Jillian Walinski

Prof. Berkos

COM 491

2/28/21

Discussion Prompt #4

Chapter 6 was about culture and the different facets of how cultures intersect. Culture is

one’s identification with and acceptance into a group that shares symbols, meanings,

experiences, and behavior. There are two types of cultural communication. The first is cross-

cultural communication, which is the comparison of two or more cultural communities. The

second is intercultural communication, which is the interaction between members of different

cultures.

This chapter discussed Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, which is made up of five

dimensions. Each dimension is seen as a continuum and distinct cultures are classified

somewhere along the continuum. The first dimension is individualism-collectivism, which

addresses how people define themselves and their relationships with others. Individualism is

based on the belief that the individual is the essential unit of society. It’s very focused on

independence and individuality. Collectivism is based on in-groups and out-groups. In-groups

are social affiliations to which an individual feels they belong and out-groups are social

affiliations to which an individual feels they don’t belong.

The second dimension is uncertainty avoidance, which is the extent to which people

within a culture are made nervous by situations which they perceive as unstructured, unclear, or
unpredictable. There is high-uncertainty-avoidance and low-uncertainty-avoidance. Cultures

with high-uncertainty-avoidance seek to avoid ambiguity. Cultures with low-uncertainty

avoidance tend to accept ambiguity and a lack of structure more easily.

The third dimension is power distance, which is the extent to which people with little

power in society consider inequity normal and acceptable. There are cultures with high power

distance, which accept power as a scarce resource and place more of an importance on status and

rank. There are cultures with low power distance, which value the minimization of power

differences.

The fourth dimension is masculinity-femininity, which focuses on the relationship

between biological sex and what is considered to be sex-appropriate behavior within cultures.

Masculine cultures use the reality of biological sex in the creation of distinct roles for men and

women. Feminine cultures believe that norms for behavior shouldn’t be determined by sex.

The fifth, and final, dimension is long-term and short-term orientation. Long-term

orientation is associated with thrift, savings, perseverance, and the willingness to subordinate

one’s self to achieve a goal. This leads to a culture of employees who typically have a strong

work ethic and focus of the achievement of distant goals. Short-term orientation is more centered

on the desire for immediate gratification. This leads to a culture where people would prefer to

spend money for quick results as opposed to long-term gain.

Communication Accommodation Theory was also discussed in this chapter. This theory

provides an informative platform to help one understand how and why we adapt our

communication when we interact with others. Individuals belong to a wide variety of social

groups based on ethnicity, gender, race, and religion. We express our social identity through in-
groups and out-groups, which I mentioned earlier in this paper. This allows us to categorize

ourselves and others into specific groups.

We also accommodate our communication through convergence or divergence.

Convergence is when you alter your speech and behavior so that it matches with your

conversational partner. Divergence is when you seek to make your speech different than how

your conversational partner is speaking. Within accommodation is also maintenance and non-

accommodation. Maintenance is the absence of adjustment, while non-accommodation is too

much or too little adjustment. The underlying expectation of who accommodates to whom differs

across groups based on cultural factors. For example, minority employees, like women or people

of racial or ethnic minorities, are usually expected to converge to the standard.

If I were to analyze our country’s culture based on the fifth dimension of Hofstede’s

Cultural Dimensions, long-term and short-term orientation, I would say we are more short-term

oriented. Personally, I am long-term oriented, but as a society, I think a lot of people try to “keep

up with the Joneses”. That’s why so many people continue to buy the new iPhone that comes

out, even though it’s going to become obsolete in several years. I think our society doesn’t just

focus on materialistic items, but spending money for immediate gratification is huge in this

country. With the immediacy of our phones and being able to purchase anything from basically

anywhere, this short-term orientation is being shoved down our throats.

Do you find yourself converging or diverging more often? Are you more long-term or

short-term oriented? Do you agree with high power distance or low power distance?