Theories of Culture - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 17
About This Presentation
Title:

Theories of Culture

Description:

Low context (I) vs. high context (C) Examples: sharing blame/credit, Sony Walkman ... Are 'rights and wrongs' universal, or do they depend on circumstances? ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:150
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 18
Provided by: jmorr
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: Theories of Culture


1
Theories of Culture
2
Cultural Continuums
  • Individualism vs. communitarianism
  • Focus on individual or group?
  • Low context (I) vs. high context (C)
  • Examples sharing blame/credit, Sony Walkman
  • Neutral vs. emotional
  • Showing emotion is culture dependent
  • Display of emotion not the same as feeling emotion

3
Culture
  • Universalism vs. particularism
  • Are rights and wrongs universal, or do they
    depend on circumstances?
  • Examples the car and the pedestrian, restaurant
    reviewer
  • Individualist cultures rely on courts to settle
    disputes
  • Specific vs. diverse
  • Do we engage others in specific areas or
    multiple?

4
Culture
  • Achievement vs. ascription
  • Which do we value more, a persons individual
    abilities, or that persons background (name,
    family history, title, etc.)?
  • Knowing all the answers example
  • Economy car example

5
Culture
  • Passage of time differences
  • Emphasis on present, future, or past?
  • Environmental differences
  • The person is more important than the world vs.
    the world is more important than the person
  • Examples software piracy

6
Communication Accommodation Theory
  • Giles
  • Chapter 30

7
Face-Negotiation Theory
  • Ting-Toomey
  • Chapter 31

8
Face-Negotiation Theory
  • A model of negotiation
  • Negotiation is the control of the process, not
    the outcome
  • Regardless of cultural, people negotiate face
  • Face is our public self-image
  • Facework is what we do (verbal and nonverbal
    messages) to maintain, protect, and develop our
    face and those of others
  • Facework emphasis is affected by culture
  • Individualistic focus on words collectivist
    orientation focus on relationship and the
    specific situation

9
Face-Negotiation Theory
  • Collectivist orientation (high context)
  • Us vs. them
  • Group goals
  • Interested in group affiliations
  • Individualist orientation (low context)
  • I vs. you or them
  • Individual goals
  • Interested in individual attitudes and feelings

10
Face-Negotiation Theory
  • Management of conflict depends on the culture
    (high or low context)
  • High context cultures are more group-face
    oriented
  • Low context cultures are more self-face
    oriented
  • Dangerous to stereotype cultures
  • Differences between individuals is often greater
    than those between cultures

11
Face-Negotiation Theory
  • Third consideration mutual-face concern
  • Face-restoration self-concerned energies aimed
    at promoting individual face (individualistic)
  • Face-giving aimed at protecting the face of
    others (collectivistic)

12
Face-Negotiation Theory
  • Means of conflict management
  • Avoiding
  • Obliging
  • Compromising
  • Dominating
  • Integrating
  • Emotional expression
  • Passive aggression
  • Third-party help
  • These are somewhat culturally dependent (page 407)

13
Face-Negotiation Theory
  • Theory in practice resolving conflict. This
    requires
  • Knowledge of cultural differences
  • Mindfulness conscious choice to seek multiple
    perspectives of a given situation
  • Interaction skill ability to communicate
    effectively, adaptively, and appropriately in a
    given situation

14
Speech Codes Theory
  • Philipsen
  • Chapter 32

15
Speech Codes Theory
  • Looking for meaning in shared communication
    practices
  • Based on ethnography (interpretive)
  • Speech codes systematic, socially constructed
    communicative conduct words, rules, premises,
    and meanings
  • Cultural boundaries in speech practices, not just
    in geographic boundaries
  • Wanted to go beyond pure description, discover
    explanatory and predictive elements (theory)

16
Speech Codes Theory
  • Every distinct culture shares speech codes
  • What about speech codes for Hamilton Holt
    students?
  • What common communication practices do you share?
  • Rules, social status, school status, student
    roles, communication rules, power issues,
    common themes, common metaphors, etc.?

17
Speech Codes Theory
  • Practical
  • To better understand others, we must strive to
    understand their speech codes
  • What does what they say mean to them?
  • What will be effective/ineffective?
  • Critique Philipsens prediction and
    explanation difficult to defend
  • Ethnography is a useful, but non-scientific
    methodology
  • The researcher is part of the research (affects
    the data)
  • Generalizability and prediction require rigorous
    scientific methods
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com