Intercultural Communication for Everyday Life E-Book

John R. Baldwin

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 818

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Written for students studying intercultural communication for the first time, this textbook gives a thorough introduction to inter- and cross-cultural concepts with a focus on practical application and social action.

• Provides a thorough introduction to inter- and cross-cultural concepts for beginning students with a focus on practical application and social action
• Defines “communication” broadly using authors from a variety of sub disciplines and incorporating scientific, humanistic, and critical theory
• Constructs a complex version of culture using examples from around the world that represent a variety of differences, including age, sex, race, religion, and sexual orientation
• Promotes civic engagement with cues toward individual intercultural effectiveness and giving back to the community in socially relevant ways
• Weaves pedagogy throughout the text with student-centered examples, text boxes, applications, critical thinking questions, a glossary of key terms, and online resources for students and instructors
• Online resources for students and instructors available upon publication at www.wiley.com/go/baldwin

Leseprobe

Contents

Preface

Global needs meet an engaged community

Why another intercultural text? (Features of this book)

Focus and direction of this book

Acknowledgements

About the website

Walk through

Part one: Foundations

Chapter 1: A rationale for studying intercultural communication: Why should we know about other cultures?

Building a rationale: Why do we need to know about intercultural communication?

The history and focus of intercultural communication: Where did we come from?

Summary

Chapter 2: Action, ethics, and research: How can I make a difference?

Muslim veils in French schools: How can we determine right from wrong in intercultural situations?

“Not in our town:” What is the role of intercultural communication in civic engagement?

How can we do responsible cultural research?

Summary

Chapter 3: Origins: Where does our “culture” come from?

The relationship between communication and culture: How do they inform each other?

Defining culture: How can we define culture—and what are the implications of our definition?

Aspects and elements of culture: What is culture like?

A model of interaction: How can we best understand intercultural and intergroup communication?

Summary

Part two: Elements

Chapter 4: Subjective culture: What is the base upon which cultural communication is built?

Basic building blocks of culture: What are the most important things to know?

Cultural values: What are some useful frameworks for understanding culture?

World view: What are the beliefs at the center of our “world?”

Summary

Chapter 5: Identity: Struggle, resistance, and solidarity: How can I think about my identity and that of others?

An introduction to identity: Who am I, really?

Identity and communication: How do we communicate our identities?

Identity and politics: How can our identities be political?

Identity in intercultural communication: What are some problematic ways to think about the identities of other groups?

Identity, solidarity, and civic action: Can I make a difference?

Summary

Chapter 6: Intolerance–acceptance–appreciation: How can we make the world a more tolerant place?

Framing the problem: Where can we recognize intolerance?

Looking to a better future: What are some causes of and solutions for intolerance?

Summary

Part three: Messages

Chapter 7: Verbal communication: How can I reduce cultural misunderstandings in my verbal communication?

Systems of language and culture: Why is talking across cultures so difficult?

Discursive elements of cultures: What happens when we join the elements of language?

Theories of conversation and culture: What happens when we actually talk to each other?

Summary

Chapter 8: Nonverbal communication: Can I make nonverbal blunders and not even know It?

Forms and functions: How should we act nonverbally when in another culture?

Issues in nonverbal communication: How can I compare several cultures at the same time?

Nonverbal expectancy violations: What does your nonverbal behavior mean?

Summary

Chapter 9: Rhetoric and culture: How does my culture relate to persuasive writing and speaking?

Rhetorical communication: How does culture inform persuasion?

Vernacular rhetoric: How does everyday communication seek to persuade?

Intercultural rhetoric: What are the implications for civic engagement?

Summary

Chapter 10: Culture, communication, and media: How do media shape our views of others?

Effects and rituals: What role do media play in our lives?

Democratic discourse and diversity: What issues do media present to me as a citizen?

Media and cultural identities: Who are “we” now?

Beyond traditional media: How do new media and culture shape each other?

Summary

Part four: Contexts

Chapter 11: Global media, global cultures: How do culture and globalization influence each other?

Culture on the global media stage: How does the global flow of information impact culture?

Power and globalization: What drives the global media?

Summary

Chapter 12: Adaptation and intercultural competence: How can I be effective in a new culture?

Cross-cultural adaptation: How can I better adjust to a new culture?

Rethinking acculturation: What happens when cultural groups live side by side?

Coming home: Will it be as easy as it sounds?

Intercultural communication competence: How can I get the job done. . . and still be liked?

Summary

Chapter 13: Relationships and conflict: How can I have better cross-cultural relationships?

Culture and communication in relationship: How do intercultural relationships grow and thrive?

Relational and organizational conflict: How can I make intercultural conflict more productive?

Summary

Chapter 14: The political context: How can we use communication to shape politics and culture?

Politics, culture, and communication: How do politics relate to culture?

Making change happen: What are some examples of successful social movements?

Intercultural political leadership: What strategies can we use to bring about change?

Summary

Chapter 15: Intercultural communication in international organizational contexts: How does culture shape business, and how is business culture changing?

A new contract: How are technology and information changing the culture of work and workplaces?

Cultural variability: How does culture shape the organization?

A new world: What is the impact of globalization on business?

Corporate responsibility: How can my company make a difference?

Summary

Conclusion

Glossary

Index

This edition first published 2014© 2014 John R. Baldwin, Robin R. Means Coleman, Alberto González, and Suchitra Shenoy-Packer

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Intercultural communication for everyday life / [edited by] John R. Baldwin, Robin R. Means Coleman, Alberto González, and Suchitra Shenoy-Packer.        pages cm    Includes bibliographical references and index.

    ISBN 978-1-4443-3236-0 (pbk.)1. Communication—Philosophy. 2. Intercultural communication. I. Baldwin, John R., 1960–    P90.I5545 2014    302.23—dc23

2013039721

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Cover image: Paul Klee, Individualized altimetry of stripes, 1930. De Agostini Picture Library / Bridgeman Art LibraryCover design by Simon Levy

Preface

Global needs meet an engaged community

There are increased interconnections in the world at large—from international business and education opportunities to domestic and international crises. There is open conflict in Syria, Burma, Somalia, and Colombia, and dormant conflicts, quiet but never quite resolved, in Palestine, Cyprus, Northern Ireland, and many other places. Recent natural disasters of cataclysmic proportions have struck Indonesia (2004), Japan (2011), and Haiti (2012), each demanding forces of collaborating international and domestic workers. Governments work across cultures and across nations (concepts we will treat separately in this book) to fight against the international flow of the drug trade, human trafficking, and other issues. And, at the same time, we have seen great changes within and across societies, from the “Arab Spring” and the overthrow of several totalitarian governments to the renewed debate over same-sex marriage in the United States in 2013.

Grand-scale problems require complex solutions; and these solutions require the synergy of efforts of people with different cultural perspectives. But even if we do not see the connection of global issues to our own lives or ever travel abroad, culture touches our lives. We live in a multicultural, global economy, where, to survive, most large businesses employ, buy, and sell across cultural and national lines. Many of us, regardless of our country of residence, have doctors, teachers, bosses, students, or employees from “cultures” besides our own. With new and interactive media, we might play online games, chat, or develop friendships or romances with people in other lands without leaving our own borders. Besides this, we each live within and are influenced and sometimes constrained by our own cultures. The more we know about our own culture, the more effective we will be where we live, the more we can engage in issues and problems within our own community (which have cultural ­elements), and the more we will see the strengths and limits of our own culture. As we see these strengths and limits, we will have more likelihood of being able to make choices and change those cultures.

Whether we are discussing world-level crises or community issues, there is a bright spot as we talk about social issues, and that is the rise of involvement of citizens in the public sphere—at least in some ways. Russell Dalton (2009) reports statistics showing that while the younger generation (Gen Y) has a decreased sense of citizen “duty” in terms of things such as following the law without thought, or voting, they have an increased sense of citizen “engagement”, which includes seeking to understand opinions of others, “direct action, and elite-challenging activities” (p. 32). Engagement and duty are both impacted by things such as level of education, racial background, and religiosity. Increasingly, companies are encouraging their employees to participate in the community, and universities are promoting civic and political engagement.

There seems to be a fresh wind in the air as students in secondary schools, colleges, and universities seek to give back to the community. After a post-2005 decline, voluntarism increased to a high-point in 2011 (“Volunteering and Civic Life,” 2012; Volunteering/Community Service, 2010), and service learning opportunities at universities abound. Some have said that one of the characteristics of the up-and-coming generation is a sense of social responsibility, though one study suggests that the Millennial Generation “may not be the caring, socially conscious environmentalists some have portrayed them to be” (Chau, 2012). Instead, they might be focusing more on “money, image, and fame”. Statistics suggest that, at least in terms of volunteering, 16–18 year olds and those aged 25 and older historically volunteer more than the 18–25 set (Volunteering/Community Service, 2010). Students (especially in Western cultures like the United States, where “pragmatism” or “practicality” is a core value) have always wanted to study “what works”—what leads to better message production and consumption, better workplace practices, better relationships. But many students today often also seek ideas to help them engage better with the community. And knowledge of culture is central to such engagement.

Why another intercultural text? (Features of this book)

The need for solutions for community, as well as the growing interest in community engagement, is a driving force for the present book. We have three main goals in writing this text. First, we want to provide responsible knowledge of things cultural. Many introductory ­textbooks present simple explanations of things for the student new to cultural issues. We believe students are capable of deep thought, so, where possible, we introduce basic ideas, but then challenge students to critical thought about those ideas. Our second goal is for readers to be able to take something practical from the text for their own workplaces, relationships, and schooling, the traditional focus of intercultural studies. But the third goal is to bring an imagination of possibilities for community engagement—civic or political. We want to encourage readers, and ourselves as authors, to find ways to make the knowledge practical for making people’s lives better, to address social issues, to meet the personal needs of people in our lives and in our classrooms. With this in mind, this book has several ­distinctive features:

  The authors write for introductory readers, with clear definition of terms, but use original frameworks and introduce theories in a way that does not condescend to the reader.

  We treat culture complexly. While we sometimes discuss national cultures, through most of the book we see cultures as distinct from national boundaries. Some cultures cross national boundaries, and a single city might have people of many different cultures within it. There are regional, urban–rural, or other cultural differences within nations; even organizations have cultures.

  We construct a vision of culture that uses examples from around the world as much as possible, seeking to remove some of our own U.S.-centric bias as authors, and we use examples that relate to a variety of types of diversity, including age, sex, race, ­religion, and sexual orientation. While these, in and of themselves, do not constitute cultures, they often contain cultural elements, and there are cultural constructions of how a society treats different groups that deserve our attention as engaged citizens.

  As authors with diverse backgrounds—rhetoric, media and African American studies, organizational communication, and intercultural/interpersonal communication—we (re)introduce notions to the study of intercultural communication not present in many books, including large sections on intercultural ethics and chapters on media, rhetoric, and globalization.

  Throughout the book, we promote civic engagement with cues toward individual intercultural effectiveness and giving back to the community in socially relevant ways; we do this throughout the chapters and with discussion questions and engagement activities at the end of each chapter.

  We weave pedagogy throughout the text with student-centered examples, thought (or “text”) boxes, applications, critical thinking questions, a glossary of key terms, and online resources for students and instructors. These online resources include sample syllabi, test questions, glossary terms, power points, and class exercise options.

Focus and direction of this book

With these goals in mind, our text begins with a discussion of the foundations of intercultural communication. In chapter 1, we introduce several reasons why it is important to study intercultural communication, with updated situations and examples of world and community diversity. In chapter 2, we introduce our central concepts of political and civic engagement and discuss the importance and nature of ethical intercultural communication and cultural research. We then turn to different ways to define culture (chapter 3).

The second portion of the book focuses on elements that inform the intercultural communication process, starting with the foundation upon which all communication rests—values, beliefs, and world view (chapter 4). We consider the view we have of ourselves as that relates to the groups to which we belong—identity (chapter 5)—and then look at our attitudes towards those of other identities (chapter 6).

In the third part of our book, we look at the exchange of messages through different channels. We begin with verbal communication—that is, face-to-face communication as it relates to the use of words in interaction (chapter 7). We next consider the various channels of face-to-face communication that do not use words—nonverbal communication (chapter 8). This includes discussion of things such as space, time, touch, eye contact, and gesture. We examine messages given by speakers or in texts to persuade—rhetoric (chapter 9). Finally, we look at aspects of mediated communication, in terms of how we mediate identity and culture (chapter 10).

Our final section contains issues and contexts of intercultural communication, starting with the impacts of globalization, especially on media (chapter 11), then moving to cross-cultural adaptation and intercultural communication competence (chapter 12), intercultural relations, conflict, and negotiation (chapter 13), political communication (chapter 14), and finally the organizational context (chapter 15).

The order is intended to be flexible for the instructor. As we have used drafts of this text in our own teaching, we find that, after the foundational chapters, each chapter stands on its own; we can choose the chapters that best meet our needs, for example, with a special unit on media (or leaving media out), or skipping over the section on personal relationships. We encourage the student reading this preface to start each chapter you read by looking at the objectives at the top of each chapter—those are things that we, the authors, felt were most important as we wrote. Then read the discussion questions at the end. As you read, start with an understanding of the larger structure and bolded terms in the chapter, before you try to learn specific details.

In each area, there are areas for practical applications of culture to work and school, ways in which knowledge of culture will teach us about ourselves and give us more freedom over our choices, and aspects that will allow us to be more effective and engaged citizens in our communities.

References

Chau, J. (March 15, 2012). Millennials are more “Generation Me“ than “Generation We,” study finds. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved April 11, 2013, at http://chronicle.com/article/Millennials-Are-More/131175/.

Dalton,R. J.(2009).The good citizen:How a younger generation is reshaping American politics(rev. ed.). Washington, DC: CQ Press.

Volunteering/Community Service (2010). CIRCLE: The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Retrieved April 11, 2013, at http://www.civicyouth.org/quick-facts/volunteeringcommunity-service/.

Volunteering and civic life in America, 2012. (27 Nov, 2012). The Federal Agency for Service and Volunteering. Accessed January 31, 2013, at http://www.volunteeringinamerica.gov/index.cfm.

Acknowledgements

Each of the co-authors thanks the other authors for their contributions and feedback on chapters. But we are especially grateful to the people we have worked with at Wiley, especially Deirdre Ilkson, Elizabeth Swayze, Sarah Tracy, and Julia Kirk (our image wizard). We would also like to thank Jane Taylor (photos and permissions), Grace Fairley(website/instructor’s manual), and Nora Naughton (final page proofs) for their countless hours of work on the project. These fine people have been a constant encouragement to us in the writing of this book, a process that, in the end, took four years. They believed in us and checked on us, sometimes with polite reminders to “get it in gear”. We also thank the many anonymous reviewers that have provided comments on earlier versions of this text. You have made this a better text than it would have been with only our own efforts.

As it has come to revisions, we thank those who have helped us with different concepts. We appreciate the help of Professor Zhong Xin (professor of the School of Journalism and Communication, and Deputy Director of Public Communication Research Institute, Renmin University) and Professor Chen Xuan (School of Journalism, Journalism and Social Development Research Center, Renmin University) for their help understanding China’s media policy, and to our colleagues Sandra Metts, Joe Blaney, Lance Lippert, and Steve Hunt for giving us insight on different aspects of the book, from face to media to civic engagement. A special thanks to Joe Zompetti, who has given us constant insight on everything semiotic, postmodern, postcolonial, and otherwise critical. And we thank our students, from whom we always learn so much, as we ourselves continue to be “students” of culture. Thanks especially to Liz Miller, graduate student at Illinois State, for giving a close read of much of the manuscript.

Finally, we thank our families and partners for putting up with the hours of work that the task has entailed, and for their support in the process. With family and connection in mind, John dedicates this book to his mom, Linda Jensen-Speight, who passed from this life quietly, during the final revisions of the text.

Robin wishes to thank Prof. William Laf Youmans, George Washington University, for his sage advice and contributions to the “globalization” chapter. She thanks John Baldwin for his vision and leadership on this project. And, a job well done to Alberto González and Suchitra Shenoy-Packer—“It was my pleasure working with you”.

Al acknowledges the assistance of Eun Young Lee. He dedicates this book to the undergraduate and graduate student interculturalists at BGSU.

Suchitra dedicates this book to her students at Purdue University and DePaul University.

About the website

This text has a comprehensive companion website which features the following resources for instructors:

  Powerpoint slides to accompany each chapter

  Sample syllabi for both undergraduate and graduate courses

  Testbank, containing problems for each chapter, along with answers

  Glossary

  Exercises for all chapters, along with a resource list and some general assignments.

Please visit www.wiley.com/go/baldwin to access the materials.

Walk through

Part opening page The book is divided into four parts. Each part opens with a list of the chapters it contains, followed by a short introduction summarizing the purposes of each chapter.

Chapter opening page Each chapter opens with a list of the main chapter objectives and the chapter table of contents.

End-of-chapter pedagogy Each chapter ends with a summary, a listing of the key terms in the chapter, discussion questions, action points, details of further resources under the heading “For More Information,” and references.

Key terms and glossary Key terms are introduced in bold and clearly defined both in the text and in a complete glossary at the end of the book.

On the net This feature provides students with an activity based on visiting a website that ties into the text discussion.

Break it down These exercises encourage students to engage in civic action and apply their knowledge to the world at large.

What do you think? These boxes ask the reader to think critically on an issue or examine their own opinions on a subject.

Pop culture This feature uses examples from the media and pop culture as jumping off points for the reader to apply their knowledge.

Part one

Foundations

1A rationale for studying intercultural communication

Why should we know about other cultures?

2Action, ethics, and research

How can I make a difference?

3Origins

Where does our “culture” come from?

If you try to build a structure of some sort, you know that you need certain materials to make it—bricks, wood, plastic, metal—and some plan for the structure—a blueprint. As you consider these things, you will need to think of how the building will be used. Will it be a restaurant? A bank? A hockey rink? But before you lay the first brick, you must make sure that your building is on firm footing: you need a good foundation.

In the same way, we will soon describe the things that make up intercultural communication (part two), the ways we use it (part three), and the different functions we can use it for (part four). We provided a general road map to the book at the end of the Preface. But before we do any of that, we need to lay a groundwork—a foundation—of some basic principles. That is the purpose of the first part of the book.

In chapter 1, we provide a rationale for studying intercultural communication. Many companies and students no longer require a reason for studying intercultural communication, as the need for skills in this area are part of conventional wisdom. Still, you may find the facts in the section interesting, and as you talk to future employers of your skills in intercultural communication, some of them may still need convincing of the need to consider culture. Even though there are many benefits of studying intercultural communication, there are also some limitations, which we also address. Finally, we speak briefly about the history of the study of intercultural communication. We speak of it because it gives us context for what we study, and context is important to understanding what we do and why we do it. We treat it briefly, as we want to keep our focus primarily practical.

Chapter 2 introduces what we feel are the most important principles for practicing and researching intercultural communication. We could, here, discuss what it means to be a “competent” communicator across cultures, but we need to know more about sending and receiving messages first. It is important that we be aware of what it means to be ethical in our communication, so we discuss different ethical approaches in depth. It is an ethical position by the authors that leads us to feel that communication—and intercultural communication especially—should be related to civic and political action, so we introduce these terms and their relationship to intercultural communication. Finally, as much of what we understand about culture involves research of some sort, we introduce different ways of seeing the world as they relate to studying culture and communication.

Finally, in chapter 3, we are ready to introduce a definition of culture; but we notice that defining culture is not that easy, because people from different disciplines often see culture in different and opposing ways. We discuss some of these ways and provide our own tentative definition. We describe some of the key components of culture, such as values, norms, and beliefs, and then provide a model to help explain the influences that might be present, to greater or lesser degrees, in any communication, but especially in intercultural or intergroup communication.

With these foundations—a reason to study culture and communication, an ­understanding of ethical communication and civic engagement, and an view of the nature of culture—we will be able to look more closely at the components that impact the creation and interpretation of messages between and within cultures.

Chapter 1

A rationale for studying intercultural communication: Why should we know about other cultures?

Building a rationale: Why do we need to know about intercultural communication?

The history and focus of intercultural communication: Where did we come from?

Chapter objectives

After this chapter, you should be able to:

Provide several reasons, with evidence, as to why it is important to study intercultural communication

Describe possible limitations of studying intercultural communication

Summarize briefly the history of intercultural communication as a field of research

In 1994, a tsunami hit countries in the Indian Ocean, triggered by an earthquake ­measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale—the power of about 23,000 atomic bombs (National Geographic News, 2005). The tsunami destroyed whole cities and vast tracts of farmland and made many formerly occupied islands uninhabitable. It killed more than 225,000 people in countries including Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Maldives (Brunner, 2007). The World Bank Fact Sheet (Tsunami recovery in Indonesia, Dec, 2006) listed the need for 80–100,000 homes and noted the destruction of more than 2000 schools and 100 health facilities. The World Bank enlisted the help of 15 nations and international agencies (the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Commission) to help with the repair and restoration of the region (Aceh Post-Tsunami Reconstruction, 2006). Many such disasters have occurred since, including the 2011 earthquake and resulting ­tsunami in Japan (see Figure 1.1).

In this story, we see a major international crisis that required multicultural and ­multinational cooperation. While this case reflects an obvious need for intercultural communication, individuals can also benefit from such an education, even if they never travel outside of their hometown. Many students around the world today are re-investing in their ­community, with a sense of social responsibility that surpasses that of their parents. Many readers of this book are members of that generation, but even those of different ages may find themselves increasingly aware of the world around them. In this chapter, we highlight the importance of understanding intercultural communication. We then turn our attention to the reasons that we should bring that understanding back to the communities—local, regional, and world—in which we live.

Figure 1.1 International workers cooperate after the Japanese Tsunami of 2011. What role could you have in international cooperation to solve world problems?

Source: YONHAP/EPA.

Building a rationale: Why do we need to know about intercultural communication?

Many university researchers, journalists, business leaders, civic leaders, and bloggers around the world have begun to call our attention to the need to understand cultures and intercultural communication. Whereas at one time, one had to justify the need for an organization or individual to study other cultures, in today’s globalized world such a need seems simply to be assumed. The reasons and benefits of studying intercultural communication are broad, from personal growth to community investment to financial incentives. We review these and other motives here.

But before we begin, we should probably define some key terms. Each of these is complex, and we will discuss them in more detail in chapter 3. We will define culture simply as the way of life of a group of people, including symbols, values, behaviors, artifacts, and other shared aspects. Culture continually evolves as people share messages, and, often, it is the result of struggle between different groups who share different perspectives, interests, and power relationships (Hecht et al., 2006). For our purposes, communication is the process of creating and sending symbolic behavior, and the interpretation of behavior between people. And intercultural communication occurs when culture impacts the communication between two or more people enough to make a difference. This differs from international communication, which focuses on media systems. Communication between diplomats and international politicians is intercultural, but this is a special type of communication as the communicators represent not only their own interests, but also those of larger organizations or nations. This last form of communication might take place for economic advancement or for the addressing of world problems. UNESCO, in its 2009 World Report executive summary, highlights the need for dialogue across many areas of social and global development. In its closing recommendations, it advocates the development of guidelines for cross-cultural dialogue, the creation and distribution of audio-visual (mediated) materials that are culturally sensitive, the promotion of (cross-cultural) media literacy, the development of minority–majority member dialogues within national cultures, and the creation of “real and virtual forums” for the development of “cultural intelligence” in the business and marketing world (UNESCO, 2009, p. 35). In fact, the name of the UNESCO report involves “cultural diversity” and “intercultural dialogue.” But as we shall see, addressing global problems is only one reason to study intercultural communication.