Communication and Culture Chapter 1

1. Communication and CultureChapter 1

2. Why do you often feel uncomfortable when confronted by people who are different from yourself? • How do cultural differences influence communication? • Which cultural differences are important and which are not? • Why is it difficult to understand and appreciate cultural differences? • Why is it so hard to have successful intercultural communication?

3. What three international developments have brought increased international contact? #1. New Technology & Information Systems #2. Evolving Populations #3. The Global Economy

4. #1. Technology—no borders! --Traveling is easier --Phone --Television --Internet --Email --Face Book, YouTube, etc.

5. #2. Evolving populations/global migration (Big increase in and redistribution of world’s population) World Population….Take a guess. world population What’s the 4th most populated country? (249 mill) • 3rd? (314 mill) • 2nd? (1 billion, 205 million) • 1st? (1 billion, 343 million)

6. This surge in population and migration is causing problems in . . . Natural Resources--Oil, Water, Food • In the last ten years, China’s industrialization has doubled her demand for oil. • More than one out of six people lack access to safe drinking water, namely 1.1 billion people • More than two out of six lack adequate sanitation, namely 2.6 billion people --(Estimation for 2002, by the WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2004). • 3,900 children die every day from water borne diseases (WHO 2004). --Information taken from World Water Council 2010 • Every minute about 18 people die of starvation in our world

7. Water pollutants

8. SAHARA--The world’s largest desert 3,500,000 square miles continues to encroach south into the Sahel. Desertification and other destruction of the rain forests…famine…pollution of air and water…endangered plants and animals…toxic dumping…greenhouse effect…

9. Water will likely replace oil as a major trigger for international conflict.

10. Changing and growing population also brings… • Conflicts and wars among nations and tribes Cripple nations, people, environment

11. #3. The Global Economy • Outsourcing • Increased multicultural workforce • Borrowing from other countries….

12. US Debt and Foreign Ownership~a fact of grave concern~ The Size of the U.S. Debt: The debt reached a new record on August 31, 2012. That's when it reached $16 trillion. • The U.S. debt is the largest in the world. How did it get so large? Purchasers of Treasury bills still reasonably expect the U.S. economy to recover enough to pay them back. For foreign investors like China and Japan, the U.S. is such a large customer it's allowed to run a huge tab so it will keep buying exports. • Even before the economic crisis, between 2000-2007, the U.S. debt grew 50% ballooning from $6-$9 trillion. The $700 billion bailout helped the debt grow to $10.5 trillion by December 2008. In the past four years, it has jumped another 5.5 trillion to $16 trillion. • U.S. debt clock • What countries have the biggest ownership in the U.S.A.? • Debt graph • China and U.S. Debt The largest portion of U.S. debt, 68 cents for every dollar or about $10 trillion, is owned by individual investors, corporations, state and local governments and, yes, even foreign governments such as China that hold Treasury bills, notes and bonds. Foreign governments hold about 46 percent of all U.S. debt held by the public, more than $4.5 trillion. The largest foreign holder of U.S. debt is China, which owns more about $1.2 trillion in bills, notes and bonds, according to the Treasury. As citizens of this great land, it behooves us to learn how to communicate wellwith people from other cultures!

13. Redefining what it means to be a U.S. citizen • Immigration The U.S. permits more legalimmigration than the rest of the world combined! --2010 U.S. Census, foreign-born population =40 million or 13% of the population. --In addition, we have anywhere from 11 to 20 million undocumented population (2008).

14. Who’s immigrating to the U.S.? • Latinos (make up 53% of the foreign-born pop.) • (Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, & Central and South America)=fastest growing population in U.S. • In California non-Hispanic whites are now the minority • Asians (28%) • Europe (12%) foreign born u.s. citizens

15. Muslim Americans • A growing and maturing community that worships at over 1,200 mosques across the U.S. • Call to prayer nowadays • Imagine the adjustment problems for an Asian growing up here.

16. Definitions • Intercultural Communication Interaction between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event. • Dominant Culture The group in power. …has the greatest amount of control over how the culture carries out its business. …control the major institutions: church, government, education, military, mass media, monetary systems, etc.

17. Dominant Culture in U.S.A.? ADULT WHITE MALES (Only 34% but hold the power) Every culture has a dominant group. These are the people who greatly influence perceptions, communication patterns, beliefs, and values.

18. Co-Cultures (Sub-cultures)…. Co-cultures are groups or social communities with communication characteristics, perceptions, values, beliefs, and practices that are sufficiently different from other groups, communities, and the dominant culture. Women, Native Americans, deaf, incarcerated, gangs, prostitutes, disabled, etc.

19. Here’s the latest Western Sub-Culture. Are you a member?

20. Communication Defined (hard to define!) It’s the ability to share your beliefs, values, ideas, and feelings. (Some of us do it better than others, but everyone can improve. Remember, communication, like culture, is learned.) • Dynamic(ongoing activity and unending process) • Symbolic(using one thing to stand for something else) • We use symbols both verbal (“Good morning”) and nonverbal (smiling as a greeting) to share our internal states. These symbols change from one culture to another. • The use of Symbols enables culture to be passed on from one generation the next.

21. Systemic (Context) • Communication doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It’s part of a larger system. Communication depends on so many things such as: • Location (restaurant, boardroom, courtroom) • Occasion (pep rally, funeral, wedding) • Time (a phone call 2 a.m. vs. 2 p.m.) • Number of People (one person vs a group or audience) • Dress, language, topic selection, etc. are all adapted to the context (boardroom, classroom, courtroom, living room). • Contextual rules are directly related to one’s culture. • “The buck stops here.”—American maxim that tells who makes the final decision (the boss, the president, etc). • “Consult everyone, even your knees.”—Japanese proverb demonstrating the Japanese approach to decision-making.

22. Communication, cont. • Communication Involves Making Inferences…from a single word, from silence, from long speeches, from simple head nods, from glances…. • We have no direct mind-to-mind contact—can’t access the thoughts & feelings of another so we make inferences. “…everyone is isolated from one another by the enclosure of their skin.”—p 14 “The earth is a beehive: we all enter by the same door but live in different cells.”—African proverb

23. Communication has a consequence • When messages are exchanged, something happens to you and your communication partner(s). • Messages are received either consciously or unconsciously. • Can affect your heart rate, etc. • Communication is complex, more so when you add the cultural dimensions!

24. Culture What are some influences of culture on perception, behavior, and communication? p 16 “There is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture.”—Hall p 17 “Culture is to a human collective what personality is to an individual.”—Hofstede p 17

25. Culture is part of who we are. It’s both the teacher and the textbook! “We come into world not knowing how to dress, what toys to play with, what to eat, which gods to worship, what to strive for, how to spend our money and our time…” • Culture—a group worldview; a way of organizing the world that a particular society has created over time. Helps us make sense of ourselves, our world, and our experiences.

26. Five Basic Elements of Culture • History Transmitted from generation to generation • Religion Rites, rituals, taboos, ceremonies; influences every aspect of culture. • Values “Culturally defined standards of desirability, goodness, and beauty that serve as broad guidelines for social living.” • Social Organizations Institutions including the family, gov’t, schools, and tribes. • Language

27. Five Characteristics of Culture 1. Culture is Learned • Enculturation—the process of learning one’s culture. The moment we enter this world, we seek meaning in everything. These meanings we learn are learned and culturally based. • Informal and Formal learning • The presence of culture is so subtle and pervasive that it simply goes unnoticed. Iceberg.pub

28. What are some ways we learn our culture?

29. Learn culture…. • Through Proverbs • —Proverbs are a compact treatise on the values of culture. “A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs.” –German proverb “Proverbs reunite the listener with his or her ancestors.” --Sellers --Proverbs offer insights into a culture’s worldview. A penny saved is a penny earned. Others?

30. Through Folktales, Legends, and Myths • These are stories that transmit the important aspects of the culture. • “Where we and everything in our world came from, why we are here, and where we are going.”—Haviland p 24 • Pinocchio • Columbus • Abraham Lincoln • Robin Hood • Americans revere the tough, independent, fast-shooting cowboy of the Old West • The English admire good manners, courtly behavior, and dignity (The Canterbury Tales • The Japanese learn about the importance of duty, obligation, and loyalty through their tales • The Chinese teach the folly of impatience by some of their tales

31. Through Art • “Art often reflects a society’s collective ideas, values, and concerns.”—Haviland; it’s a symbolic way of communicating. • Art is a In Asian cultures—focuses on objects, animals, and landscapes • American and European art often emphasizes people. • Why? A difference in views: Asians believe that nature is more powerful and important than a single individual. Americans & Europeans consider people as the center of the universe. • “Such ego-centered thinking is alien completely to the Eastern life, though. . . .”—Campbell

32. Through Mass Media • Cultural messages are repeated, reinforced, and come from various sources. Media is one of those sources. As important as print and the computer are, television is the most influential, according to our book. Example: In the U.S., we see countless mass media examples that stress the importance of individualism—a key American value.

33. Culture is Learned • 2. Culture is Shared Culture is the common denominator that makes the actions of individuals intelligible to the other members of society.” • Transmitted from generation to generation

34. 3. Culture is Based on Symbols • “A symbol is anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture.”—Macionis p 28 • Cultural symbols can be gestures, dress, objects, flags, or religious icons but the “most important symbolic aspect of culture is language—using words to represent objects and ideas. • Human culture without language is unthinkable. It’s language that enables us to share the speculations, observations, facts, experiments, and wisdom accumulated over thousands of years. • Through language it is possible to learn from cumulative, shared experience.”

35. 4. Culture is Dynamic Changes are continually happening in culture. Changes take place in response to such events as population growth, technological innovations, environmental crisis, the intrusion of outsiders, or modifications of behavior and values within the culture. However, deep structure of a culture resists major changes. Great Depression—Parents today didn’t have much when they were kids so they give their children “everything.” 5. Culture is an Integrated system (all parts are interrelated) Touch one part of a culture, you touch all that culture.

36. Wrapping up Chapter 1 • Need to learn to be successful in intercultural interactions. • Culture plays a significant role in how people perceive reality and communicate that reality. We study other cultures from the perspective of our own culture—our conclusions are tainted! Even so…..We are all unique!