English midterm

culture

culture

shared belief, values, custom and symbols of a large group of people

Examples of culture

customs are practices like weddings, birthday parties and death

broad concepts (not limited to nations, race, religion or ethnic groups)

co-culture

presence of many different cultures (i.e Mexican culture and American culture) existing side by side

co-culture characteristics

usually attached outside of mainstream culture

culture practices inside a mainstream culture (sit under an umbrella of main culture)

communication

without communication there’s no identity, since we share our identities with each other.

Identity

it is impossible for one person only to have an identity no other person has, because identities are cultural (shared)

communication is symbolic, language is a code

in order to understand language, you have to decode the symbolic code

symbol

anything that stands or represents something else

verbal communication

words spoken or written

nonverbal communication

not spoken, involve use of symbols, gestures, facial expressions, visual representation of belonging, etc

communication is a process

has no definitive beginning or end

a constant flow of actions with consequences

communication is transactional

channels of communication carrying messages in two directions at the same time

model of communication

communication is contextual

relational and cultural context

relational communication

provides information about level of intimacy and / or balance of power and socially constructed rules

Cultural communication

provides another layer of information determining meaning and consequences of communication

family culture, regional culture, religious culture, racial / ethnic culture, professional culture, national culture, etc.

global community

people and nations of the world are connected by modern technology and are interdependent economically, socially, and politically

peaceful coexistence

interacting with individuals of another culture peacefully without discrimination

negative peace

the absence of violence & conflict between two groups of people

example: ceasefire

positive peace

success in no conflict remaining, eradicating structural and cultural violence

pure peace

there has never been a conflict in the first place

peacemaking

stopping and eradicating the conflict

ie: negotiating the ceasefire

peacekeeping

constant intervention to make sure people don’t go back to conflict thus preventing recurrence

peacebuilding

efforts to continue to grow peace between groups, so we can achieve positive peace

structural violence

comes from some kind of structure, sociopolitical and economical and produce or permit various forms of human suffering

cultural violence

prejudice beliefs about other cultural groups, manifests in feeling of indifference and discriminatory practices that deprive individuals of human rights

xenophobia

fear and hatred of anything foreign

ethnocentrism

ethnocentric belief of one culture being the center of everything, feeling their culture to be superior to other cultures

Deardorff model level 1: Requisite Attitudes

Respect (various cultures n diversity)

Openness (to intercultural learning)

Curiosity and Discovery (tolerating ambiguity and discovery)

Deardorff model level 2: Knowledge and Comprehension

Cultural self awareness

Deep understanding and knowledge of culture

cultural specific knowledge

Sociolinguistic Awareness

Deardorff model level 3: Skills

Listen

Observe

Interpret

Analyze

Evaluate

Relate

Deardorff model level 4: Desired internal outcome

Adaptability (to different communication styles)

flexibility (selecting and using appropriate communication styles)

ethnorelative view

empathy

Deardorff model level 5: Desired External Outcome

behaving and communicating effectively based on one’s intercultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes

Milton Bennett’s stage model of intercultural sensitivity

Ethnocentric

Denial stage 🡪 fail to acknowledge existence of cultural differences

Defense stage 🡪 acknowledge cultural differences as threatening

Minimization stage 🡪 trivialize cultural differences and put little significance on differences

Ethnorelative

Acceptance stage 🡪 understand and respect cultural differences

Adaption stage 🡪 develop intercultural communication skills

Integration stage 🡪 multicultural view

intercultural communication competence

some people are more able communicators than other people

better ability through experiences with other cultures

most people can learn and be trained to improve those skills

competent communication should at least include two outcomes

it should be appropriate

it should be effective

cultural frame of reference

influences how we interpret and value appropriateness, as well as effectiveness of someone’s communication behavior

what we know about another culture influences our judgement

fossilizing

staying in one stage (f.e. denial stage) and not moving on

conflict transformation

changing conflict, proactive means of bringing the conflict participants together

social justice

belief in fair treatment and equal access to valued resources for all in multicultural society

social capital

beneficial interactions between people, participation to bring social justice

prejudice

negative attitudes towards a group or members of a group

certain attitude against another culture, ethnicity and / or race

ethnocentricity

ingroup

a group to whom you belong and anyone else is perceived as belonging to group

natural impulse to favor ingroups (which we belong) over outgroups (which we don’t belong)

Gordon Allport intergroup contact theory

four conditions for optimal intergroup contact to avoid prejudice: equal group status within the situation, common goals, intergroup cooperation and authority support

implicit prejudice

association and knee jerk reactions we have in response to other cultures that is usually hidden

explicit prejudice

open negative attitudes and hostile behavior towards other cultures

openly voiced or shown attitude against other cultures

harder and more resistant to change

stereotyping

apply a behavior to a group of people and assume everyone practices this application

orientalizing

idea that some cultural practice is placed higher in judgement because it’s exotic and therefore more beautiful or more interesting

automatic stereotyping

spontaneity

efficiency

uncontrollability

unconsciousness

social identity theory

group affiliations satisfy fundamental need for positive self esteem

outgroup homogeneity bias

exaggerate similarities, use stereotypes, and overlook individual differences among outgroup members compared to ingroup members

ultimate attribution error

we are more likely to attribute bad behaviors of ingroup members to things beyond their control

compared to outgroup member (attribute bad behavior within their control)