Communication and Culture
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Chapter 3 Communication and Culture
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Communication and culture.
Transcript of Communication and Culture
Chapter 3Communication and Culture
[understanding culture]
buzz• Have you ever felt like a stranger or minority? If
so, how did it feel?
• Have you ever experienced a culture significantly different from your own? If so, did people communicate in ways that surprised or puzzled you? How?
Understanding Cultures and Cocultures
• What is culture?– Not an easy task.
• Language, beliefs, traditions, and customs people share and learn.
• What is coculture?– A group within a culture.
• i.e. religion, age groups, race/ethnicity
• Intercultural and Intergroup Communication: A Matter of Salience– How much weight we attached
to cultural characteristics
Bruno Mars and his cocultures
• Male• Hawaiian
• Pacific Islander• Father
• Half Puerto Rican/ Half Eastern European
• Mother• Half Filipino/ Half
Spaniard• Genre
• Pop Music
Cultural Values and Norms Shape Communication• Individualism and
Collectivism – Individualistic Culture
• Focus on helping themselves.– Values:
» Freedom, choice, uniqueness, and independence.
– Collectivistic Culture• Felt loyalty and obligations to and in-
group: one’s extended family, community, etc.
Cultural Values and Norms Shape Communication
• Uncertainty Avoidance – Used to reflect the degree to which members
of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous situations and how much they try to avoid them.
Uncertainty-accepting versus Uncertainty- rejecting Cultures
– Uncertainty-accepting cultures• Tolerate ambiguity, uncertainty
and diversity. • Mixture of ethnic groups, religions
and races. • They are more likely to accept
political refuges, immigrants and new citizens.
– Uncertainty-rejecting cultures• Have difficulty with ambiguity,
uncertainty and diversity. • More rules.• More likely to reject outsiders.
Think of your own community/neighborhood: is it uncertainty-accepting or uncertainty-rejecting? Why? Compare and contrast suburban versus urban spaces.
Cocultures and Communication
• Ethnicity and Race – Race: originally created to explain
differences between people whose ancestors originated in different regions of the world.
• Differences in hair color, skin color, size and shape of facial features, etc.
– Ethnicity: The degree to which a person identifies with a particular group usually on the basis nationality, culture, religion, or some other unifying perspective.
• It is problematic because it is usually simplistic to think of people as members of a single category.
video
Racial Documentary “Other” Mixed Identity
[3:13]
buzz• What do you think of the perspectives of people
in this video who identify with multiple races?
• How do you think it feels to be asked to choose one race?
• Overall, what are some ways we can improve our intercultural competence?
Cocultures and Communication• Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation
– Members of the LGBTQ community represents a diverse spectrum of identities within a coculture.
• L– Lesbian = A woman who is attracted to other women.
• G– Gay = A man who is attracted to other men.
• B– Bisexual = An individual who is attracted to both genders.
• T– Trans = An umbrella term that seeks to incorporate individuals whose
gender identities do not match their biological sex, for example, somebody who is born male-bodied and identifies as a woman.
• Q– Queer = Individuals who experience fluidity in their experience of
sexuality or gender and therefore do not identify strictly as LGB or T. The term ‘Queer’ can also include those who do not identify as either gender.
video
Transgender at 11: Listening to Jazz
[7:00]
Cocultures and Communication
• Religion – Defining factor in some
cultures.• i.e. marriage within the faith
– Historically, Religious Wars have divided nations.
God Hates Fags is a group formerly ruled by the late Fred Phelps. Its members are simply the members of the Westboro Baptist 'Church'. Phelps and his followers frequently picketed various events, such as military funerals, gay pride gatherings, high-profile political gatherings, university commencement ceremonies, performances of The Laramie Project, and mainstream Christian gatherings and concerts with which he had no affiliation, arguing it was their sacred duty to warn others of God's anger.
video
Religion, Perception, Stereotypes and Discrimination
[7:00]
Cocultures and Communication
• Physical Ability/Disability– Disabilities create a
sense of belonging to a community. Therefore, it is important to understand how to communicate with that specific coculture. For example:
buzz
• What do you think about Mullins' assertion that, rather than being disabled, she is the architect of her own identity?
• Do think differently about people with disabilities after hearing her talk? If so, how?
Cocultures and Communication• Age/Generation
– We learn to being certain age.
– Age defines, in many ways, the way we relate with others.
buzz• Do you perceive a difference between the
way your generation and others communicate?
• If so, how?
