CHAPTER 5 CULTURAL PATTERNS & COMMUNICATION:TAXONOMIES.

CHAPTER 5

CULTURAL PATTERNS & COMMUNICATION:TAXONOMIES

Chapter Summary

Communication and Context

Low Context

German, Swedish, European American, English

Explicit codes Every statement must be precise Overt messages Time highly organized Low-Context = most information is stated

explicitly in the verbal message

High Context

Japanese, African American, Mexican, Latino Implied messages Apart of values, norms, beliefs, social

practices Covert messages Ingroups Time less structured High-Context = most information is the

context or person rather than the verbal message

II. Hofstede’s Cultural Taxonomy

•Power

•Masculine/Feminine

•Individual/Collective

•High/Low Context

2.

Power Differences

1. High Power Distance = power is in the hands of a few

Brazil India

Low Power Distance = power is evenly distributed throughout the citizenry

Denmark New Zealand

B. Masculine vs Feminine C. Individual vs.

Collective Orientation 1. Individualistic =

puts the individual first, over the group

2. Collectivist = promotes group values as most important

Uncertainty Reduction = the more we reduce uncertainty, the greater comfort we feel

D. Culture Shock = the psychological reaction you experience when you’re in a culture very different from your own.

III. Theories of Culture & Communication

A. Language Relativity = theory that the language we speak influences our

behaviors and our perceptions of the world

C. Maximizing Outcomes = trying to gain the greatest rewards while paying the least costs

Three approaches:

1. Social science - how culture influences communication.

2. Interpretive - cultural patterns within specific contexts.

3. Critical - communication as instrumental in resisting power and oppression.

What is Culture?

High Culture and Low Culture

1. High culture includes the cultural activities of the elite or well-to-do.

2. Low culture – reconceptualized as popular culture—refers to cultural activities of the nonelite.

What is Culture?

Social Science Approaches

1. Anthropology: shared and learned patterns of beliefs and perception

2. Psychology: the collective programming of the mind

What is Culture?

Interpretive Approaches

1. Ethnography of communication - symbolic significance of verbal and nonverbal activities

2. Hymes' eight-part “SPEAKING” framework for studying naturally occurring speech in depth and context.

What is Culture?

Cultural Studies:

1. Views culture as a site of struggle for contested meanings.

2. Argues for the significance of popular culture

3. Draws attention to the struggles of marginalized groups in society

What is Culture?

What is Communication?

A symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed.

A dynamic process: when we negotiate meaning, we are creating, maintaining, and transforming reality.

The Relationship between Culture and Communication Culture influences communication.

Communication is shaped by deeply held cultural values and beliefs (Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961) Human nature

The relationship between humans and nature

Relationships between humans

Preferred forms of activity

Orientation to time

The Relationship between Culture and Communication Communication influences culture.

Culture is enacted through communication.

Cultural communication scholars study how cultures are performed and expressed through communication rituals.

Cultural studies researchers try to discover how individuals use their own space to resist dominant society.

Context is defined as the physical and/or social aspects of a communication situation.

People communicate differently depending on the social, political, and historical contexts of their interaction.

Context is not static or objective, and it can be multilayered.

The Relationship Between Communication and Context

Communication and Power

Power is always a part of communication interactions.

A. Individuals rarely have equal power in communication interactions.

B. People in power consciously or unconsciously create and maintain power systems that support their own ways of thinking and communicating.

Communication and Power

C. There are two levels of group-related power:

1. Primary dimensions, which are more permanent in nature

2. Secondary dimensions, which are more changeable

D. Dominant cultural groups perpetuate positions of privilege in many ways, but disempowered people may find creative ways to negotiate power.