The Role of Culture

Characteristics of Culture

• Learned behavior
• Interrelated elements
• Adaptive 
• Shared

 

Social Structure

•Individuals, families, and groups

–Importance of family 

–Definition of family

–Importance of individual relative to the group 

•Social stratification – categorization based on birth, occupation, educational

achievements

•Social mobility – ability to move from one stratum of society to another

 

 

Language 

•3000+ different languages worldwide 

•10,000+ different dialects 

•Primary delineator of cultural groups 

•Lingua Franca 

–English is the common language of international business 

Translation Disasters

•KFC’s Finger Lickin’ Good 

–Eat your fingers off (China) 

•Pillsbury’s Jolly Green Giant 

–Intimidating green ogre (Saudia Arabia)

 

Yes and No Across Cultures 

•Latin America 

–meaning of “manana” 

•Japan 

–meaning of  “yes” versus “yes, I understand”  

 

Forms of Nonverbal Communication_1 

•Hand gestures 

•Facial expression 

•Posture and stance 

•Clothing/ hair style 

•Walking behavior 

•Interpersonal distance 

•Touching 

•Eye contact 

•Architecture/ Interior design 

•Artifacts and non-verbal symbols 

•Graphic symbols  

 

 

Forms of Nonverbal Communication_2 

•Art and rhetorical forms 

•Smell 

•Speech rate, pitch, inflection, volume 

•Color symbolism 

•Synchronization of speech and movement 

•Taste, symbolism of food, oral gratification 

•Cosmetics 

•Sound signals 

•Time symbolism 

•Timing and pauses 

•Silence  

 

Religion 

•Christianity 

–Catholicism 

–Protestant 

–Eastern Orthodox 

•Islam 

•Hinduism 

•Buddhism  

 

Values and Attitudes 

•Values: accepted principles and standards 

•Attitudes: actions, feelings, and thoughts that result from values 

–Time 

–Age 

–Education 

–Status  

 

Theories of Culture 

•Hall’s Low-Context, High-Context Approach 

•Cultural Cluster Approach 

•Hofstede’s Five Dimensions  

 

Hall’s Low-Context, High-Context Approach 

•Low-context: words used by speaker explicitly convey speaker’s message 

•High-context: the context in which a conversation occurs is just as important as the

words spoken; cultural clues are critical to communication  

 

Hofstede’s Five Dimensions 

• Social Orientation 
• Power Orientation 
• Uncertainty Orientation 
• Goal Orientation   
• Time Orientation 

 

Understanding New Cultures

•Self-reference criterion

•Cultural literacy

•Acculturation