Intercultural Communication

1. 3 Intercultural Communication

2. Intercultural Communication • You Are a Cultural Being • What Is Culture? • The Importance of Studying Intercultural Communication • Studying Cultural Differences • Barriers to Intercultural Communication

3. Intercultural Communication (continued) • Dealing With Barriers to Intercultural Communication • Improving Intercultural Communication • Chapter Review

4. You Are a Cultural Being • You Are a Cultural Being • Cultural identity, composed of ethnicity, culture, gender, age, life stage, beliefs, values, ad assumptions, is the degree to which you identify with your culture, and it is determined by the values you support.

5. What Is Culture? • Culture is: The ever-changing values, traditions, social and political relationships and worldview created and shared by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors[ . . . ] (Nieto, 1995, p. 390). • Worldview means an all-encompassing set of moral, ethical and philosophical principles and beliefs which governs the way people live their lives and interact with others.

6. The Importance of Studying Intercultural Communication • The Importance of Studying Intercultural Communication • Enhancing and Enriching the Quality of Civilization. • Becoming Effective Citizens of Our National Communities. • National communities are cocultural groupings with the country. • Coculture means those in the lower social classes who have specific patterns of behavior that set them off from other groups within a culture (Gundykunst & Kim, 2003, p. 122)

7. The Importance of Studying Intercultural Communication • The Importance of Studying Intercultural Communication (continued) • It Influences Senders and Receivers • It Influences Messages and Feedback. • It Influences the Setting. • It Influences the Elements Involved in Any Transaction.

8. The Importance of Studying Intercultural Communication • The Importance of Studying Intercultural Communication • Working Together 1. If the word multicultural includes issues of race, class, gender, and disability (a more inclusive definition than color alone), does this more inclusive focus dilute attention toward ethnic studies and, thus incorporate groups not expressly cultural in nature? 2. Should the word multicultural reflect simply a fight against racism? Is that sufficient? Or, should it include struggles against sexism, heterosexism, classism, linguisism, and ableism as well? Why or why not?

9. Studying Cultural Differences • Studying Cultural Differences • Power distance—social inequality. • Individualism versus collectivism—the degree of integration and orientation of individuals within groups. • Femininity versus masculinity—the division of roles between women and men. • Uncertainty avoidance—tolerance for the unknown. • Long-term orientation—the trade-off between long-term and short-term gratification of needs.

10. Studying Cultural Differences • Studying Cultural Differences (continued) • High versus low context—the degree to which most of the information is carried in the context (high) or most of the information is in the code or message (low) (Hall, 1976; Hall 1994).

11. Barriers to Intercultural Communication • Ethnocentrism • Ethnocentrism is the belief that one’s own cultural group’s behaviors, norms, ways of thinking and ways of being are superior to all other cultural groups. • Ethnocentrism is not to be confused with patriotism which is devotion to one’s country. • Stereotyping • Stereotypes are oversimplified or distorted views of another race, ethnic group, or culture.

12. Barriers to Intercultural Communication • Prejudice • “Prejudice is a negative attitude toward cultural group based on little or no experience” (Martin & Nakayama, 2001, p. 43). • Discrimination • “Discrimination is the overt actions one takes to exclude, avoid, or distance oneself from other groups” (Martin & Nakayama, 2001, p. 44).

13. Dealing With Barriers to Intercultural Communication • Communication between Nondominant- and Dominant-Group Members • Assimilation Strategies • When nondominants use assimilation, they drop cultural differences and distinctive characteristics that would identify them with the nondominant group. • Nonassertive Assimilation • Assertive Assimilation • Aggressive Assimilation

14. Dealing With Barriers to Intercultural Communication • Communication between (continued) • Accommodation Strategies • Accommodation works toward getting the dominant group to reinvent, or at least change, the rules so that they incorporate the life experiences of the nondominant group • Nonassertive Accommodation • Assertive Accommodation • Aggressive Accommodation

15. Dealing With Barriers to Intercultural Communication • Communication between (continued) • Separation Strategies • In separation, nondominants do not want to form a common bond with the dominant culture, so they separate into a group that includes only members like themselves. • Nonassertive Separation • Assertive Separation • Aggressive Separation

16. Dealing With Barriers to Intercultural Communication • The Consequences of Nondominant- and Dominant-Group Communication • Given how power is handled by nondominant groups, the whole process of communicating becomes even more complex when people are deliberately miscommunicating.

17. Dealing With Barriers to Intercultural Communication Nondominant Persons’ Communication to Dominant Groups

18. Dealing With Barriers to Intercultural Communication Assimilation

19. Dealing With Barriers to Intercultural Communication Accommodation Note: DG = dominant group; NG = nondominant group

20. Improving Intercultural Communication • Pay attention to your words and actions. • Control your assumptions. • An assumption is a taking for granted or supposition that something is a fact. • Engage in transpection. • Transpection is the process of empathizing across cultures (Maruyama, 1970). • Gain experience.

21. Improving Intercultural Communication • Improving Intercultural Communication • Another Point of View 1. Have you ever seen or used a list of do’s or taboos? Have you found them helpful? 2. Do you think a list of do’s and taboos would serve the purpose when the amount of time you have to prepare to enter another culture is brief, or when you just don’t have time to study a thorough or comprehensive introduction to the new culture? 3. What do you rely on when you have no instructions of any kind and you are in a new culture? How do you behave? How do you know what to do?

22. Chapter Review • Culture is the ever-changing values, traditions, social and political relationships, and worldview created and shared by a group of people bound together by a combination of factors.

23. Chapter Review (continue) • Five reasons for studying intercultural communication are (1) Developing a sensitivity to various cultural heritages and backgrounds; (2) Enhancing personal and social interactions; (3) Understanding the basis for and helping to solve cultural misunderstandings, miscommunications, and mistrusts; (4) Recognizing and respecting ethnic and cultural diversity; and (5) Assisting readers in becoming effective citizens of our national communities.

24. Chapter Review (continue) • Six dimensions of culture allow us to study cultural differences, including Power distance, individualism versus collectivism, femininity versus masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and high-context versus low-content communication. • Barriers to intercultural communication include (1) Ethnocentricism, (2) Stereotyping, (3) Prejudice, and (4) Discrimination.

25. Chapter Review (continued) • When members of a nondominant group work to get what they want from dominant group members, they use one or more of three main strategies: assimilation; accommodation; and separation.