Ch. 2 Culture & Intercultural Comm.
• Culture
• Why Cultures Differ
• Intercultural Communication
Culture
• Culture is
– Learned
– Set of shared interpretations
– Beliefs, norms, values, & social practices
– Behavior
– A group of people
Terms
• Ethnicity: relating to a person or to a large group of people who
share a national, racial, linguistic, or religious heritage, whether or
not they reside in their countries of origin
• Acculturation: A process of intercultural borrowing between
diverse peoples resulting in new and blended patterns
• Cultural Identity: based on several traits and values learned as apart
of our national or ethnic origin. To include religion, gender, age,
socioeconomic level, primary language, geographical region, rural
or urban living, and handicapping or exceptional conditions.
• Cultural Relativism: An attempt to understand other cultural
systems in their own terms, not in terms of one’s cultural beliefs.
• Enculturation: The process of acquiring characteristics of a given
culture by learning and generally becoming competent in its
language
• Ethnocentrism: the inability to view other cultures as equally viable
alternatives for organizing reality. One’s own group is the center of
everything and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it.
• Race: 200 years ago this term was used to describe groups of
people by their physical attributes, including hair texture, shape of
nose, etc.
• Sub-cultures: Sub societies with their own rules, values, beliefs and
norms that are quite apart from the “normal” Culture/society.
• Pop-culture: refers to cultural practices employed by the majority
classes in society.
Why Cultures Differ
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History
Ecology
Technology
Biology
Institutional Networks
Interpersonal Comm. Patterns
IV. Intercultural Communication
• A. Nature of:
1. All messages originate from a
specific & unique cultural context
2.You receive messages through the
filters imposed by your cultural
context
Messages
S
S
R
culture
Fig. 3.1
R
culture
B. Principles of Intercultural
Communication
• 1. prepare yourself
• 2. recognize and face fears
• 3. recognize differences between yourself and
the culturally different
• 4. recognize differences among the culturally
different group
• 5. recognize differences in meaning
• 6. follow cultural rules and customs
Exercises
• Pg. 46-51
• Video: Understanding Race 52 minutes
• Q&A