CHAPTER 11
Episodes, Contexts, and Intercultural Interactions
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CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
(1) To describe and explain how communication experiences are structured
by people’s
participation in events that are quite predictable and routine.
(2) To introduce students to the five components of social episodes, each of
which influences
intercultural communication.
(3) To explain that all social interactions are influenced by culture.
(4) To examine three specific social settings in which cultural variations play
an important role:
health care, education, and business.
(5) To encourage an awareness that intercultural competence is critical for
everyday
experiences and contexts.
I. Social Episodes in Intercultural
Relationships
A. The nature of social episodes
1. People’s interactions are structured by their participation
in events or social episodes that are quite predictable
and routine.
2. The nature of social episodes varies from culture to
culture; however, there are some common
characteristics:
a. Social episodes are interaction sequences that are
repeated over and over again.
b. The structure of the social episodes themselves are very
predictable.
c. The individuals who participate in these episodes
generally know what to expect from others and vice
versa.
B. Components of social episodes
1. Cultural patterns are the shared judgments about what
the world is, what it should be, and the widely held
expectations about how people should behave.
2. Social roles are sets of expected behaviors that are
associated with people in a particular position.
3. Rules of interaction are not written down, nor are they
typically shared verbally; instead, they operate at the
level of unwritten, unspoken expectations.
4. Interaction scenes are made up of the recurring,
repetitive topics that people talk about in social
conversations.
5. Interaction contexts are the settings or situations within
which social episodes occur.
II. Contexts for Intercultural
Communication
A. The Health Care Context
1. Culture’s influence on the health care context
a. Cultural patterns affect how people understand the health care context.
b. Three general approaches people take to issues about health, illness, and wellness.
2. The magico-religious or personalistic approach refers to a belief that health and
illness are closely linked to uncontrollable supernatural forces.
3. The holistic approach refers to a belief in an essential harmonious balance
between a person and nature (defined as the larger social, political, and
environmental circumstances).
4. The biomedical approach refers to beliefs that a person’s health is controlled by
biochemical forces.
5. Family and gender roles in the health-care context
a. Cultural patterns influence the definition of the patient, family responsibilities, ideas
regarding medical treatment, and medical interviews.
b. Cultural patterns also influence expectations about appropriate gender-related
behaviors.
B. Conversational structures and language
a. Cultural differences in interaction rules affect the medical
interview between caregiver and patient.
b. Potential difficulties include the perceived authority of
health-care professionals and the expected degree of
ambiguity in the use of language.
C. Intercultural competence in the health care context
a. Health-care professionals must assume the responsibility
of assuring intercultural competence—which requires an
understanding of cultural patterns—in order to treat
people effectively.
b. However, an individual may not share the preferences of
his or her cultural group.
D. The Educational Context
1. Culture’s influence on the educational context
a. Participants in educational settings bring with them their
cultural backgrounds and patterns.
b. Culture influences people’s expectations about teacherstudent relationships, learning styles, valuation of
education, classroom behavior, and communication
styles.
E. Classroom interaction
a. Culture affects expectations about teacher-student
interactions.
b. Culture affects preferences about classroom behaviors of
students.
c. Culture affects preferred learning styles of students
3. Families and the educational system
a. Intercultural communication competence affects
the relationship of family members with the
educational system.
b. There are differing cultural expectations about
the interrelationships among parents, teachers,
and students
4. Intercultural competence in the educational
context
a. The starting point for developing intercultural
competence in the educational context is to
understand one’s own cultural background.
b. The educational context has the potential to
help or harm students and their families.
F. The Business Context
1. Culture’s influence on the business context
a. Specific areas of intercultural business are associated with four variations in
individualistic or collectivistic cultures: who speaks for the organization, who
makes decisions for the organization, what motivates employees, and what is
the basis for the business relationship.
b. The cultural dimension of universalism-particularism explains how business
practices vary between cultures.
2. Doing business interculturally
a. Cultures vary in their interpretations about what constitutes appropriate and
effective business communication and the manner in which to practice
business.
b. Business negotiations, social exchanges, decision making styles, reward
systems, and gender expectations are all influenced by the cultural
backgrounds of the business participants involved.
3. Intercultural competence in the business context
a. Intercultural competence in the workforce involves educating managers and
their employees on the skills necessary to work in an intercultural
environment.
b. Training includes opportunities to improve knowledge, motivation, and skills
concerning intercultural issues and ongoing training about diversity issues.
III. Episodes, Contexts, and
Intercultural Competence
A. Intercultural competence requires an
understanding of the episodes and
contexts within which interaction occurs.
 B. Cultural differences related to episodes
and contexts can be a cause of
misunderstanding in intercultural
interactions.
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