CULTURE AS CONTEXT FOR COMMUNICATION

NM3413 Audience Analysis

3

- Globalization

- Definition of culture

- Elements of culture

- Western and Eastern perspectives of communication

- High context vs Low context culture

OVERVIEW

Globalization

What the World Thinks

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

SOURCE: Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, “What the World Thinks in 2002,” posted on the Pew Website: http://www.people-press.org.

Country Spread of U.S. Ideas a “Good Thing” (%)

Like U.S. Music, Movies, TV (%)

Like U.S. Science and Technology (%)

Canada 37 76 77

Britain 39 76 77

Russia 16 42 41

Mexico 22 60 69

South Korea 30 53 81

South Africa 43 71 79

Turkey 11 44 67

Egypt 6 33 51

Jordan 13 30 59

Pakistan 2 4 42

Nineteenth Century

In the 19th century, the term culture was

commonly used as a synonym for Western

civilization.

Sir Edward B. Tylor (1871) popularized the

idea that all societies pass through

developmental stages, beginning with

“savagery,” progressing to “barbarism,” and

culminating in Western “civilization.”

Culture definitionNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Today’s definition

• A community or population sufficiently large enough to be self-

sustaining, that is, large enough to produce new generations of

members without relying on outside people.

• The totality of that group’s thought, experiences, and patterns of

behavior and its concepts, values, and assumptions about life that

guide behavior and how those evolve with contact with other cultures.

• The process of social transmission of thoughts and behaviors from

birth in the family and schools over the course of generations.

• Members who consciously identify themselves with that group.

Culture definitionNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Hofstede (1994)

1. Symbols

2. Rituals

3. Values

4. Heroes

Elements of cultureNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Hofstede (1994)

1. Symbols

2. Rituals

3. Values

4. Heroes

Verbal and nonverbal language

Elements of cultureNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Hofstede (1994)

1. Symbols

2. Rituals

3. Values

4. Heroes

The socially essential collective activities

within a culture

Elements of cultureNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Hofstede (1994)

1. Symbols

2. Rituals

3. Values

4. Heroes

The feelings not open for discussion

within a culture about what is good or

bad, beautiful or ugly, normal or

abnormal, which are present in a

majority of the members of a culture

Elements of cultureNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Hofstede (1994)

1. Symbols

2. Rituals

3. Values

4. Heroes The real or imagery people who serve as

behavior models within a culture.

Elements of cultureNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

SuperstitionsNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

East VS WestNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Confucian and Westernperspectives on communication

Western perspectivesNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Source Encoding Message Channel Receiver Decoding Receiver Response

Noise

Feedback

C

O

N

T

E

X

T

C

O

N

T

E

X

T

Confucian perspectivesNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Confucius (K’ung-Fu-tzu)550-478 B.C.E.

Harmony

Confucian perspectivesNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Five relationships:

Ruler and Subjects (the relation of righteousness)

Husband and Wife (chaste conduct)

Father and Son (love)

Elder brother and Younger brother (order)

Friend and Friend (faithfulness)

Confucian perspectivesNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

Confucius (K’ung-Fu-tzu)550-478 B.C.E.

“To live in harmony with the universe

and with your fellow man through proper

behavior.”

Confucianism emphasizes virtue, selflessness, duty, patriotism, hard work, and respect for hierarchy, both familial and societal.

Confucian effects on intercultural communication

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

June Yum (1988):

1. Particularism

2. Role of intermediaries

3. Reciprocity

4. In-group/out group distinction

5. Overlap of personal and public relationships

Confucian effects on intercultural communication

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

June Yum (1988):

1. Particularism There is no universal pattern of rules

governing relationships. There are no rules

governing interaction with someone whose

status is unknown.

Confucian effects on intercultural communication

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

June Yum (1988):

2. Role of intermediaries Rituals should be followed in

establishing relationships.

Confucian effects on intercultural communication

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

June Yum (1988):

3. Reciprocity Complementary obligations are the base of

relationship. Gratitude and indebtedness are

important parts of Chinese culture.

Confucian effects on intercultural communication

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

June Yum (1988):

4. In-group/out-group distinction

In-group members engage in freer and deeper talk and may find it

difficult to develop personal relationships with out-group members (Gao

& Ting-Toomey, 1998). There can even be different language codes for

in-group members.

Confucian effects on intercultural communication

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

June Yum (1988):

5. Overlap of personal and public relationships

Business and pleasure are mixed. Frequent contacts lead to common

experiences. This contrasts with Western patterns of keeping public

and private lives separate.

LOW CONTEXT

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

HIGH CONTEXTculture

vs

Level of Context, by culture

High versus Low ContextNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

High Low

China Switzerland

Japan Germany

Korea North America

American Indian Nordic states

Most Latin American cultures

Southern and eastern Mediterranean

High-context cutures make greater

distinction between the insiders and outsiders than

low-context cultures do. People raised in high-context

systems expect more of others than do the

participants in low-context systems. When talking

something they have on their minds, a high-context

individual will expect his interlocutor to know what’s

bothering him, so that he does not have to be specific.

The result is that he will talk around and around the

point, in effect putting all the pieces in place except

the crucial one. Placing it properly – this keystone – is

the role of his interlocutor.

- E. T. Hall, Beyond Culture

(1976, p. 98)

High versus Low ContextNM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

CULTURE

We and They

Father, Mother, and Me,Sister and Auntie sayAll the people like us are We,And everyone else is They.

And They live over the seaWhile we live over the way,But – would you believe it? – They look upon WeAs only a sort of They!

continued

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

(continued)

We eat pork and beefWith cow-horn-handled knives.They who gobbleTheir rice off a leafAre horrified out of Their lives;While They who live up a tree,Feast on grubs and clay,(Isn’t it scandalous?) look upon WeAs a simple disgusting They!We eat kitcheny food.They drink milk and bloodUnder and open thatch.

continued

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

(continue)

We have doctors to fee.They have wizards to pay.And (impudent healthen!) They look upon WeAs a quite impossible They!All good people agree,And all good people say,All nice people, like us, are WeAnd everyone else is They:But if you cross over the sea,Instead of over the way,You may end by (think of it!) looking on WeAs only a sort of They!

- Rudyard Kipling -

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE

Reference:

Jandt, Fred E. An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2010.

NM3413 AUDIENCE ANALYSISCULTURE