Convergence,

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Lecture 3
Convergence, Culture and Identity
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Convergence

• A process whereby people come closer together to
  get the task finished.
• People need not converge on everything rather
  only on those things that are required to
  complete the task.
• To get the work done is a very basic human
  process.
• When you are converging with some people, you
  are also diverging with other people whom with
  you are not involved with.

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Convergence (cont)

• Life is a whole process of converging with
  people to get a task done, and then diverging
  with them with the task is completed.
• Then one moves on to converge with other people
  to get the next task done.

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Convergence Communication

• The role of communication is to facilitate
  convergence.
• In order to get the task done you have to
  communicate.
• It is especially important to do a lot of
  communicating up front in new jobs, classes,
  tasks, relationships, etc.
• Communication is also a key tool to facilitate
  divergence.
• This kind of communication requires great
  sensitivity.

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Culture

• The culture of the group is made up of shared
  perceptions of the members.
• The right way to do something is the
  behavioral extension of a culture.
• What clothing to wear
• What food to eat
• How to act in a classroom
• There are products of these behaviors.
• Levis, t-shirts, flaps
• Plate lunch
• Sit and take notes at a desk

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Culture (cont)

• Individual vs. Cultural Perceptions
• Once something is shared it becomes cultural.
• The more broadly shared a perception, the more of
  a culture it is.
• Conscious awareness of sharing and identification
  are a requirement for culture.

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Levels of Culture

• Macro-culture vs. Micro-culture levels
• Macro-culture level
• Culture tends to be cross-generational.
• There is socialization and indoctrination
  process.
• Many of values and beliefs are institutionalized.
• Churches, Government, Schools, Unions
• Cultural transgressions
• Dealt with at the ultimate level of severity.
• Violations of some beliefs are punishable by
  death or by being institutionalized.

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Levels of Culture (cont)

• For examining culture at the macro-culture level
  is useful if one is studying anthropology or
  sociology, but it is not very useful for looking
  at this interculturally.
• Micro-culture or Organizational level
• Better for looking at intercultural relationships

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Micro-cultures

• Rarely institutionalized
• Tend not to be documented
• Values not transmitted, but rather negotiated as
  the situation calls for
• Tend to last a short time just until the task is
  completed
• Importance rarely understood
• Occasionally there is someones diary or minutes
  of a meeting

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Micro-cultures (cont)

• But, this level of culture is one of the most
  important to understand if we are interested in
  understanding how to interact with someone from
  another culture.

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Cultural Identity

• Members of every culture have a sense of social
  identification.
• Who they are and why.
• Ones cultural identity affects inter-personal
  relationships and expectations of individual
  activity.
• From a sense of social identity (who we are), one
  receives a sense of personal identity (who I am).