📌CHAPTER THREE

LOCAL AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATION IN

CULTURAL SETTING
Technology has made communication more
widely accessible to all people. People may
multitask while they are in the air and on the
road. Online transactions such as banking,
trading, education, holding business meetings,
and many other activities can be completed
quickly. The internet has sped up the sharing of
information.
OBSTACLES IN

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION
Despite the development of technology, cultural
differences are a barrier to communication. This
misconception is linked to the fact that people speak
different languages, have different values and views,
and have blended many cultures. More conflicts than
understanding have resulted from intercultural
differences. It will be exceedingly challenging to
communicate without verbal and nonverbal cues.
According to Tubbs & Moss’s 2007 theory, “High-context
cultures have some significant changes in the way
information is coded, and people in high-context
cultures are better readers.”
RELATIONSHIPS: NORMS AND ROLES

It is important that culture affects the context of

verbal and nonverbal symbols during interaction.
Even foreign students or working people abroad may
need to understand the new culture to be able to
fully develop a frame of reference during
conversations. Individuals in different cultures have
different behaviors that often will lead in
misunderstanding (Tubbs & Moss, 2007).
Norms are established socially acceptable practices and
guidelines. These laws truly relate to culture and how individuals
in a certain location are supposed to act and respond under
specific conditions. In America, speaking up in front of the
elderly is respectable; mumbling and turning one’s back are not.
Talking back is considered impolite in various cultures,
particularly in the Philippines. An American student’s smile of
greeting to a non-Western student could be perceived as
superficial, sexually suggestive, or even impolite; the American
student, in turn, is likely to regard the other’s failure to return
the smile as unfriendly or even hostile (Tubbs & Moss, 2007).
• Shake hands when you meet
someone.

• Arrive to appointments on
time.

• Don’t talk with your mouth

full of food.
Roles are norms that are intended for a specific group may
vary from culture to culture. Prescribed roles that some
individuals in society deviate may cause imprisonment, death,
and great misunderstanding. In Muslim countries for instance,
the LGBT is considered a taboo discovering them is punishable
by death. In some cultures, women do not share the same
rights as men do. These young girls are deprived from
obtaining a college education and wed during their puberty
years. Women in these nations are invisible and do not have a
voice.
Social Roles: Expected behaviors based on
the positions a person occupies in society

Mother: Care for and raise children; provide food and

clothing; guide children in education and activities

Teacher: Act as authority figure and manager of group;

provide guidance, knowledge, challenges and support
to students

Friend: Share social activities; create and maintain

peer-to-peer bonds

Daughter: Care for aging parents; create opportunities

for intergenerational bonding
Beliefs and Values
Foreigners need to appreciate and accept these different types
of beliefs because beliefs and values are not universally shared
across nations. We find it difficult to accept that what is right or
good is as relative to culture as the word for “book” or “stove,”
or as the way our food is prepared or our clothes are made, and
that some cultures eat plants or animals that we do not classify
as food. It is even more difficult to accept that some cultures
eat plants or animals that we do not classify as food, and it is
still more difficult to understand why, in the face of mass
starvation in India, cattle wander the street unrest.
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BELIEFS
AND VALUES?

BELIEFS

Beliefs don’t need proof

Beliefs are assumptions we make about others and ourselves
Beliefs grow from what we experience and think about
Beliefs affect our morals

VALUES
Values stem from our beliefs
Values govern the way we behave and interact with others
Values are things we deem important
Values affect behaviour and character
GENDER
Looking back in time, males are perceived as being more
demanding, aggressive, and competitive while females are seen
as being more cooperative and less aggressive. Boys navigate
their path by instructing one another to accomplish various
things from preschool until the beginning of puberty. On the
other hand, girls ask one another what role they want to play.
Males make demands without justification, but girls give
justifications for their suggestions and acts. Girls engage in
disagreements and confrontations through indirect aggression,
such as eliminating someone from one of their core groups.
Female students indicate that men are interested
in “power and more concerned with content
than relationship difficulties,” notwithstanding
the diversity of varied cultural backgrounds
(Adler & Rodman, 2006). As they don’t dwell on
things, men are more forthright.
Race

In a social construct, race is a group of individuals having the

same physical features and characteristics and who shares
identical rituals, customs, and beliefs (Robert, 2011). Because
of racism, the use of labels and derogatory terms has
stigmatized groups. Examples of being othered was during the
holocaust between Nazi Germans and the Jewish people as
well as the name calling of “niggers” for African Americans in
the United States. Likewise, the power of racist language is not
easy to ignore since it is some sort of bullying (Adler &
Rodman, 2006).
Class

Class is group sharing the same economic or social

status and this can be clearly seen during the mid-1800s
where families stayed and worked together in one
environment. Men. Women, and children worked in the
farmlands. They planted. Tended, harvested, and stored
crops as well as took care of farm animals. Meanwhile,
in the cities, families work businesses. It is therefore
inferred that this preindustrial lifestyle knits family
bonding and develops cooperative relationship.
Thank You 🙂