Defining Culture

Outline
Introduction
The definition of culture. Approaches to its understanding.
Functions of Culture
High- and Low-Context Cultures
Cultural Dimensions Theory (G.Hofstede)

Prof. Yana Aleksandrovna Volkova
[email protected]
This syllabus is subject to change throughout the semester. Sometimes we need more or less time on a particular topic, and the lecturer reserves the right to make changes to assignment deadlines and required readings. All such changes will be communicated via email and in class.
Course Description: This is a combination of theoretical and practical course on intercultural communication. It is designed to help you understand how to communicate with people who are different from you. We live in a global environment where individuals from diverse cultures interact both face to face and online. You will examine your own cultural identities and your interactions with others. Taking a communicative lens, we will address how various cultural indicators (values, beliefs, traditions, etc.) manifest through communication and how cultures use communication in different ways. Through this course, I hope to broaden your perspectives of live and people, and to build your capacity to adapt to a changing world by exploring cultural and communication differences.
Intercultural communication is the study of communication patterns and norms of diverse groups (both internal to Russia and in comparison with members of other nations/cultures outside Russia). Students learn these norms in order to appreciate and appropriately communicate with diverse others.

Class Policies
Attendance: Because this course depends on your presence and participation for its success, attendance is required. Excused absences are only granted for personal emergencies (that are accompanied by proper documentation). Meetings for other classes, appointments with advisors, work excuses, sleeping through alarm clocks, departure for breaks, roommate crises, car failures, and computer/printer problems, etc. are not considered “excused” absences. One point is granted as reward for coming to class!
Cultural Research Paper
In a 10-12 page paper, you will have to conduct an analysis of one of the questions on your choice. Your paper will be graded on the depth of your analysis and your class presentation.

Point Distribution

INTRODUCTION TO INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
DEFINING CULTURE

We live in an era where intercultural communication skills are not just an asset; they are a requirement.
(Edwin R. McDaniel, Larry A. Samovar,
Richard E. Porter)

Practical reasons for studying intercultural communication
global and domestic diversity trends
interpersonal communication opportunities: “you may not plan to travel the world, but the world is travelling to you”
(Steven A. Beebe & Mark V. Redmond)

Intercultural communication is a direct or indirect exchange of information between representatives of different linguocultures.

CULTURE - from Latin colo – colui – cultum - colere "to tend, guard; to till, cultivate"
Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.
(G. Hofstede)

Culture: learned and shared human patterns or models for living; day- to-day living patterns. these patterns and models pervade all aspects of human social interaction. Culture is mankind's primary adaptive mechanism
(L. Damen )
Culture...consists in those patterns relative to behavior and the products of human action which may be inherited, that is, passed on from generation to generation independently of the biological genes.
(T. Parson )

Three different usages
of the term “CULTURE”
CULTURE
Special intellectual or artistic endeavours or products
(M. Arnold)
… that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society
(Edward B. Tylor )
…the totality of the mental and physical reactions and activities that characterize the behavior of individuals composing a social group collectively and individually.
(F. Boas)

CULTURE
1) a pattern of shared symbols, meanings, premises, and rules,
which are
2) socially constructed
and
3) historically transmitted.

Wilhelm von Humboldt
(1767 – 1835)
The interdependence of word and idea shows clearly that languages are not actually means of representing a truth already known, but rather of discovering the previously unknown. Their diversity is not one of sounds and signs, but a diversity of world perspectives.
(Wilhelm von Humboldt)

An Iceberg Metaphor of Culture
(S. Ting-Toomey)

Functions of Culture
The identity meaning function: culture helps to answer the most fundamental question of every person – Who am I?
The group inclusion function: it satisfies our need for belonging.
The intergroup boundary regulation function: it shapes our attitudes in dealing with people who are culturally dissimilar.

Functions of Culture
4) the ecological adaptation function: It facilitates the adaptation processes among the self, the cultural community, and the larger environment (i.e. habitat).
5) the cultural communication function which means the coordination between culture and communication.

Edward Twitchell Hall, Jr.
(1914 – 2009)
Culture itself is communication, and communication is culture.

CONTEXT
internal context:
external context:
the past experience of the communicant, programmed in his mind and the structure of the nervous system; a set of presuppositions and background knowledge, values, cultural identity and individual characteristics of the language personality.
physical environment, as well as other information implicit in the communicative interaction, including the nature of interpersonal relationships between communicants and the social circumstances of communication.

High- and Low-Context Cultures
High-Context Cultures
Low-Context Cultures
Much information is drawn from surroundings. Very little must be explicitly transferred.
Nonverbal important
Physical context relied upon for information
Environment, situation, gestures, mood all taken into account
Arab, Asian, Southern European
Information must be provided explicitly, usually in words.
Less aware of nonverbal clues, environment and situation
Need detailed background information
Prefer explicit and careful direction from someone who “knows”
Knowledge is a commodity
Swiss, German, Scandinavian, American

High and Low Context Cultures

Edward T. Hall. Beyond Cultures

Gisela Schmalz. Cliquenwirtschaft (2014)

CULTURAL DIMENSIONS THEORY (G. HOFSTEDE).
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/

The original theory proposed four dimensions along which cultural values could be analyzed:
power distance (strength of social hierarchy)
masculinity-femininity (task orientation versus person-orientation)
individualism-collectivism
uncertainty avoidance

POWER DISTANCE INDEX (PDI)
This dimension expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. The fundamental issue here is how a society handles inequalities among people.

INDIVIDUALISM vs COLLECTIVISM (IVC)
The high side of this dimension can be defined as a preference for a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of only themselves and their immediate families.
Its opposite, Collectivism, represents a preference for a tightly-knit framework in society in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular ingroup to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
A society’s position on this dimension is reflected in whether people’s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “we.”

MASCULINITY vs FEMININITY (MAS)
The Masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success. Society at large is more competitive.
Its opposite, Femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation, modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life. Society at large is more consensus-oriented.

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE INDEX (UAI)
The Uncertainty Avoidance dimension expresses the degree to which the members of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.
Countries exhibiting strong UAI maintain rigid codes of belief and behaviour, and are intolerant of unorthodox behaviour and ideas. Weak UAI societies maintain a more relaxed attitude in which practice counts more than principles.

TWO more dimensions were added:
LONG TERM ORIENTATION VERSUS SHORT TERM NORMATIVE ORIENTATION (LTO)
INDULGENCE VERSUS RESTRAINT (IND)

LONG TERM ORIENTATION VERSUS SHORT TERM NORMATIVE ORIENTATION (LTO)
Every society has to maintain some links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and the future. Societies prioritize these two existential goals differently.
Societies who score low on this dimension, for example, prefer to maintain time-honoured traditions and norms while viewing societal change with suspicion.
Those which score high, on the other hand, take a more pragmatic approach: they encourage thrift and efforts in modern education as a way to prepare for the future.

INDULGENCE VERSUS RESTRAINT (IND)
Indulgence stands for a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint stands for a society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms.