Cultural Conflict

Culture is a lot more than what language a person is speaking how they are dressing and what kind of
food they are eating. Cultural groups share nationality, race and similar ethnicity. However, culture
could also include religion, sexual orientation, gender and even generation. Although culture is not
visible, it plays a major role in how we handle conflict. It is often the starting place of our thinking and
our behaviors. Cultures are sort of implanted in every conflict because conflicts arise in every human
relationship. When it comes to handling conflict, we tend to handle it by using lifelong messages that
we have received due to our culture. Cultural messages are unique in different cultures. The message
one culture sends could be perceived and interpreted to totally something else by a different culture
receiver. Living in a world with so many different cultures, we almost have to be cultural fluent.
Cultural fluency means being familiar with different cultures, how they work and how they intertwine
with our relationships when it comes to conflict. One of the major dimensions of cultural fluency is
communication, which refers to different starting points about how to relate to and with different
culture groups. Two of the different variations of communication are high and low context. Besides
being used in individual communication, high and low context is also used to understand different
cultural groups. In high context communication, large part of the message conveyed lies in the
physical context, including tone of voice, facial expression, and gestures. In low context
communication, the spoken word carries most of the meaning, whatever is trying to be conveyed is
simply said directly. Coming from a big Armenian family, culture and conflict are very high context
between me and the rest of my family members. Every little tone of voice, facial expression, and
gesture has a major meaning behind it, to decode the true meaning you would have to be part of the
family. Growing up, my parents were not strict at all with me and my brother. However, we knew how
to decode them without them even saying anything. If I brought a new friend to my house, just by the
way my mother would look at me I would know that this person is not coming to my house anymore.
Even in conversations, a two word response from my parents meant a lot. Going to a restaurant
owned by another Armenian person with Armenian employees is also involved in high context
communication. You simply know how to act, what to do, what to say and what not to say. When it
comes to conflict, I have friends of different nationalities. Being in an argument with one of my fellow
Armenian friends is way different than being in an argument with a friend that was born and raised
here in The United States with parents that were born and raised here also. A few words back and
forth with my Armenian friend would simply end the argument with both of us understanding who was
right and who was wrong. However, when involved in an argument with one of my friends who comes
from a low context background, I almost have to argue with him in a low context matter by explaining
every little detail. A few different gestures and facial expressions do not mean anything to him and it
does get frustrating at times. A person’s cultural background affects communication in a major way
when a high and low context communication is involved. How things are perceived and interpreted
depend on the person’s cultural background. In low context cultures individuals rely more in spoken
words. In high context cultures there are more contexts involved, like tone of voice, facial expression,
and gestures. Growing up in a high context family and having different perception of things embedded
in me, I have learned how to deal with conflict in a high context matter. Also, having friends who come
from a low context culture, I have dealt with communicating differently and also have experienced
situations differently than them. In order to better communicate with the people involved in your life
you have to understand how they perceive and interpret what you are communicating with them.

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