Chapter 6Culture Dynamics in

Assiesing

Chapter Outline

• Culture and Its Characteristics• Influence of Culture on Consumption• Influence of Culture on Thinking Processes• Influence of Culture on Communication Processes

Chapter Outline

• Cultural Universals• Cultural Similarities: An Illusion• Communication Through Verbal Language• Communication Through Nonverbal Language• Subculture

Culture

Culture is a set of traditional beliefs and values that are transmitted and shared in a given society. Culture is also the total way of life and thinking patterns that are passed from generation to generation. Culture means many things to many people because the concept encompasses norms, values, customs, art, and mores.

Characteristics of Culture

• prescriptive• socially shared• learned• subjective• enduring• cumulative• dynamic

Culture is PRESCRIPTIVE

The prescriptive characteristic of culture simplifies a consumer’s decision-making process by limiting product choices to those which are socially acceptable. This same characteristic creates problems for those products not in tune with the consumer’s cultural beliefs. Smoking, for instance, was once socially acceptable behavior, but recently it has become more and more undesirable – both socially and medically.

It prescribes the kinds of behavior considered acceptable in a society. As a result, culture provides guidance for decision making.

Culture is SOCIALLY SHARED

Culture, out of necessity, must be based on social interaction and creation. It cannot exist by itself. It must be shared by members of a society. For example, at one time Chinese parents shared the preference of wanting their girl children to have small feet. Large feet, viewed as characteristic of peasants and lowclass people, were scorned. As a result, parents from the upper class bound a daughter’s feet tightly so that her feet would not grow large. It did not matter to the parents that the daughter would grow up having difficulty walking about with distortedly small feet.

Culture FACILITATES COMMUNICATION.

One useful function provided by culture is to facilitate communication. Culture usually imposes common habits of thought and feeling among people. Thus, within a given group, culture makes it easier for people to communicate with one another. Yet culture may also impede communication across groups due to a lack of shared common cultural values. This is one reason why a standardized advertisement may have difficulty communicating its message to consumers in foreign countries.

Culture is LEARNED

Culture is not inherited genetically – it must be learned and acquired. Socialization or enculturation occurs when a person absorbs or learns the culture in which he or she is raised. In contrast, if a person learns the culture of a society other than the one in which he or she was raised, the process of acculturation occurs. The ability to learn culture makes it possible for people to absorb new cultural trends.

Culture is SUBJECTIVE

People in different cultures often have different ideas about the same object. What is acceptable in one culture may not necessarily be so in another.

As a result, the same phenomenon appearing in different cultures may be interpreted in very different ways.

Culture is ENDURING

Because culture is shared and passed down from generation to generation, it is relatively stable and somewhat permanent. Old habits are hard to break, and a people tends to maintain its own heritage in spite of a continuously changing world.

Culture is CUMULATIVE

Culture is based on hundreds or even thousands of years of accumulated circumstances. Each generation adds something of its own to the culture before passing the heritage on to the next generation. Therefore, culture tends to become broader based over time, because new ideas are incorporated and become a part of the culture. Of course, during the process, some old ideas are also discarded.

Culture is DYNAMIC

Culture is passed on from generation to generation, but one should not assume that culture is static and immune to change. Far from being the case, culture is constantly changing – it adapts itself to new situations and new sources of knowledge. The dynamic aspect of culture can make some products obsolete and can usher in new buying habits.

INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON CONSUMPTION

Consumption patterns, lifestyles, and the priority of needs are all dictated by culture. Culture prescribes the manner in which people satisfy their desires. Hindus and some Chinese do not consume beef at all, believing that it is improper to eat cattle that work on farms, thus helping to provide foods such as rice and vegetables.

Influence of culture on communication processes

Context is best defined as the array of stimuli surrounding a communication event including: body gestures; tone of voice; physical distance between interlocutors; time of day; weather; situation; societal norms; geographic place of communication; and other external factors.

Influence of culture on communication processes

The context of a culture is either high or low in terms of in-depth background information. This classification provides an understanding of various cultural orientations and explains how communication is conveyed and perceived. Edward T. Hall has suggested the concept of high and low context as a way of understanding different cultural orientations.

Low-context vs high-context

In a low-context culture, messages are explicit and specific; words carry most of the communication power. In a high-context culture, less information is contained in the verbal part of a message. Much more information resides in the context of communication, including the background, associations, and basic values of the communicators. In general, high-context cultures function with much less legal paperwork than is deemed essential in low-context cultures.

Context of Culture: Low-Context Culture

• Low-Context Culture- explicit messages- words conveying main part of information- words and meanings being independent of context- e.g., Germany, North America

Context of Culture: High-Context Culture

• High-Context Culture- indirect communication- message not understood without context - environment changing meanings of words- e.g., Japan, France, Asia, Middle East

Japan, Saudi Arabia, and other high-context cultures place a great deal of emphasis on a person’s values and position or place in society. In such cultures, a business loan is more likely to be based on “who you are” than on formal analysis of pro forma financial documents. In a low-context culture, such as the United States, Switzerland, or Germany, deals are made with much less information about the character, background, and values of the participants. Much more reliance is placed upon the words and numbers in the loan application.

Hofstede’s national cultures

Based on Hofstede study of work-related values in fifty countries, national cultures have four largely independent dimensions: (1) individualism vs. collectivism, (2) large or small power distance, (3) strong or weak uncertainty avoidance, and (4) masculinity vs. femininity.

Hofstede Cultural DimensionPower Distance

The first dimension, power distance, is the extent to which the less powerful members of a society accept—even expect—power to be distributed unequally. All societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others. Hong Kong and France are both high power-distance cultures; low power distance characterizes Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia.

Hofstede Cultural Dimensionindividualist vs collectivist

The second dimension is a reflection of the degree to which individuals in a society are integrated into groups. In individualist cultures, each member of society is primarily concerned with his or her own interest. In collectivist cultures, all society’s members are integrated into cohesive in-groups. High individualism is a general aspect of culture in the United States and Europe; low individualism is characteristic of Japanese and other Asian culture patterns.

Hofstede Cultural Dimensionmasculinity vs femininity

Masculinity, the third dimension, describes a society in which men are expected to be assertive, competitive, and concerned with material success, and women fulfill the role of nurturer and are concerned with issues such as the welfare of children. Femininity, by contrast, describes a society in which the social roles of men and women overlap, with neither gender exhibiting overly ambitious or competitive behavior. Japan and Austria ranked highest in masculinity; Spain, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries were among the lowest.

Hofstede Cultural Dimensionuncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which the members of a society are uncomfortable with unclear, ambiguous, or unstructured situations. Members of uncertainty avoiding cultures may resort to aggressive, emotional, intolerant behavior; they are characterized by a belief in absolute truth. Members of uncertainty accepting cultures (e.g., Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, and the United States) are more tolerant of persons whose opinions differ from their own.

Communication through Verbal Language

• Language Acquisition- "Use It or Lose It" hypothesis• Translation• The World's Best Language- English- Chinese- Spanish- Esperanto•Marketing and Languages

Communication throughNonverbal Language

• Language of Time- linear-separable time- circular-traditional time- procedural-traditional time• Language of Space• Language of Agreement• Language of Friendship