cross-cultural Communication A process of highlighting similarities and differences across cultural groups to promote communication

21. Intercultural Communication The sharing of meanings between individuals from different cultures

22. Intracultural Communication Shared communication between members of the same cultural group

23. Intercultural communication • “occurs whenever a a message that must be understood is produced by a member of one culture for consumption by a member of another culture” (Samovar & Porter, 1997)

24. Intercultural Communication… Requires an understanding of … • Own culture • Cultures of other groups • Parent/Dominant culture (e.g. based on race or ethnicity) • Co-cultures (e.g. based on gender, religion, age)

25. Intercultural Communication… Requires an understanding of ….. • Knowledge system • Beliefs • Values • Customs • Behaviours