TOPICS IN CULTURE STUDIES: SOCIETIES, MULTICULTURALISM & HUMAN CONDUCT.
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Transcript of TOPICS IN CULTURE STUDIES: SOCIETIES, MULTICULTURALISM & HUMAN CONDUCT.
TOPICS IN CULTURE STUDIES:
SOCIETIES, MULTICULTURALISM & HUMAN CONDUCT
DEFINITIONS OF CULTUREKLUCKHOHN ET AL (1952)
Topical-culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as social organization, religion, or economy.
Historical Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to future generations.
Behavioral- culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life.
Normative - culture is ideals, values, or rules for living
Functional - culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together.
Mental- culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and distinguish people from animals.
Structural-culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviors.
Symbolic - culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society.
JENS ALLWOOD
• Jens Allwood (University of Goteborg): According to Jens Allwood (1990) “culture could be said to be the conventionalization of nature” and “language could be viewed as the most prototypical of all examples of this process”. There are three cultural aspects, which are very important due to their linguistic relevance. These include:
• regional and social group formation• activity patterns • aesthetic cultural activities
• Culture: “a collection of traits connected with a community of individuals which is: (i) common to the individuals in the community and (ii) not given by natural (ie biological or physical) necessity” 4 main aspects of culture (Allwood, 1985):
• Patterns of thought - Common ways of thinking, where "thought" Is meant to include both factual beliefs as well as values and emotional attitudes.
• Patterns of behavior - Common ways of behaving; including behavior from ways of talking to ways of ploughing the fields.
• Patterns of artefact manufacture and use - Common ways of producing and using material objects; including objects from pens to houses.
• Traces In Nature - Durable traces in Nature which are the result of the activity of members of the community toward the natural environment. We can find this aspect of culture captured in expressions such as agriculture
FURTHER ASPECTS
“a vast unexplored region of human behavior that exists outside the range of people’s conscious awareness” (Hall 1990)
“everything that people have, think, and do as members of society” (Ferraro 2005)
“a system of symbolic resources shared by a group of people” (Klyukanov 2005)
“the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category from another” (Hofstede 1994)
PROGRAMMING THE MIND
• Hofstede (1994)
Specific to individual PERSONALITY Inherited and
learned
Specific to group CULTURE Learned
or category
Universal HUMAN NATURE Inherited
LAYERS OF CULTURE
national
regional
gender
generation
social class
organizational
CULTURE SHOCK
When first used by anthropologist Kalervo Oberg (1960), referred to feelings of alienation and acute awareness of being different experienced by people entering an unfamiliar culture
Generally implies a negative reaction (physical, cognitive, and psychological) to moving within or between societies, but some authors have suggested it may have benefits for the individual concerned
Those who become partially, or fully, immersed in a new culture may suffer return culture shock when re-entering their own society
Stage One: The Honeymoon. Everything is new and different, and people appear friendly. The dominant feeling is that of enthusiasm about the new culture.
Stage Two: The Crisis: One begins to notice differences, feel out of place and miss one’s own familiar territory where people behave according to one’s expectations.
Stage Three: The Recovery. Having survived the shock of the new culture, one learns some of the language and other aspects of the new culture.
Stage Four: The Adjustment. One becomes accustomed to the new culture and develops routines.
Rejecters: individuals who, finding it impossible to accept the new culture and integrate, isolate themselves.
Adopters: individuals who integrate fully at the cost of losing they original identity, and intend to remain in the new country/culture forever.
Cosmopolitans: individuals who accept some of the aspects of the new culture, while still keeping and cultivating their own, thereby creating a blend of the two cultures
HOFSTEDE'S FRAMEWORK
Five dimensions of culture:
Low vs. high power distance
Individualism vs. collectivism
Masculinity vs. femininity
Low vs. high uncertainty avoidance
Long vs. short term orientation
Low vs. high power distance
This dimension measures how much the less powerful members of institutions and organizations expect and accept that power is distributed unequally.
Subordinates acknowledge the power of others based on their formal, hierarchical positions
Signs and Symbols of Powereducation and profession
family connections
age
gender
language, dialect, and accent
dress
titles and greetings
office arrangements
Hierarchical Culturescommunication tends to be restricted and comes from the top
those in authority openly demonstrate their rank
subordinates are not given important work and expect clear guidance from above
subordinates are expected to take the blame for things going wrong
the relationship between boss and subordinate is rarely close/personal
politics may be prone to totalitarianism
class divisions within society are accepted (eg. caste system)
structure provides comfort and preserves:
harmony
face (personal dignity)
paternalism
Individualism vs. collectivism
How much members of the culture define themselves apart from their group memberships
Focuses on the degree to which a society reinforces individual or collective achievement and interpersonal relationships. Differences in the emphasis on the rights of the individual versus those of the group
CONCEPT OF SELF
Another aspect of social organization is the concept of the person or the self as a unit within the organization of the group.
Hsu (1985) points to a significant difference between the Chinese concept of a person and the Western one), with the former placing the major boundary which defines the self between the biological individual and this individual’s inmates (parents and children). Hence, Asians are more aware of the interrelations they have as members of social groups as well as of the effects of their actions on other members of these groups, while Westerners tend to emphasize their independence.
The confirmation of this tendency can be found in cultural scripts, the concept developed and discussed by Wierzbicka, which refers to the manifestation of a particular attitude, evaluation or assumption, which is shared by the people of a given speech community, and which influences their verbal interactions (cf. Wierzbicka 1991, Wierzbicka and Goddard 1994).
Individualist Culturesindividuality and individual rights are dominant
individuals in these societies tend to form relationships with larger numbers of people, but with the relationships being weak
space and privacy are important
communication tends to be direct, explicit, and personal
business is transactional and competitive
a person's identity revolves around the "I”
personal goals and achievement are strived for
it is acceptable to pursue individual goals at the expense of others
‘individualism' is encouraged whether it be personality, clothes or music tastes
Collectivist Culturesthe ties between individuals are very strong and the family is given much more weight
the pivotal unit is the group
space and privacy are less important than relationships
communication is intuitive, complex, and impressionistic
business is relational and collaborative
members lean towards collective responsibility
”we" is more important that "I"
conformity is expected and perceived positively
individual's desires and aspirations should be curbed if necessary for the good of the group
the rights of the family (or for the common good) are more important
rules provide stability, order, obedience
Masculinity vs. femininity
The value is placed on traditionally male or female values (as understood in most Western cultures)
masculine: social gender roles distinct; men supposed to be assertive and tough; women supposed to be tender and concerned with quality
of life
feminine: social gender roles overlap, both men and women can at times be assertive but also tender and concerned with quality of life
Hofstede never meant to describe how gender empowerment differs in a culture but rather uses the term 'masculinity' to capture certain propensities. If one looks at the cultures with a low masculinity rating they will notice that many also have low gender equality, i.e. Middle East. The terms relate to nurturing (feminine) versus assertive (masculine) behaviours and ideals
Low vs. high uncertainty avoidance
How much members of a society attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty. In cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, people prefer explicit rules (e.g. about religion and food) and formally structured activities, and employees tend to remain longer with their present employer.
Long vs. short term orientation
This dimension describes a society's "time horizon," or the importance attached to the future versus the past and present
Persistence – Respect for tradition - Stability
COMMUNICATION/CULTURE
Rhetorical: communication as practical art
Semiotic: comm as intersubjective mediation by signs
Phenomenological: comm as experience of otherness, dialogue
Cybernetic: comm as information processing
Sociopsychological: comm as expression, interaction, influence
Sociocultural: comm as (re)production of social order
Critical: comm as discursive reflection
Cultural Approach to Organizations
The Cultural Approach contends that people are like animals who are suspended in webs that they created. Theorists in this tradition argue that an organization’s culture is composed of shared symbols, each of which has a unique meaning. Organizational stories, rituals, and rites of passage are examples of what constitutes the culture of an organization
Cultural Studies
Theorists in cultural studies maintain that the media represents ideologies of the dominant class in a society. Because media are controlled by corporations, the information presented to the public is necessarily influenced and framed with profit in mind. Cultural Studies theorists, therefore, are concerned with media influenced and framed with profit in mind. Cultural Studies theorists, therefore, are concerned with media influence and how power plays a role in the interpretation of culture
CONVETIONALIZATION
Andrei Marmor (University of South California):
Species of norms; they are rules that regulate human conduct.
Conventions have an essential feature in common - their arbitrariness
To suggest that a certain norm is conventional is to suggest that it is a norm that in some sense just happens to be the norm that we follow, though we could have followed a different norm instead, that is, without any significant loss in the point of following the norm that we do
EMOTIONS
Another crucial element in the study of conventions is the aspect one may formally refer to as emotions or emotional behaviour in reference to cultural and linguistic norms.
Emotions perceived as perception of psychological condition resulting from particular stimuli, as proposed by James (1884), have issued a wide range of conceptual approaches within cognitive framing, including Affective Events Theory developed by Howard Weiss and Russell Cropanzano, which sees the phenomenon as being a direct result of events affecting behaviour and thought
Conceptualization and definitial discussion of emotions within psychological, social and linguistic frameworks has produced conflicting results across disciplines (Scherer, 2001; Niedenthal et al., 2005; Frijda et al., 1995), recognizing the need for cross-disciplinary research (Davidson et al., 2003).
Norman (2004) and Picard (2000) stress aspects as experience and interaction with the surrounding world, arguing for emotion as an important factor in cognition.
Scherer (2004) sees emotions as an impediment of cognition and rational perception of reality, providing distinction into aesthetic and utilitarian emotions; the latter occurring in prototypically patterned events.
Linguists have argued for conceptual categories of cognition, emphasizing that meaning emerges from socially and culturally shared practice and norms, implicating that interpretation has social origin. Recent investigations suggest, that within the crosscultural framework, processing emotions remains the same (Schrauf & Sanchez, 2004).
Lutz’s (1986) study demonstrated the cultural component in emotion manifestation, with the phenomena being grounded in socio-cultural contexts and representative of our own cognitive typologies. While, universalists (Eckman, 1972) argue for the independent nature of emotion conceptualization, relativists see representation as based on linguistic and cultural conditioning (Wierzbicka, 2004)
As an example, refer to contemporary studies carried out on representation in the media, as shown in Ferguson (1998), or Hall (1997, 2000). It appears that media base representation of events on emotion arousing strategies, patterns, or conventions that allow viewers to become direct participants in the actions taking place.
Consequently, interpretation, or perception of events is conditioned by emotions and other affective phenomena, along with a set of culturaly and socially interpretative schemas, which arise due to a set of manipulative patterns. Researchers, therefore question when an event ceases to be an action in context and becomes a media event
PERCEPTION IN CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Behavior and gestures
Sensitivity and Self-consciousness
Knowledge and beliefs
Reality
Medical researchers and psychologists have frequently shown the link between physiological strain and psycho-somatic disorders such as panic attacks (Kaiya, H. et. al. 2008; Le Bon, O. et. al, 2003). Furthermore, sleep deprivation needs to be mentioned as an adverse factor affecting brain and cognitive functions. Goes, F.S. et. al. (2007) have shown that deprivation of sleep can lead to many psychological and perception disorders, such as the inability of properly putting events into proper perspective, while further implications include emotional conditioning and irritability.
In reference to Affective Events Theory, one can easily connect traumatic experience and events directly affecting behavioral and emotional conditions. Norman (2004) and Picard's (2000) views of emotional state directly influencing perception, within the framework of medical symptoms (as oposed to signs), suggest that Dziekański's behavior may have resulted from excessive physical and psychological strain
INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE
knowledge (= information necessary to interact appropriately and effectively)
motivation (e.g. positive affect toward the other culture, empathy)
skills (= behavior necessary to interact appropriately and effectively
CONCLUSION
Culture shapes experience and communication
Culture affects our view of reality
In a relatively closed social system in which communication among members is unrestricted, the system as a whole will tend to converge over time toward a state of greater cultural uniformity. The system will tend to diverge toward diversity when communication is restricted