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Study Guide: Chapter 8 - Adapting Communication to Cultures and Social Communities

Key Focus Questions:

  1. How do cultures and social communities shape communication?

  2. How does communication shape cultures and social communities?

  3. What is ethnocentric bias?

  4. How do people respond to cultural differences in communication?

Overview of Chapter:

  1. Dimensions of Cultures & Social Communities: Understanding the diversity of communication across various groups.

  2. Culture & Communication Relationship: Exploring how culture and communication are interrelated.

  3. Guidelines for adapting communication effectively to diverse cultural contexts.

Cultures as Systems:

  • Cultures are holistic systems, meaning changes in one part affect the whole.

  • Computer-mediated communication enables global interaction, friendships, and remote work.

  • Cultures involve interconnected ideas, values, beliefs, customs, and language that pass through generations and sustain particular ways of life.

Social Communities:

  • Multiple social communities can coexist within a single dominant culture.

  • Social communities refer to groups within a dominant culture that belong to different social groups.

  • Standpoint Theory: A perspective that individuals are shaped by the social groups they belong to, influencing how they view and communicate with the world.

Gendered Communication:

  • Gender-specific communication patterns:

    • Girls often engage in games that involve negotiation and relationships.

    • Boys tend to favor competitive games with clear rules.

  • These early experiences shape communication styles:

    • Women often focus on expressing emotions and maintaining relationships.

    • Men often use communication to assert ideas and compete.

Dimensions of Cultures:

  1. Individualistic vs. Collectivist Cultures:

    • Individualistic cultures emphasize personal achievements, while collectivist cultures focus on group harmony.

  2. Uncertainty Avoidance: How comfortable a culture is with ambiguity and uncertainty.

  3. Power Distance: The extent to which a culture accepts unequal power distribution.

  4. Masculinity/Femininity: Focus on achievement and competition (masculine) vs. relationships and quality of life (feminine).

  5. Long-term vs. Short-term Orientation: Whether a culture focuses on future rewards or immediate results.

Culture and Communication Relationship:

  • Culture directly shapes how individuals communicate.

  • Primary Indicators of Culture:

    • Individualism vs. Collectivism: Influences how people express themselves in communication.

    • Low-context vs. High-context Cultures:

      • Low-context: Information is communicated explicitly.

      • High-context: Much of the communication is implied or contextual.

Communication and Culture:

  1. Communication Reflects & Sustains Culture: The way we communicate reflects the values of our culture.

  2. Communication Can Be a Source of Cultural Change: Social movements like gender equality and environmental justice have emerged through changing communication norms.

Digital Media and Cultures:

  • The internet facilitates interaction between diverse cultures.

  • However, it also provides a space for hate groups to thrive.

Guidelines for Adapting Communication to Cultural Diversity:

  1. Engage in Person-Centered Communication: Tailor your communication to the individual, not just their cultural background.

    • Uncertainty Reduction Theory: Helps explain how people communicate to reduce uncertainty when interacting with someone from a different culture.

  2. Respect Others’ Feelings and Ideas: Be mindful of cultural differences in emotional expression and thought processes.

  3. Resist Ethnocentric Bias:

    • Ethnocentrism: Belief that one’s own culture is superior.

    • Cultural Relativism: Understanding that no culture is inherently better or worse than another.

Adapting to Cultural Diversity as a Process:

  1. Resistance: Initial rejection of cultural differences.

  2. Understanding: Beginning to comprehend and appreciate cultural differences.

  3. Assimilation: Integrating aspects of other cultures.

  4. Respect: Acknowledging and valuing diversity.

  5. Tolerance: Accepting differences without judgment.

  6. Participation: Engaging actively with diverse cultures.

Summary of Key Points:

  • This chapter focuses on how cultures and social communities shape communication, and vice versa.

  • Cultural Dimensions influence how we express and interpret messages.

  • Ethnocentric bias can prevent effective communication; cultural relativism fosters understanding.

  • Adapting to cultural diversity is a process that involves learning, respecting, and engaging with other cultures.