some people want to move to another culture, but other cultures don't want them

Europe is the most negative in the world on immigrationmajority of countries say immigration should be decreased

immigration trends in the US today

majority now see immigrants as helping US economydesire to migrate to US at record level high

culture

what it means to be a human being - what shapes us and our "way of being"deep common unstated experiences members share, communicate without knowing, and form the backdrop all other events are judged

function of culture

to provide regulators of our lives and identities - religion, nation, class, gender, race, civilization

other cultural groupings/"cultures within cultures

sub-culture: within dominant cultures (ethnicity/minority)co-culture: no group superior to another (American Indians?)

levels of culture (can also be sub-culture)

national, regional, gender, generation, social class, work, organizational

3 levels of uniqueness in human mental programming

human nature: universal or inheritedculture: specific to group/category or learnedpersonality: specific to individual or inherited/learned

culture facts

subject to gradual change, dynamic, individual and social construct, delineation of features is fuzzy

international communication

communication practice with people across national borders

cross-cultural communication

comparison between two cultural groups

intercultural communication

what happens when two or more cultural groups or individuals come together and interactdescribes a wide range of communication processes and problemscan be verbal or non-verbalex: Navajo and Anglo-American school

founding of intercultural communication in 1950s

Edward Hall and linguist George TragerHall coined term intercultural communicationdid not enter communications until mid to late 1960s

assumptions about intercultural communication

message sent is not usually receivedprimarily non-verbal, involved clash of communicator style, cycle of stress and adaptationgroup phenomenon experienced by individuals

primary symbolic system for transmitting culture

languageMichael Schudson: language is the fundamental human mass medium, through which all other media speak

communication

the process by which people use shared verbal or non-verbal codes, systems, and media to exchange information in a particular cultural context

emergence of the printing press in a capitalistic society

print capitalism allowed people to share culture with others they have never met

individualistic society

loose ties where individuals are expected to look after themselves

collectivist society

people are integrated into strong cohesive in-groups, extended families, that protect them

vertical collectivism

see themselves as an aspect of an in-group, but members of the in-group are different in terms of statusemphasize communal sharing according to need and authority rankingex: Japan

horizontal individualism

self is autonomous and people are generally equalemphasize equity in resource sharingex: Denmark

Trandis' model

vertical & horizontal individualism and collectivism

vertical individualism

people are unique and some distinguish themselvesex: US

digitalization has altered human communication significantly

tendency it to more convergence of cultural orientation

Hofstede's dimensions

collectivism-individualismpower distancemasculinity-femininityuncertainty avoidancelong-term-short-term orientationindulgence-restraint

power distance

the extent to which less powerful organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequallymore individualistic usually lower power distance

masculinity-femininity

masculinity: achievement, heroism, assertiveness, etcfemininity: cooperation, modesty, quality of life, etc

uncertainty avoidance

degree to which members of society feel uncomfortable living with uncertainty and ambiguityhigh uncertainty avoidance leads to rigid codes of belief and behavior

long-term vs short-term orientation

long-term: believe truth depends very much on situation, context, and time. adapt traditions to changed conditions. where western countries don't fare well, but China doesshort-term: strong concern with establishing absolute truth. normative in thinking and have great respects for traditions

indulgence vs restraint

indulgence: fairly free gratification of basic and natural human drives (e.g. Australia, Sweden)restraint: suppresses and regulates gratification through strict social norms (e.g. Russia, China)

meaning of Hofstede's dimesnions

general guide not absolute truthall scores are relative and meaningless when standing alonecultures are dynamic so scores are not fixedcorrelation does not equal causality

context

the framework and surrounding circumstances for any given cultureall cultures have elements of high and low context - don't paint cultures with a broad brushtreat in a general way

high context cultures

interpersonal relationships are important as they are collectivist, intuitive, and contemplativewords less important than tone, gestures, etc with the assumption others understandex: Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America

low context cultures

logical, linear, individualistic, and action-orientedprecision and choice of words important - not assumptionsex: Western Europe and North America

characteristics of culture within cultures

physical or cultural trait, involuntary membership, family ties, aware of subordination, unequal treatment from dominant group

5 main problems needing solutions

1. time focus2. relationship between humanity and natural environment3. individuals relating with one another4. prime motivation for behavior5. nature of human nature

time focus

past, present, or future

relationship between humanity and natural environment

mastery, submission, harmony

individuals relating with one another

hierarchically, as equals, according to merit

prime motivation for behavior

expressing oneself, growing, achieving

nature of human nature

good, bad, evil, mix

muted group theory

any group is muted when its lived experiences are not represented in the dominant structuresdominant group creates rules and systems of accepted discoursethose left out are left inarticulate by force and move to adaptex: e-male (but women assimilate better)ex: muted rural groups in China

silencing of groups

can lead to groups losing the ability to express themselves because dominant groups control the symbolic linguistic structures (and this grows over time)

contact hypothesis

aimed at reducing negative attitudes and behaviors toward out-groupsif contact with an individual member from out-group leads to increased interest with other members

basis of identity negotiation theory

all people wish to be competent communicators across a range of interactive situations which they learn by practicing

personal vs social identities

personal: individual's self-conceptions that define the individual in relation to otherssocial identity: an individual's conceptualizations of the self that derive from memberships in emotionally significant categories or groups

Ting-Toomey's Theory

8 domains make up a composite self-conception: first 4 primary, second 4 vary situationally

4 primary identities

cultural, ethnic, gender, personal

4 situational identities

role, relational, facework, symbolic interaction

identities as products of discourse

what people know, believe, and communicate conveyed through discourse in which they are involvedidentity emerges through language in social context - language constructs identity (instable - what if you are bilingual?)

Stuart Hall

cultural identities are far from being eternally fixed in some essentialized past