Comminication across cultures

Lesson 6

Time orientation

Monochromic culturesTime planningPeople believe they can treat time as an object to be manipulated

Polychromic cultures - development of time. Time can be developed. Things will take as longAs they will takeTime cannot be showered down or speeded up. Time does not have any limits & can be extended into the future.

1. When Time speaks

2. When space speaks

3. Stereotypes

Monochromic culturesare time-, task,- schedule-,and procedure-oriented. They see time as a long ribbon that can be sliced into segments. Time is used in a structured, sequential, linear fashion.Activities are scheduled according to time & can be stopped when «time is up». So time is treated as money, which can be spent, saved, borrowed, lost or even killed. People are punctual.Human relations also depend on time.

Polychromic cultures believe that time is unlimited & non-linear. Members think of time in terms of pictures or configurations.Being late is OK. The focus is on relationships rather than task completion within time schedules. People have time for each other. Time can be sacrificed for the sake of relationship.

PC are more successful in solving human problems.

MC USCanadaAustraliaUKSwedenNorwayFinlandGermany

PCSpainItalyPortugalAsia

Linear-spatial terms: past present future

Past-oriented: ( Eastern c., China, GB, Native Americans) focus on the wisdom of old generations,Worship ancestors & have strong family traditions

Present-oriented: (Central & Southern American countries) Treat the current experience as more important.

Future-oriented (Euroamericans) believe that tomorrow is in their own hands. They are project oriented, make long-term plans & sacrifice current pleasures for the sake of future.

Some European time characteristics:

•Cyclic (60 sec. circle, 7 week days circle, 12-month year circle.

•Valuation = time itself is variable & should not be wasted.

•Tangibility – time is commodity.

•Duration = time is smth that occurs between two points.

A B

Hopi:Time is many different things for them. It is what happens when the corn maturesor the sheep grows up – a characteristic sequence of events. It is the natural process that takes place while livingsubstance acts out its life drama.

Houses or roads can be seen unbuilt for years & years , cause the Hopi had no idea that house could or shouldbe built in a given length of time.

3 systems of time:

•Formal – year = 365 days + one 4th of the leap year

•Informal: It takes years to get there

•Technical: the solar •year (365 days, 5 hours, 48 min., 45.51 sec + a fraction)

Informal time:

What is «a while», «later»

8 distinctions of American informal time system

Instantaneous event

Very short

short

neutral

long

Very long

Impossibly long = forever

On time

5

10

15

20

30

45

1 hour

1 hour – 5 min 50 min – 4 min

He couldn't help feeling this way, because in American time fifty to fifty-five minutes late is the insult period, at the extreme end of the duration scale; yet in the country we are speaking of it's just right.

The informal time scale for the eastern Mediterranean Arab

No time at all

Now

Forever = too long

Every organism has a detectable limit which marks where it begins and ends.

Non-physical boundary appears that exists outside the physical one. This new boundary is harder to delimit than the first but is just as real. We call this the "organisms' territory."

Space

One can observe that dogs create zones around them . Depending upon his relationship to the dog and the zone he is in, a trespasser can evoke different behavior when he crosses the invisible lines which are meaningful to the dog.

Man has developed his territoriality to an almost unbelievable extent. Yet we treat space somewhat as we treat

sex. It is there but we don't talk about it.

"Oh, was I about to sit in

your chair?" The reply, of course, is usually polite. Imagine the effect if the host answered:

«Hell, yes, you're sitting in my chair, and I don't like anybody sitting in my chair!»

"What does it matter if there is a little confusion and some people get served before others?"

"Why is he acting that way?

Here I am doing everything I can to talk to him in a friendly manner and he suddenly withdraws. Have I done anything wrong? Said something that I shouldn't?"

Space orientation

Public space cultures people are suspicious of activities conducted in secret, social closeness is needed & public meetings are valued.

Private-space cultures members respect personal space, value privacy & keep social distance.

Stereotyping

Stereotype – (from Greek stereo – firm, hard, typos - imprint.

A stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals.

What are your stereotypes for:• different nations• men• women• blonds• teacher• scientist etc

US Americans are stereotyped as brash, ignorant, self-centered & obese, wearing baseball hats & comfortable clothes, drinking Coca cola…..

Germans: aloof, cold, precise & punctual. PerfectionistsWho follow the rules, drink beer, listen to folk music.

Asians: «exotic», ancient, spiritual, mystical & full of ancient wisdom.

There are no roads in Russia – there are only directions

The French entry was The Love Life of the Elephant. The Russian

The FinnThe Americans

In Spain

The Germans

In Sweden

• The Americans: How to grow the biggest & the most powerful elephant in the world.• In Spain: The corrida techniques of the elephants.• The Germans introduced two parts of the investigation – 1st - 3 volumes of introduction2nd – problems and topics of the investigation• In Sweden: Elephants & their attitude towards ménage à trois.• The Finns: What do elephants think about Finns?

Positive

Negative

Expected Unexpected

The Finns

The Russians

This example shows how the negativestereotypes can create discrimination against those who are from different cultures orrace groups.

Allport (1954) developed the Allport’s Scale of Prejudice and Discrimination thatmeasures the degree of prejudice in a society.

1. Antilocution - people talk and make jokes about others

2. Avoidance - people avoid those in aminority group. ,

3. Discrimination - the majority group is trying toharm the minority group by denying it opportunities and services and preventing it from achieving goals such as getting jobs or education.

5. Extermination - the majoritygroup seeks elimination of the minority group.

4. Physical Attack - the majority group damages properties and carries out violent attacks onindividuals from a minority group.

Racism involves the idea that one’s own race has the right to rule or dominate other races.