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Lecture notes Communication Cultures
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HC 1What is “culture”?
- Multiple meanings and continuing disputes about the “correct” definition of culture as a
central concept in several social sciences.
- Culture: symbolic and materially constituted, socially inherited accomplishments of past
human activities, embodied in language, social practices, artifacts, knowledge and values that
serve as resources for the current life of a social group.
- “A culture is an apparatus for generating recognizable actions” (Sacks, 1992)
Levels of culture:
- Observable elements (surface & low in emotional charge)
- Food, music, dress, holidays, etc.
- Unspoken rules, social norms (shallow, strong emotional charge)
- Nonverbal communication, eye contact, personal space, etc.
- Worldview/cultural archetypes/mental models (deep, intense emotional charge)
- Core beliefs, group value, collective vs. individual, funds of knowledge, etc.
Emic perspective = taking an insider’s perspective; focus on the mental life of the participants.
Etic perspective = taking an outsider’s perspective; focus on structures and principles independent
from the participants.
Cultural relativism = all cultural perspectives and values pertaining to a specific cultural system are
equal.
Cultural imperialism = nonreciprocal cultural influence exerted by a powerful country on another
country.
HC 2
Culture and communication
Agreement that culture has a tremendous impact on how we behave, communicate and interpret
others’ behavior.
Components of discourse systems that have direct impact on communication in national groups
(Scollon & Scollon, 2001):
- Culture and discourse systems
- Ideology: history & worldview
- Beliefs, values and religion
- Face systems (social organization)
- Kinship
- The self
- In-group/out-group relations
- Individualism vs. collectivism (gemeinschaft & gesellschaft)
- Forms of discourse
- Functions of language
- Information and relationship
- Negotiation and ratification
, - Group harmony and individual welfare
- Non-verbal communication
- Kinesics: the movement of our bodies
- Proxemics: the use of space
- Concept of time
- Socialisation
- Education, enculturation, acculturation
- Primary & secondary socialization
- Theories of the person and their learning
National cultures:
- Large groups of people who share a geographical space and have a history, language, and a
worldview in common.
- Imagined communities, too large to be “real” groups in which all members know each other.
Hofstedes six cultural dimensions:
1. Power distance
2. Individualism vs. collectivism
3. Masculinity vs. femininity
4. Uncertainty avoidance
5. Short-term vs. long-term orientation
6. indulgence vs. restraint
Power distance (PD):
- The extent to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect the unequal
distribution of power.
- Manifested in the relationship between children and parents, between subordinates and
managers, between teachers and students, between government and citizen.
- Low power distance: inequality is unacceptable, people expect to be consulted about decisions
that affect them, corruption is rare.
- Large power distance: inequality is normal, some groups/individuals are superior by nature,
people expect to be told what to do, frequent corruption.
- This dimension is quite stable over time; while there is a slow move towards lower power
distance, the relative positions of countries remain almost unchanged.
Individualism vs. collectivism (IC):
- The extent to which people in society are integrated into social groups
- Manifests in the number of groups individuals belong to and the quality of group relations
(group cohesiveness, group identification, etc.)
- Individualist societies: everyone looks after their own interest and their immediate family, the
right to privacy prevails, everyone can speak their mind, tasks prevail over relationships.
- Collectivist societies: from birth, individuals are integrated in extended families and other
cohesive in-groups, the feeling of belonging prevails, everyone seeks to maintain harmony,
relationships prevail over tasks.
Masculinity vs. femininity (MF):
- The extent to which the distribution of values between genders is similar/different.
, - Masculine values & emotional roles: assertiveness & competitiveness, focus on material
success.
- Feminine values & emotional roles: caring & modest, focus on the quality of life.
- Masculine societies: stark differences between men’s and women’s values with a tendency to
hold masculine values, work prevails over family, admiration for the strong.
- Feminine societies: little differentiation among men’s and women’s values with a tendency to
hold feminine values, work-family balance, sympathy for the weak.
Uncertainty avoidance (UA):
- The extent to which a society tolerates ambiguity.
- Manifests in the number of rules existent in a society and in how individuals react to
unstructured situations.
- Uncertainty avoiding societies: uncertainty is a threat that must be fought, need for clarity,
high stress and neuroticism, intolerance for diversity and deviance, emotional need for rules
(even if they are not followed).
- Uncertainty accepting societies: uncertainty is an unavoidable aspect of life, comfortable with
ambiguity, low stress and self-control, high tolerance for diversity and deviance, dislike of
rules.
- Scores are relatively stable over time; however major social or historical events (such as wars
or pandemics) can lead to a decrease in scores.
Short-term vs. long-term orientations (SL):
- The extent to which a society values hard work.
- Manifests in the orientation to tradition and morality, the ordering of social relationships, and
social interactions.
- Short-term oriented societies: focus on the past or present, traditions are immutable, morality
and ethics are universal, attribution to success and failure to luck (external locus of control),
spending and consumption are encouraged.
- Long-term oriented societies: focus on the future, traditions are adaptable, morality and ethics
are circumstantial, attribution of success to effort and failure to lack of effort (internal locus of
control), saving and investing money are encouraged.
Indulge vs. restraint (IR):
- The extent to which a society regulates the gratification of needs through social norms.
- Manifests in individuals’ lifestyle, and feelings of subjective happiness.
- Indulgent societies: free gratification of human desires, more individuals declare they’re
happy and healthy, perception of control over one’s life, individuals get involved in sports,
leisure ethic, optimistic attitudes and extravert personalities.
- Restrained societies: restricted gratification of needs via social norms, few individuals declare
they’re happy and healthy, perception of helplessness, individuals watch sports, work ethic,
pessimistic attitudes and introverted personalities.
Critical reflections:
- Methodological criticisms leveraged against Hofstede’s model (McSweeny, 2002)
- Low response rates in some countries pose a threat to the validity of the findings.
- Observed intracultural differences were minimized while commonalities were
emphasized.
- The studies were not based on representative national samples.
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