Communication and Culture: Characteristics of Culture

1. Communication and Culture: Characteristics of Culture Ryan Berg National Chung Cheng University

2. "The heart of culture involves language, religion, values, traditions, and customs." "People do not frequently talk about their own culture or the influence that culture has on their behavior." "Most culture is in the taken-for-granted realm and below the conscious level."

3. Culture is learned People are born with basic needs � needs that create and shape behavior � but how they go about meeting those needs and developing behaviors to cope with them is learned.

4. Enculturation � the total process of learning a culture (one's own or another's). Culture can be learned informally or formally.

5. Informal learning takes place through interaction, observation, and imitation. Formal learning takes place mostly in schools, churches, and other institutions/organizations.

6. Culture tends to be invisible and unconscious. "The presence of culture is so subtle and pervasive that it simply goes unnoticed. It's there now, it's been there as long as anyone can remember, and few of us have reason to think much about it."

7. 3 Main Points Learning cultural perceptions, rules, and behaviors usually goes on without you being aware of it.

8. The essential messages of a culture get reinforced and repeated.

9. You learn your culture from a large variety of sources.

10. Learning culture through proverbs* Proverbs are easily learned and repeated regularly. Because all people, regardless of their culture, share common experiences, many of the same proverbs appear throughout the world. http://www.nciku.com.tw/space/space.php?uid=1306&do=blog&id=1234

11. German Proverb: �A country can be judged by the quality of its proverbs.�

12. Proverbs reunite the listener with his or her ancestors. Proverbs survive, so that each generation learns what a culture thinks is important.

13. English Proverbs Strike while the iron is hot. He who hesitates is lost. People who act are more highly valued than people who wait and think. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. People who speak up and are direct often get their views heard and good things happen to them.

14. Chinese proverbs ???????? A book holds a house of gold. ?????? Think three times before acting. ????? Crazy old man tries to move the mountain.

15. Learning Culture through Folktales, Legends, and Myths* These stories concern "the fundamentals of human existence: where we and everything in our world came from, why we are here, and where we are going." Every culture has hundreds of tales, each stressing a fundamental value.

16. American folklore: Paul Bunyan and Babe, his blue ox. Symbolizes strength, hard work, and determination.

17. John Henry Raced against a steam powered hammer and won, but died in victory.

18. Chinese Folklore Hua Mulan (???), a woman who disguised herself as a man.

19. Chang�e (??), the Chinese goddess of the moon. Story is often told during the moon festival.

20. Learning Culture through Art* One of the most important functions of art is to communication, display, and reinforce important cultural themes and values. "Through the cross-cultural study of art and creativity, we discover much about different worldviews, religious beliefs, political ideas, social values, kinship structures, economic relationships, and historical memory as well."

21. American Art Photography is very popular. Many famous photographs.

22. War photography has always been very popular. Most war photographs are seen very often � every American recognizes and knows them.

23. Girl in Hiroshima After dropping a bomb on Japan, WWII

24. Chinese art Calligraphy, the Chinese art of handwriting, comes in many forms and is often considered art, especially when done �properly.�

25. Wang Xizhi � Jin Dynasty

26. Tigers Often painted because they are strong and live in China.

28. Learning Culture through Mass Media*

29. Mass Media "help constitute our daily lives by shaping our experiences and providing the content for much of what we talk about (and how we talk) at the interpersonal level."

30. Review Most of the behaviors we label as cultural are automatic and invisible and are usually performed without you being aware of them. We have only covered a few of the many ways we learn our culture.

31. Culture is Shared If a culture is to endure, it must make certain that its crucial messages and elements are not only shared, but they also must be passed on to future generations. Any break in the learning chain would lead to a culture's disappearance.

32. Culture is Based on Symbols The mind, books, pictures, films, religious writings, videos, computer disks, and the like enable a culture to preserve what it deems to be important and worthy of transmission. "The most important symbolic aspect of culture is language � using words to represent objects and ideas."

33. Culture is Dynamic Cultures do not exist in a vacuum; because of "other waters continually flowing in," they are subject to change.

34. Although many aspects of culture are subject to change, the deep structure of a culture resists major changes. Most of what we call culture is below the surface, like an iceberg.

35. Culture is an Integrated System Culture "is composed of parts that are related to each other" and function as an integrated whole. All aspects of culture must be reasonably well integrated in order to function properly.

36. Studying Intercultural Communication Behavior is shaped by a multitude of sources, and culture is just one of those sources. We are more than our cultures.

37. The values and behaviors of a particular culture may not be the values and behaviors of all the individuals within that culture.

38. Stereotyping* Cultural generalizations must be viewed as approximations, not as absolute representations.

39. Use "core values" to make generalizations. these are values and behaviors that occur with enough regularity and over a long enough period of time that they clearly mark the members of a particular culture.

40. Objectivity We study other cultures from the perspective of our own culture; therefore, our observations and conclusions are tainted by our personal and cultural orientations. It is difficult, if not impossible, to see and give meaning to words and behaviors that you are not familiar with.

41. Homework P. 34 � Questions 1, 3, & 5 Write several sentences to explain your viewpoint and idea. Write as much as you need to in order to fully answer the question.

42. Homework 1. Explain the following statement: "In studying other cultures, we do so very often from the perspective of our own culture." 3. Explain how and why communication and cultures are linked.

43. Homework 5. Explain the following statement: "When studying intercultural communication, you should be aware of the problems associated with individual uniqueness, stereotyping, and objectivity."