DEFININ

G

CULTURE

This lecture comes from the text:Understanding Intercultural Communication (2005)Written by Stella Ting-Toomey and Leeva C. Chung

BACK TO THE ROOT

The word “Culture” comes from the Latin term cultura or cultus, such as agriculture.

Freilich (1989, p.2) described culture this way, Culture comes from the “root meaning of an activity, culture became transformed into a condition, a state of being cultivated.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE “CULTIVATED?”

“To be a ‘cultivated’ member of a cultural community, the implication is that you understand what it means to be a ‘desirable and ideal’ member of that particular system or group” (p. 27).

CULTURE IS. . .

Culture is a learned system of meanings—a value-laden system of meaning which help you make sense of the world and your existence within the world.

It fosters a shared sense of identity. Creating:

• Ingroups

and

• Outgroups

CULTURE DEFINED

Culture is defined “as a learned meaning system that consists of patterns of traditions, beliefs, values, norms, meanings and symbols. . .shared to varying degrees by interacting members of the community” (p. 28)

Given our definition, what

are some examples of culture(s)?

CULTURE: AN ICEBERG METAPHOR

Surface-Level Culture: Popular Culture

Intermediate-Level Culture:

Symbols, Meanings & Norms

Deep-Level Culture:

Traditions, Beliefs & Values

Universal Human Needs

THE SURFACE: POP CULTURE

For better or for worse, we learn about other cultures through Pop Culture artifacts.

WAKA WAKA

What do we learn about “African” culture from this video?

THE SURFACE: POP CULTURE

“Popular culture basically refers to cultural artifacts or systems that have mass appeal and that infiltrate our daily life” (p. 29).

THE SURFACE: POP CULTURE

Popular images as portrayed in television, film, advertising, pop music, and even comic strips reinforce cultural and gender ideologies in society. . .then we export them.

What are your favorite Television Shows? Why?

THE SURFACE: POP CULTURE

Some forms of popular culture have a direct correlation with the cultures' underlying values and norms, but other forms of popular culture have been created for sheer entertainment.

THE SURFACE: POP CULTURE

Pop Culture is directly connected to economics.

A LITERAL EXAMPLE:

THE SURFACE: POP CULTURE

How authentic are the pop culture

images we encounter?

DIVING DOWN: CULTURAL SYMBOLS, MEANINGS & NORMSSymbol: is a sign, artifact, word(s), gesture, or nonverbal behavior that stands for or reflections something meaningful.

DIVING DOWN: CULTURAL SYMBOLS, MEANINGS & NORMS

Meanings: or interpretations we attach to a symbol cue both objective and subjective reactions.

DIVING DOWN: CULTURAL SYMBOLS, MEANINGS & NORMS

Cultural Norms: Collective Expectations we have of what constitutes proper or improper behavior in a given interaction scene. . .this is our cultural script.

Sheena Iyengar

CULTURE: AN ICEBERG METAPHOR

Surface-Level Culture: Popular Culture

Intermediate-Level Culture:

Symbols, Meanings & Norms

Deep-Level Culture:

Traditions, Beliefs & Values

Universal Human Needs

DEEP & DARK: TRADITIONS, BELIEFS & VALUESUnderstanding normative culture v.

subjective culture:

Normative Culture is the patterned way of living by a group of interacting individuals who share a common set of history, traditions, values, and interdependent fate.

Subjective Culture is the degree of importance culture members assign to the layers of cultural beliefs and values.

DEEP & DARK: TRADITIONS, BELIEFS & VALUES

Culturally Shared Traditions

Weddings Healings

Funeral Rituals

Cultural shared traditions reinforce the “ingroup” solidarity, communal memory, cultural stability and continuity functions.

DEEP & DARK: TRADITIONS, BELIEFS & VALUES

Cultural Shared Beliefs

Existence Reality

God Origins

DEEP & DARK: TRADITIONS, BELIEFS & VALUES

Culturally Shared Values

“good” and “bad”

Shalom Schwarts’ (1992) research indicates that there are clear cultural value structures which reflect people’s needs, for example, benevolence. This value structure indicates how valuable a culture perceives a “deeper” meaning in life.

DEEP & DARK: TRADITIONS, BELIEFS & VALUES

VALUESUnderstanding particular cultural value dimensions and

orientations, we can meaningfully link some of those patterns with different communication styles issues.

Values serve as guidelines and preferable modes of conduct in the pursuit of certain valued existential outcomes. These are called instrumental values.

Values also serve as preferable end states or goals. These are known as terminal values.