CHAPTER 11: Episodes, Contexts, and Intercultural

Interactions

OBJECTIVES
• To describe and explain how communication experiences are
structured by people’s participation in events that are quite
predictable and routine.
• To introduce students the five components of social episodes,
each of which influences intercultural communication.
• To explain that all social interactions are influenced by culture.
• To examine three specific social settings in which cultural
variations play an important role: health care, education, and
business.
• To encourage an awareness that intercultural competence is
critical for everyday experiences and contexts.
 Social Episodes
• The recurring features of everyday
communication experiences/common events
which allow us to anticipate what people may
do are called social episodes.
 I. Social Episodes in Intercultural
Relationships

People undertake intercultural relationships

in predictable ways. People’s interaction are
structured by their participation in events
that are quite predictable and routine.
 The nature of social episodes

1. People’s interactions are structured by their

participation in events or social episodes that are
quite predictable and routine.
2. The nature of social episodes varies from culture to
culture; however, there are some common
characteristics:
a. Social episodes are interaction sequences that are
repeated over and over again.
b. The structure of the social episodes themselves are
very predictable.
c. The individuals who participate in these episodes
generally know what to expect from others and vice
versa.
B. Components of social episodes
1. Cultural patterns are the shared judgments about what the
world is, what it should be, and the widely held expectations
about how people should behave.
2. Social roles are sets of expected behaviors that are associated
with people in a particular position.
3. Rules of interaction are not written down, nor are they
typically shared verbally; instead, they operate at the level of
unwritten, unspoken expectations.
4. Interaction scenes are made up of the recurring, repetitive
topics that people talk about in social conversations.
5. Interaction contexts are the settings or situations within which
social episodes occur.
 II. Contexts for Intercultural Communication

A. The Health Care Context

1. Culture’s influence on the health care context
a. Cultural patterns affect how people understand the health care context.
b. Three general approaches people take to issues about health, illness, and wellness.
2. The magico-religious or personalistic approach refers to a belief that health and
illness are closely linked to uncontrollable supernatural forces.
3. The holistic approach refers to a belief in an essential harmonious balance
between a person and nature (defined as the larger social, political, and
environmental circumstances).
4. The biomedical approach refers to beliefs that a person’s health is controlled by
biochemical forces.
5. Family and gender roles in the health-care context
a. Cultural patterns influence the definition of the patient, family responsibilities, ideas
regarding medical treatment, and medical interviews.
b. Cultural patterns also influence expectations about appropriate gender-related
behaviors.
B. Conversational structures and language
a. Cultural differences in interaction rules affect the medical
interview between caregiver and patient.
b. Potential difficulties include the perceived authority of health-
care professionals and the expected degree of ambiguity in
the use of language.

C. Intercultural competence in the health care context

a. Health-care professionals must assume the responsibility of
assuring intercultural competence—which requires an
understanding of cultural patterns—in order to treat people
effectively.
b. However, an individual may not share the preferences of his
or her cultural group.
D. The Educational Context
1. Culture’s influence on the educational context
a. Participants in educational settings bring with them their
cultural backgrounds and patterns.
b. Culture influences people’s expectations about teacher-
student relationships, learning styles, valuation of education,
classroom behavior, and communication styles.

E. Classroom interaction
a. Culture affects expectations about teacher-student
interactions.
b. Culture affects preferences about classroom behaviors of
students.
c. Culture affects preferred learning styles of students
3. Families and the educational system
a. Intercultural communication competence affects the
relationship of family members with the educational
system.
b. There are differing cultural expectations about the
interrelationships among parents, teachers, and
students
4. Intercultural competence in the educational context
a. The starting point for developing intercultural
competence in the educational context is to
understand one’s own cultural background.
b. The educational context has the potential to help or
harm students and their families.
F. The Business Context
1. Culture’s influence on the business context
a. Specific areas of intercultural business are associated with four variations in
individualistic or collectivistic cultures: who speaks for the organization, who
makes decisions for the organization, what motivates employees, and what is
the basis for the business relationship.
b. The cultural dimension of universalism-particularism explains how business
practices vary between cultures.

2. Doing business interculturally

a. Cultures vary in their interpretations about what constitutes appropriate and
effective business communication and the manner in which to practice
business.
b. Business negotiations, social exchanges, decision making styles, reward systems,
and gender expectations are all influenced by the cultural backgrounds of the
business participants involved.

3. Intercultural competence in the business context

a. Intercultural competence in the workforce involves educating managers and their
employees on the skills necessary to work in an intercultural environment.
b. Training includes opportunities to improve knowledge, motivation, and skills
concerning intercultural issues and ongoing training about diversity issues.
 III. Episodes, Contexts, and Intercultural
Competence
• A. Intercultural competence requires an
understanding of the episodes and contexts
within which interaction occurs.
• B. Cultural differences related to episodes and
contexts can be a cause of misunderstanding
in intercultural interactions.