Chapter 1 Notes

COM 200: CHAPTER 1 NOTES
STUDYING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

The Peace Imperative
· Question: Can individuals of different genders, ages, ethnicities, races, languages, and religions peacefully coexist on the planet?
· The influence of U.S. technology and media is seen as a positive benefit by some people and as a cause for resistance by others.
· War and intercultural conflict underscore the need for us to learn more about groups of which we are not members.

The Economic Imperative
· Knowing about intercultural communication is strategically important for U.S. businesses in the emerging transnational economy.
· “If companies are going to sell products and services globally, then they will need a rich mix of employees with varied perspectives and experiences. They will need top executives who understand different countries and cultures.”

The Workplace
· Business necessarily must me bore attentive to diversity issues
· Diversity is a potentially powerful economic tool for business organizations
o Developing new products for differing cultural contexts
o Marketing new products in culturally appropriate and effective ways

The Global Economy
· Globalization- the process in which businesses all around the world are continually expanding into overseas markets.
· Some argue that globalization is the cause of growing poverty and inequality around the world.
o These kinds of inequalities can lead to resentment, despair, and ultimately intercultural conflict.
· Maquiladoras- foreign-owned plants that use domestic labor.
· Cross-cultural trainers- people who assist people going abroad by giving them information about strategies for dealing with cultural differences.
· U.S. companies seem to have little regard for cultural idiosyncrasies, which can cause ill will and mistrust, enhance negative stereotypes, and result in lost business opportunities.
· In the future, economic exchanges will drive intercultural interactions

The Technological Imperative
· Global village- a world in which communication technology, such as TV, radio, news services, brings news and information to the most remote parts of the world.

Technology and Human Communication
· Social relationships evolve with each technological advance
o We can be involved simultaneously in many different relationships, all without face-to-face contact.
· Move on the internet is actually toward multilingualism, rather than an all-English internet.
· Through high-tech communication, we come into contact with people who are very different from ourselves, often in ways we don’t understand.
· Technology has increased the frequency with which many people encounter multilingual situations and so must decide which language will be used.
· People seek out intercultural communications for many different reasons, including the use of other languages to express their thoughts and feelings.
· “Digital divide”- exist between the people that have access to technologies and those who do not.

The Demographic Imperative
· Demographics- the general characteristics of a given population.
o They will change dramatically throughout your lifetime
o Change comes from 2 sources:
§ Changing demographics within the U.S.
§ Changing immigration patterns

Changing U.S. Demographics
· Increase in multicultural people- 2 or more races
· Where you live determines to some extent how much opportunity you have to interact with persons who are different from you ethically or racially.

Changing Immigration Patterns
· Immigration
· America is often described as a nation of immigrants
o Cannot simply think of it as this if we want to better understand contemporary U.S. society.
· U.S. is becoming more heterogeneous- diverse
· The tension between different racial/ethnic groups, as well as fear on the part of politically dominant groups, must be acknowledged
· Intercultural conflict is not necessarily a consequence of diversity.
· Diversity can expand our horizons—linguistically, politically, socially—as various lifestyles and ways of thinking come together.
· Historical Overview
o Common response is to ignore history
o Relationships between residents and immigrants or between old-timers and newcomers have often been contentious.
o Immigrants tried to protect their way of life, language, and culture
o Immigrants from southern, central, and eastern Europe were expected to assimilate into the so-called mainstream and jump into the “melting pot” and come out “American”
o Assimilatable- able to become members of White American society, and accept the concept of race assumed new meaning.
§ All of the so-called White races were now considered one
§ Because of this racial hostilities were directed to non-White ethnic groups
· The Current Situation
o Tradition of tension and conflict between cultures continues to this day
o Individuals who feel victimized by any number of situations sometimes perpetrate their own ignorance and stereotypes on the next racially different person they encounter.
o Enclaves- parts of cities where certain cultural/racial groups reside
o Economic class- influences a certain class structure
§ Most Americans are reluctant to admit one exists or how difficult it is to move up in it
§ Most people live their lives in the same economic class into which they were born
o Melting pot metaphor- all immigrants enter and blend into American society
§ Probably was never viable- not all immigrants could be assimilated into the U.S. the same way
· Demographic diversity in the U.S. has provided us with tremendous linguistic richness and culinary variety, has given us the resources to meet new social challenges, and has created domestic and international business opportunities

The Self-Awareness Imperative
· Self-awareness- to gain an awareness of one’s own cultural identity and background.
· Intercultural learning is not always easy or comfortable
· What you learn depends on your social and economic position in society.
· Self-awareness that comes through intercultural learning may involve an increased awareness of being caught up in political, economic, and historical systems, not of our own making.

The Ethical Imperative
· Ethics- principles of conduct that help govern the behavior of inidivduals and groups
o Often arise from communities’ views on what is good or bad behavior
o Cultural values tell us what is “good” and what “ought” to be.

Ethical Judgments and Cultural Values
· Ethical judgments focus more on the degrees of rightness and wrongness in human behavior than do cultural values.
· Contemporary debates about legalizing same-sex marriage reflect the role of cultural values in laws.
· Ethical principles are often culture-bound, and intercultural conflicts arise from varying notions of what constitutes ethical behavior.
· No cultural pattern is inherently right or wrong.
· Universalist position- we need to identify those rules that apply across cultures
o Identify acts and conditions that most societies think of as wrong
o Extreme position- Cultural differences are only superficial, fundamental notions of right and wrong are universal
· Relativist position- any cultural behavior can be judged only within the cultural context in which it occurs.
o Only a community can truly judge the ethics of its members.
· David W. Kale- proposed a universal code of ethics for intercultural communicators.
o Based on a universal belief in the sanctity of the human spirit and desirability of peace.
· Don’t assume that your ethical principles are shared by others.
· Kwame Appiah
o We all must become cosmopolitans- citizens of the world
o Take seriously the value of not just human life, but particular human life, never forgetting that each human being has responsibilities to the other.
· We should be able to judge what is ethical and unethical behavior given variations in cultural priorities. (1st)
· We should be able to identify guidelines for ethical behavior in intercultural contexts where ethics clash (2nd)

Becoming an Ethical Student of Culture
· Self-reflexivity- process by which we “look in the mirror” to see ourselves
· When you learn about other cultures and cultural practices, you learn much about yourself as well.
· Self-reflection about your intercultural experiences will go a long way in helping you learn about intercultural communication
· Most cultural attitudes and ideas are instilled in you and are difficult to unravel and identify
· Discovering who you are is an ongoing process that can never fully capture the ever-emerging person
o Your intercultural experiences change who you are and who you think you are.
· Learning about Others
o Students of culture should try to speak with and to people instead of about them
o Rather than merely describe other people from afar, it’s better to try to listen to and engage them in a dialogue about their cultural realities.
· Listening to the Voices of Others
o Listening carefully as people relate their experiences and knowledge helps us learn about other cultures
o Starsota and Chen- mutual listening forms the core of intercultural understanding
o Ishii- core of intercultural understanding is listening
§ Listen carefully before you speak
§ We can only really understand another person when we have listened to him or her carefully.
· Developing a Sense of Social Justice
o Intercultural learning is not just transformative for the individual but should also benefit the larger society and other cultural groups in the increasingly interdependent world
o The first step in working for social justice is acknowledging that oppression and inequities exist.

GLOSSARY

Assimilatable- the degree of participation in a type of cultural adaptation in which an individual gives up his or her own cultural heritage and adopts the mainstream cultural identity

Class structure- the economic organization of income levels in a society; the structure that defines upper, middle, lower, and other social classes

Cosmopolitans- people who view themselves as citizens of the world and are responsible to each other

Cross-cultural trainers- trainers who teach people to become familiar with other cultural norms and to improve their interactions with people of different domestic and international cultures

Demographics- the characteristics of a population, especially as classified by age, sex, and income

Diversity- heterogeneity

Enclaves- regions that are surrounded by another country’s territory; cultural minority groups that live within a larger cultural group’s territory

Ethics- principles of conduct that help govern behaviors of individuals and groups

Global village- a term coined by Marshall McLuhan in the 1960’s that refers to a world in which communication technology links people from remote parts of the world

Globalization- the increasing tendency toward international connection in media, business, and culture

Heterogeneity- consisting of different or dissimilar elements

Immigration- movement to a new country, region, or environment to settle more or less permanently

Maquiladoras- assembly plants or factories (mainly of U.S. companies) established on the U.S.-Mexico border and using mainly Mexican labor.

Melting pot metaphor- a metaphor that assumes that immigrants and other cultural minorities will be assimilated into the U.S. majority culture, losing their original cultures

Relativist position- the view that the particular language we speak, especially the structure of the language, shapes our perception of reality and cultural patterns

Self-awareness- related to intercultural communication competence; the quality of knowing how you are perceived as a communicator, as well as your strengths and weaknesses

Self-reflexivity- a process of learning to understand ourselves and our own position in society

Universalist position- an ethical approach that emphasizes the similarity of beliefs across cultures- for example, killing within the group or treason