Chapter 8
Culture: Structure and Transaction
2 Common misconceptions:
Ethnocentric bias: Your cultural is seemingly superior to others
Control: Culture is a possession or something we distinctly belong to…
We transact and perform culture: we construct and interact to form culture
2 Approaches:
Structure: we discuss culture in terms of context, individualism/collectivism, time, and conflict
Context: emphasis on environment, situation, and relationships
High context: great deal of emphasis on total environment where communication takes place rather than what is being expressed
Low context: the message is everything, structure and meaning is key
Collectivism/ Individualism: Group benefit versus individual achievements
Time: time is money and opportunity (other factors: punctuality and leisure)
Monochronic: one activity at a time, multitask to reach specific goals (US, UK, Germany)
Polychronic: relaxed attitude toward time (Mediterranean, Arab countries)
Conflict: opportunity vs. destructive
4 Assumptions: Conflict as opportunity (normal, subject to change, confrontation welcome, and necessary for growth)
4 Assumptions: Conflict as destructive (disturbance of peace, system should not meet needs of members, confrontation is destructive, disputants should be penalized)
Managing Conflict:
Dominating (forcing), integrating (open discussion), compromising (everyone gives a bit), obliging (give to satisfy), avoiding (avoid issue)
Transaction: relational perspective based on the connection between culture and communication
Culture is embedded in communication and how cultural membership is enacted or denied through communication
Culture extends beyond physical limits
Cultural groups are created through communication
Co-cultures: smaller groups within larger cultural mass
Speech communities: speech determines membership (speaking patterns and styles)
Speech communication codes: culture’s verbalization of meaning and symbols
Cultural persuadables: taken for granted assumptions such as topics and ideas that are universally agreed upon. (Teamsterville: working class Chicago: action over words) (Nacirema: emphasizes relationships and work that create membership)
Structural: focus on values, beliefs, goals and preferred action and behavior.
Cross- cultural communication: compares communication styles and patterns across different nations around the world
Intercultural communication: examining the communication between different cultural perspectives co-existing in one nation
Limitations and beliefs:
-Multiple cultures exist in one nation
-Multiple social communities coexist in a single culture and membership is apparent (gangs, bikers, mechanics, teachers, doctors)
- All of these cultures do exist within an even larger social structure
Transaction: Communication is maintained within relationships, identities, meanings, and realities
Cultural ways of communicating beliefs and values are established and imposed in everyday communication. Cultural groups are labeled and recognized based on shared relational behavior, symbolism and ultimately communication.
Coded system of meaning: set of beliefs, heritage, and way of being that is transacted in communication. System of rituals, norms, beliefs and shared meaning are also transacted.
Chapter 9
Technology
Views of technology:
Academic: new media -- relational technologies
Concerns over emerging technology
Technology is relational: they impact society
Relational Technology: technology that rely on relational functions and their prominent use in social groups and relationships
Media generations: generations are defined by the media presence
Technology and Social networks: social networks influence media consumption and use
Technology Products and Service Providers: Identities are created through specific products and services, relational technologies can be considered the way in which identities are constructed
(ringtones, screen names)
Content creation: social networking pages, blogs, personal info such as pics, videos, comments etc.
Social networking sites: profiling sites, activities, and disclosures
Relational technology and Personal relationships: online communication, constant communication- availability, shared experiences, social coordination- microcoordination (social planning via cell phones) (midcourse-change plans, iterative- progressive refining plans, softening- adjusting plans)
Online Communication: richness (verbal and nonverbal cues that attempt to reach face to face communication: emoticons, quality
Synchronous (face to face- real time) vs. Asynchronous communication (time lapsed)
Social Networks and Personal relationships: create and maintain relationships/ networks online
Media Equation: interactions with technology is equal to interactions with actual people
Personalized technology: computers, cell phones etc.
Personality: computer
Flattery: computers
Politeness: computers
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