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CHAPTER 1: WHY STUDY INTERCULTURAL

COMMUNICATION?
This book explores intercultural communication, highlighting its benefits and challenges. It aims
to improve understanding of complex interactions and foster better communication between
different cultures. It incorporates personal stories and personal experiences to enhance theory
and practice, emphasizing the importance of not being overwhelmed.

THE SELF-AWARENESS IMPERATIVE

Intercultural communication can enhance cultural identity and background, as it begins as a journey into
another culture and ends as a journey into one's own. Studying intercultural communication can help
individuals realize their religious identity and appreciate their home country from a different perspective.
However, ethnocentrism can hinder learning, as it can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts. Self-
awareness through intercultural contact varies based on social and economic status, with minority groups
being wary of subtle societal slights. It can also enhance self-awareness by exposing individuals to
influenced systems.

THE DEMOGRAPHIC IMPERATIVE

The world's diversity is increasing, with college enrollment for racial and ethnic minorities increasing,
especially for Latino students. Sports, such as basketball and baseball, are playing a significant role in
promoting diversity and improving performance.

Changing U.S. Demographics

The U.S. is experiencing rapid demographic changes, with racial and ethnic minorities growing more than
whites, leading to increased white anxiety and negative evaluations of these groups, and affecting the
workforce.

Changing Immigration Patterns

The United States' demographic shift is influenced by immigration patterns, with the foreign-born
population increasing from 5% in 1970 to over 14% in 2020. This has led to a more diverse population,
including 1 million LGBT adults.

THE ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE

Globalization, the creation of a world market, is a contentious issue, with populism and protectionism
being the main backlash. Economic disruptions like automation, digitization, and climate change cause
job losses worldwide. American businesses must understand and adapt to global markets to compete
effectively. Cultural differences between East and West can lead to failures in Asian markets and lower
labor costs. Understanding these differences can help organizations recognize new markets, develop new
products, and view diversity as a potential economic resource.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPERATIVE

Intercultural communication is crucial for understanding and addressing international challenges like
climate change, wildfires, and water rights. American businesses must adapt to cultural differences in
other countries, working with diverse employees, recognizing new markets, and developing new products
to capitalize on opportunities.

Floods and Droughts Lead to Migration

Rising seas, natural disasters, and climate change are causing human migration, with Bahamians in the
US facing difficulties. Droughts in Central America, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and
Africa have forced millions to migrate for food. Climate refugees lack international recognition, and the
United Nations' Global Compacts lack guidance.

 Wildfires

Wildfires, caused by droughts and intense winds, can affect different cultural groups differently, leading
to conflicts. For example, the 2019-2020 wildfires in Australia caused tension between whites and
indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples have used effective traditional fire reduction techniques for
centuries, but the Australian government's ineffective land management led to tragic fires, killing millions
of animals, causing extensive loss of housing, and human deaths. However, cooperation has emerged,
with the University of Tasmania scientists working with the Aboriginal community to reintroduce
indigenous burning and the Firesticks Alliance project.

 Water Rights

Water rights are a significant intercultural/environment conflict, with increasing demand for fresh water.
Climate change and environmental degradation are changing water availability and quality, leading to
competition and even violence. Top ten water rights conicts include the Nile Basin water dispute among
11 African countries, the Mekong River Basin water dispute due to China and Laos' dam-building
projects, and the Cochabamba water privatization in 2000. These conflicts occur globally, including the
United States, and call for cultural understanding and cooperation beyond national borders. Intercultural
communication is crucial in addressing these global challenges.

THE TECHNOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE

Technology and Human Communication

Communication technology, such as social media, has both positive and negative impacts on intercultural
encounters. It allows people to connect quickly during natural disasters and terrorist attacks, drawing
attention to global problems. However, it can also lead to racist tweets and beheadings. Social media sites
like Facebook and Twitter face challenges from deep fake videos and foreign government interference.
Intercultural communication is significantly impacted by these technologies, with four impacts:
information about people and cultures, contact with distant people, contact with similar people, and
distribution of access to communication technology.

 Information About People and Cultures

The internet provides instant access to diverse cultures, potentially promoting peaceful coexistence.
However, it has also led to societal wars, copycat terrorist attacks, and democratization of information.
Governments in countries like China, Bangladesh, and Zimbabwe have limited online communication
access.

 Contact with People who Dier

Online communication and social media enable diverse cultural connections, but also present language
barriers. Digital translation apps like Google Translate facilitate intercultural encounters, but some
languages are privileged, and linguist András Kornai warns the Internet may threaten their demise.

 Contact with People who are Similar

Social media and online communication provide support for international students, immigrants, refugees,
and transgender youth, while strengthening identity management for diasporic groups. However, hate-lled
groups can increase membership on sites like Facebook and YouTube, especially targeting young people.
It's crucial to be aware of potential dangers.

Access to Communication Technology

Cultural capital is crucial in our digital society, influenced by information technology and English use.
Reexamining self, others, and culture requires considering physical and virtual bodies and society
creation.

THE PEACE IMPERATIVE

The coexistence of diverse individuals is uncertain, with current trends focusing on longer, protracted
conflicts with foreign support, such as "proxy wars." These conflicts are often linked to historical,
political, religious, and economic factors. Understanding intercultural communication is crucial for
addressing conflicts and promoting transformative solutions. Communication scholar Benjamin Broome
suggests a comprehensive approach to peacebuilding that addresses personal, relational, and structural
levels of interaction, including strategies for addressing these intercultural conflicts.

THE ETHICAL IMPERATIVE

Living in an intercultural world presents ethical challenges, as ethics are principles of conduct that govern
behavior. These principles often arise from communities' consensus on what is good and bad behavior,
while cultural values guide us on what is good and what should be good. Ethical judgments focus on the
degrees of rightness and wrongness in human behavior, with some judgments being explicit and others
less explicit. Intercultural conicts arise from various notions of ethical behavior, such as conducting
business in multinational corporations, where payments to foreign governments may be considered
unethical.

Relativity Versus Universality

The book highlights the relativity of cultural behavior, arguing that no cultural pattern is inherently right
or wrong. The universality of ethics depends on one's perspective, with universalists identifying acts and
conditions as wrong, while extreme relativists argue cultural differences are superficial. Philosophers and
anthropologists struggle to develop universally applicable ethical guidelines, while communication
scholar Bradford J. Hall suggests a dialogical approach to address ethical dilemmas in intercultural
communication.

Being Ethical Students of Culture

Studying culture involves understanding cultural patterns and identities, addressing self-reexivity,
learning about others, and acquiring a sense of social justice to develop intercultural communication
skills.

 Developing Self-Reexivity

Intercultural communication requires self-reexivity and understanding one's position in society. Learning
about other cultures and practices can reveal a lot about oneself. Identifying oneself is an ongoing
process, as intercultural experiences change one's identity. Recognizing social categories and their
implications helps in understanding communication. For instance, as an undergraduate student, one
should communicate ideas on specific subjects to faculty members or staff, such as changing majors or
addressing issues with a partner.

 Learning About Others

Cultural studies emphasizes understanding humanity and cultural humility, recognizing one's own
background and limitations. It encourages dialogue about cultural realities, fostering experiential
knowledge and broadening perspectives on differences like race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality,
ethnicity, and age, which significantly impact people's lives.

 Developing a Sense of Social Justice

Intercultural communication is essential for understanding diverse cultures and societies, challenging
assumptions, and promoting social justice. Students have an ethical obligation to educate themselves
about conflicts, stereotypes, and prejudice, but unethical applications can lead to misrepresentation.

INTERNET RESOURCES

Intercultural communication is common in refugee migrations, as highlighted by Refugees International,

a nonprot organization providing expert advice and organizing 20 field missions for basic services like
water, healthcare, housing, and protection.
 CHAPTER 3: CULTURE, COMMUNICATION,
CONTEXT, AND POWER
WHAT IS CULTURE?

Culture is a key concept in intercultural communication studies, examining how cultural groups differ
from one another. Despite similarities in daily activities, cultural differences exist, such as
communication styles. Culture can be seen as a pattern of perceptions influencing communication or a
site of conflict. Different denitions of culture offer more flexibility in understanding intercultural
communication. Social science researchers focus on culture's influence on communication, while
interpretive researchers examine cultural contexts.

Social Science Definitions: Culture as Learned, Group-Related Perceptions

Culture, according to communication scholars, is a set of learned, group-related perceptions acquired

through childhood interactions with various groups. These patterns shape our perception and behavior,
with cultural differences like Asians being more concrete and Northern Europeans being more abstract.
Intercultural communication scholars aim to identify these differences and understand their impact on
communication.

Interpretive Definitions: Culture as Contextual Symbolic Patterns of Meaning, Involving Emotions

Interpretive scholars, influenced by anthropological studies, view culture as shared and learned, focusing
on contextual communication behavior rather than group perceptions. Philipsen's definition of culture
refers to a socially constructed pattern of symbols, meaning, and rules. Dell Hymes's framework for
speech analysis helps understand rules and patterns in speech communities. However, more people are
questioning the utility of culture as shared group patterns, raising questions about cultural adaptation.

Critical Definitions: Culture as Heterogeneous, Dynamic, and a Contested Zone

Cultural studies scholarship emphasizes the diversity of cultural groups and the conictual nature of
cultural boundaries. Originating from British scholars in the 1960s, it has spread globally, focusing on the
richness, complexity, and relevance of cultural phenomena. The concept of culture emerged from this
area, which aligns with anthropology's view of cultural processes as dynamic and fluid. Viewing culture
as a contested site helps understand the struggles of various groups, and a dialectical approach
acknowledges the interrelatedness of different views, acknowledging culture as a shared and learned
pattern of beliefs and perceptions.

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?

Communication is a complex, symbolic process that involves meaning attributed to words or actions.
Three perspectives emphasize its components: social science, interpretive, and critical. Social science
focuses on sender/receiver, message, channel, and context. Interpretive emphasizes the symbolic nature of
communication, while critical emphasizes societal forces and nonverbal communication through symbols
like ags and Disney logos.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION

The relationship between culture and communication is complex, with culture influencing communication
and vice versa. Cultural groups influence the perception of reality, while communication helps create a
community's cultural reality. This reciprocal relationship is crucial in understanding cultural dynamics.

How Culture Influences Communication

Intercultural communication scholars use anthropology and psychology frameworks to study cultural
differences in communication. Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's Value Orientations framework emphasizes the
importance of cultural values in understanding groups. They suggest that members must answer questions
about human nature, relationship with nature, preferred personality, and time orientation.

 The Nature of Human Nature

Three possible responses to basic questions about human nature are: belief in the fundamental goodness
of human nature, a perception of a combination of goodness and evil in human nature, and the belief that
human nature is essentially evil. Legal practices in societies with this orientation focus on rehabilitating
violators of the law, with jails and prisons seen as places to train them to rejoin society as contributing
citizens. Religious beliefs have shifted over the past 50 years, with incarceration and punishment being
the primary focus.

 Relationship Between Humans and Nature

Human activities dominate nature in most U.S. societies, leading to conflicts between environmentalists
and land developers. Countries like Canada prioritize human over nature, while Native Americans,
Japanese, and some Arab groups emphasize harmony with nature.

 Relationships Between Humans

Cultural groups have varying values, with some valuing individualism and others more group-oriented.
Individualism, often attributed to European Americans, emphasizes individuals over families and work
teams. Collateral orientation, on the other hand, values extended families and group loyalty. These values
may influence communication patterns, with some groups holding contradictory values, such as those in
the U.S. work contexts.

 Preferred Forms of Activity

The "doing" orientation in the United States emphasizes productivity and is often reflected in employment
reward systems. The highest status is given to those who "do" (sports gures, physicians, lawyers), while
the "growing" orientation emphasizes spiritual aspects. Some societies, like Japan, combine both
orientations, while others emphasize "being," a self-actualization approach fused with experiences.

 Orientation to Time

U.S. cultural communities, particularly European American and middle-class societies, prioritize the
future through practices like retirement accounts and appointment books. Others, like Spain and Greece,
value the present moment and recognize its potential. European and Asian societies also emphasize the
past, believing that knowledge of history helps understand contemporary life.

 Hofstede Value Orientations

Geert Hofstede's study on IBM subsidiaries in 53 countries identified five common problems:
individualism versus collectivism, power distance, gender versus masculinity, uncertainty management,
long-term versus short-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint.

 Power distance

Power distance refers to the acceptance of unequal distribution of power within a country. Countries like
Denmark, Israel, and New Zealand value small power distance, preferring less hierarchy and legitimate
use. High power distance societies, like Mexico, the Philippines, and India, formalize decision-making
and relationships.

 The masculinity-femininity value

IBM employees in Japan, Austria, and Mexico have a high masculine values orientation, preferring
gender-specific roles. Conversely, employees in northern Europe, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the
Netherlands have a higher feminine values orientation, indicating more gender equality and a stronger
belief in quality of life for all.

 Uncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance influences human behavior, with low uncertainty avoidance societies limiting rules
and accepting dissent, and high uncertainty avoidance societies prefer extensive rules and consensus.
Hofstede's framework, criticized for its western European bias, overlaps with Confucian-based thinking.
Long-term versus short-term orientations reflect a society's search for virtue or truth, while indulgence
versus restraint relates to subjective happiness.

 Limitations of Value Frameworks

Cultural values are crucial in understanding cultural differences, but not everyone holds the dominant
value. Cultures are dynamic and heterogeneous, especially in rapidly changing societies like South Korea.
Value frameworks often "essentialize" people, but cultural groups reflect dynamic contrasts. The cultural-
individual dialectic and dierences-similarities dialectic suggest that value orientations exist on a
continuum in all societies.

How Communication Reinforces Culture

Cultural communication scholars examine how norms are enacted in speech communities, focusing on the
reciprocal relationship between communication and cultural identity. They also examine how individuals
represent their culture's worldviews, such as Latino/a communication scholars, through acculturation and
assimilation.

Communication as Resistance to the Dominant Cultural System

Resistance is a metaphor in cultural studies that explores how individuals use their space to resist
dominant cultural systems. Workers can resist management and competition through subtle actions like
work slowdowns or whistleblowing. Social media has significantly increased resistance, with movements
like #BlackLivesMatter and #Metoo spreading across industries. Social media platforms like Reddit and
Twitter play a role in these movements, enabling individuals to share personal stories and make
relationships more equitable.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNICATION AND CONTEXT

Context refers to the physical, virtual, or social aspects of communication situations, including social,
political, and historical structures. It can be dynamic and multilayered, encompassing societal, political,
and historical factors. For instance, the controversy over Calvin Klein ads, political forces, and historical
context are crucial for understanding communication.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNICATION AND POWER

Power, influenced by factors like age, gender, and race, is a key factor in communication. It's dynamic
and can be influenced by distractions, resistance, and political means. Understanding intercultural
communication requires considering power dynamics. Brussels, a Flemish city in Flanders, faces social
and economic tensions due to French language dominance and migration. Tom, a francophone foreigner,
encountered dialectical tensions at a train station, comparing his status as a foreigner to a traditional
Flemish resident, the increasing French-speaking population, and the economic power of the Flemish in
Belgium.

INTERNET RESOURCES

Geert Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions website offers a comprehensive overview of cultural values and
scores for various countries and regions. Amnesty International's website provides information on social
justice work in various countries. UNESCO's Culture Sector website offers news and events about
changing culture, including regions like Arab states, Latin America, Caribbean, Europe, and North
America. Global Voices Online, sponsored by Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, offers
blogs, podcasts, photo-sharing sites, and videoblogs from around the world.