Lecture 2. The Concepts of Culture and Communication

1. Key Terms

Culture	Low-Context Culture
Cultural Identification	Cultural Clash
Cultural Markers	The Nature of the Self
Cultural Beliefs	Cultural Differences
Cultural Attitudes	Communication
Cultural Values	Code
Norms	Decoding
Collectivistic Culture	Encoding
Individualistic Culture	Source
High-Context Culture	Receiver
Beliefs	Channel
Attitudes	Feedback
Values	Message
Interpersonal Communication	Noise
Intrapersonal Communication	Uncertainty
Symbols	Strangers
Initial Contact

Intercultural Communication is the exchange of information between individuals who are unalike culturally. This definition implies that two or more individuals may be unalike in their national culture, ethnicity, age, gender, or in other ways that affect their interaction. Their dissimilarity means that effective communication between them is particularly difficult. The cultural unalikeness of the individuals who interact is the unique aspect of intercultural communication. One type of difference occurs when the two or more participants in a communication situation each have a different national culture. If the two communication participants differ in age, – one individual is a teenager and the other is a parent, the younger person has been socialized into a somewhat different culture than the adult. For example, while discussing rap music, which the parent regards as just loud noise and inferior to classical music. The teenager feels that rap is a meaningful expression of contemporary culture. This information exchange among individuals who differ in age also is intercultural communication because the teenager and the parent have somewhat different cultures.

Similarly, information exchange between individuals who differ in religion, ethnicity, disability status, health, or in other characteristics can be affected by their cultural or subcultural differences. Now consider two individuals who differ in their socioeconomic status.

Culture is defined as the total way of life of people, composed of their learned and shared behavior patterns, values, norms, and material objects. Culture is a very general concept. Nevertheless, culture has very powerful effects on individual behavior, including communication behavior. Not only do nationalities and ethnic groups have cultures (for example, Japanese culture, Mexican culture, African-American culture, etc.), but so do communities, organizations, and other systems. For example, the IBM Corporation has its own culture.

The language (or languages) that an individual speaks is a very important part of cultural identification. A Spanish-surnamed person who is fluent in Spanish is more likely to self-identify as a Latino than a similarly Spanish-surnamed individual who only speaks English. In the past many immigrants to the United States, once they or their children learned English, began to identify with the new culture. This melting pot process assimilated the immigrant cultures and languages into the general culture. Today, immigrants to the United States continue speaking their native tongue for a longer period of time, rejecting English, and thus are more likely to identify with their immigrant culture.