What is GLOBALIZATION?

• Globalization is the increasing economic, political, and cultural

integration and interdependence of diverse cultures- the world wide
integration of humanity

• diversity- the recognition and valuing of the difference,

encompassing such factors as age, gender, race, ethnicity, ability,
religion, education, marital status, sexual orientation and income.
• Marshall McLuhan- a theorist who predicted many years ago
that our world would become a global village.
• At this era, people are linked physically and electronically
around the globe
• Digital technology has helped erased the notion of territorial
boundaries between countries, gradually eroding the idea of
the term nation.
• Multiculturalists- persons respectful of and engaged with
people from distinctly different cultures.
• Understanding diversity and engendering respect for differences can
help erase the tensions globalization creates
• By emphasizing our differences we fuel potentials conflicts
• Need to spend more time learning about cultures
• We are better served spending our time focusing on American
values
• Globalization enriches cultures
• Globalization destroys our cultures
Circle of Multicultural Communications

Understand

Grow Culture Connect

Trust
1. Do you feel prepared to communicate in a nation of
minorities?
2. Do you have the understandings and sensitivity you need to
interact in a global community in which other persons may
look, act, and think differently than you?
3. Are you ready to embrace diversity?
 Activity – Self Assessment
PREPARING TO COMMUNICATE ACROSS CULTURES
1. I enjoy communicating with persons unlike me as much as with persons like
me.
2. I am equally sensitive to the concerns of all groups in our multicultural
society
3. I can tell when persons from other cultures do not understand me or are
confused by my actions.
4. I do not fear interacting with persons from minority groups any more than I
fear interacting with persons from the dominant culture.
5. Persons from other cultures have a right to be angry at members of my
culture.
6. Persons from other cultures who don’t actively participate in a conversation,
dialogue, or debate with others may act that way because of their culture’s rules.

7. How I handle disagreements with persons from other cultures depends on the
situation and the culture(s) they are from.

8. My culture is not superior to other cultures.

9. I am knowledgeable of how to behave with persons of different cultures.

10. I respect the communication rules of cultures other than my own.

The greater the number of statements you labelled TRUE, the
more prepared you are to enrich your communication arena by
welcoming people from different cultures
into it.
• Communicators can be judged as insensitive, ignorant or
culturally confused when they fail to realize the people from
different cultures and whom they interact with.
• Culturally confused- lacking understanding of cultural
difference
• Cultural ignorance affects communication
 CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
• Showing the sole of a shoe means nothing to observers in the US or Europe. As a
result, when visiting KSA, the American and European delegates to a conference
thought nothing about crossing their legs and pointing their shoes toward the
speaker while listening to his presentation. The speaker, however, was horrified. In
Muslim cultures, the gesture is perceived insulting.
• US- crossing legs is to relax; Korea- it is a social faux pas
• Japanese view the business card as an extension of a person; American view it as
business formality and a convenience. Consequently, the Japanese handle business
cards with great care, making certain to put them in safe places, Americans are
quick to put them away thus often end up insulting the Japanese
• Intercultural communication- interaction with individuals from
different cultures
– concern with the process of interpreting and sharing meanings with
individuals from different cultures
 Forms of Intercultural Communication
Interracial communication – interactants are of different races
Interethnic communication- communicating parties have different
ethnic origins
International communication- communication between persons
representing political structures or nations
Intracultural communication – includes all forms of communication
among members of the same racial or ethnic group or co-culture
groups
 Cultures and Co-Cultures

• Culture is the system of knowledge, beliefs, values, customs,

behaviors, and artifacts that are acquired, shared and used by
its members during the daily living; within a culture as a whole
are co-cultures
• Co-cultures are composed of members of the same general
culture who differ in some ethnic or sociological way from the
parent culture
Co-cultures:
• Philippines – Igorots, Ilocanos, Bicolanos (Luzon)
• United States- Native Americans, certain Scandinavian American
groups, Middle Eastern Americans, some Latino groups (especially
those of Chilean, Peruvian, and Spanish ancestry), and some Asian
American groups (Chinese Americans and Taiwanese Americans).
• Disabled, gays and lesbians, cyberfunks, elderly
 Marginalized group- group whose members
feel like outsiders; different groups of people
within a given culture, context and history at
Marginalized risk of being subjected to multiple
group vs. discrimination due to interplay of different
personal characteristics or grounds (sex, gender
Dominant culture age ethnicity, religion or belief, health status,
disability, sexual orientation, gender identity
education or income, or living in various
geographic localities
Dominant cultures – being perceived as the
majority of the population and having a
significant presence in institutions relating to
communication, education, artistic expression,
law, government and business
 Strategies of co-culture members
to join in the dominant culture
• Assimilation – means by which co-culture members attempt to fit in with
members of the dominant culture i.e. they dress as members of the
dominant culture dress; give up their own ways in an effort to assume the
modes of behavior of the dominant culture
• Accommodation – means by which co-culture members maintain their
cultural identity while striving to establish relationships with members of
the dominant culture; a gay or lesbian who takes his or her partner to an
occasion in which members of the dominant culture will be present
• Separation- means co-culture members use to resist interacting with
members of dominant culture; prefer to interact with each other rather
than have a contact with persons they perceive to be outsiders
 Preferred strategies and communication approaches of
marginalized groups
STRATEGY COMMUNICATION EXAMPLE
APPROACH

Separation Passive Lunching alone, living in an

area with similar people

Accommodation Assertive Wearing kippah to work

or sari in a party

Assimilation Aggressive, confrontational Staging a protest

 Culture guides
communication
• Culture is the lens through which we see the world
• Ethnocentrism- tendency to see one’s own culture as superior
to all; this lacks cultural flexibility; (experiencing great anxiety
when interacting with persons from different cultures)
• Cultural relativism – the acceptance of other cultural groups as
equal in value to one’s own (trying to understand the behavior
of the other groups)
 DIVERSITY IN FOCUS

• Melting-pot philosophy- the view that different cultures should be

assimilated into the dominant culture
• Cultural pluralism- adherence to the principle of cultural relativism
– They advocate respect for
uniqueness, tolerance
for difference and
adherence to the
principle of cultural
relativity
 The Intercultural Communication Imperative:
Reduce the Strangeness of Strangers

We need to open ourselves to differences by adding our

storehouse of knowledge, by learning to cope with uncertainty,
and by developing an appreciation of how increasing our cultural
sensitivity will possibly affect our communication competence.
Accept the fact that our culture is not superior to others.
 Exploring Cultural Dialectics

• Individualism versus collectivism

• High context versus Low context
• High power distance versus low power distance
• Masculine versus feminine culture
 Individualism versus Collectivism

• Individualistic cultures- cultures in

which individual goals are stressed;
cultivates individual initiative and
achievement ; “I” (Great Britain, USA,
Canada, France and Germany)
• Collectivistic cultures- group goals are
stressed; tend to nurture group
influences; “We” (Arab, African, Asian
and Latin American)
 High context versus Low context

• High context communication – a tradition- bound communication system

which depends on indirectness; tradition bound; their cultural traditions
shape the behaviour and lifestyle of group members; over-polite and
indirect in relating others; Asian cultures

• Low-context communication – a system that encourages directness in

communication; exhibit a more direct communication style; tend to gather
background information when meeting someone for the first time
(Interview the person they talk to); feel that they have to explain
everything rather than rely on non-verbal, contextual information; Western
cultures
 High power distance versus low power distance cultures

• High power distance cultures - cultures based on power differences in which

subordinates defer to superiors (Arabia, India and Malaysia); view power as a
fact of life and are apt to stress its coercive or referent nature.
(superiors and subordinates view each other differently; subordinates quick
to defer to superiors)

• Low power distance cultures - believe power should be used only when it is
legitimate; they are apt to employ expert or legitimate power ( Sweden, Israel
and USA)
(Superiors and subordinates emphasize their interdependence – consultation
preference; subordinates will even contradict their bosses when necessary)
 Masculine versus feminine cultures

Cultures differ in their attitude toward gender roles

• Highly masculine cultures- value male aggressiveness, strength and material
symbols of success (Japan, Italy, Germany, Mexico and Great Britain);
dominant and competitive; confront conflicts; win-lose strategy
• Highly feminine cultures- value relationships, tenderness in members of
both sexes, a high quality of life (Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands ,
Thailand and Chile); compromise; negotiation to resolve conflict; win-win
solutions
 Identifying Influences on
Cultural Identity
• Gender roles- refers to the way of presenting themselves
• Racial and Ethnic identity- socially constructed; share
experience of oppression
• Religious identity- has to do with belief on faith issues
• Socioeconomic identity- related to the widening gap between
the ultrawealthy, and middle and lower classes
• National identity- refers to the legal status or citizenship
 Identifying Impact of
Stereotypes and Prejudice
• Stereotypes- mental images or pictures that we believe on; shortcuts
(poisitive or negative) that guide reactions

• Prejudice- a positive or negative prejudgement; leads to the creation of

in-groups and out-groups, with out-group members becoming easy for
discrimination
 Technology and Intercultural Communication

• Virtual neighbourhoods and

communities- not face-to-face; online,
surrogate communities;
• Technology and computer networks are
also changing the traditional definition
of community
• Internet may also help bring diversity
and new culture to our lives
 How to improve your ability to communicate
interculturally
• Refrain from formulating expectations based solely on your
own culture
• Recognize how faulty education can impede understanding
• Make a commitment to develop communication skills and
abilities appropriate to life in multicultural world
 References
Communicating in a Multicultural Society and World.
https://www.academia.edu/37113953/Communicating_in_a_Multicultura
l_Society_and_World. p24-45

https://www.google.com/