by Maya Angelou
I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends
than we are unalike.
We are more alike my friends
than we are unalike.
- A system of ideas, values, beliefs, customs, and language that is passed from one generation to the next and that sustains a particular way of life.
- We learn our culture through communication.
- Culture becomes internalized through continuous conscious and unconscious learning.
- Groups with distinct ways of life can coexist in a single society or physical territory.
- Most societies have a dominant culture.
- Traditional mainstream Western culture = European (white), heterosexual, Christian, land-owning, able-bodied males.
- Mainstream culture tends to ignore traditions & customs of those outside the dominant culture.
- Groups of people who live within the dominant culture but are also members of another culture that is not dominant. (subculture = inferior; co-culture = dual membership)
- Race, Class (SES = Socio-economic Status), Gender, Sexual Orientation
- Co-cultures have their own norms, expectations, values, forms of communication, etc. that the dominant, mainstream culture does not share.
- Communication reflects & reinforces culture
- A culture includes a number of social groups that distinctively shape perceptions, identities, and opportunities of members.
- Race, class, gender, sexual orientation
- Our experiences as members of particular social groups shape how we perceive the world and others.
- Standpoints reflect power positions in society.
- Those in power have a vested interest in preserving the system that gives them privileges. Members in dominant culture cannot see flaws in the system because it is working for them.
- Those disenfranchised by the system are able to see inequities & discrimination.
- Tendency to regard ourselves and our way of life as superior to other people & other ways of life
- Ethno = ethnicity; centrism = center. You literally make yourself the center of the universe.
- Encourages negative judgments of anything that is different.
- Cultural relativism recognizes that cultures vary in how they think and behave, in what they believe and value – it might seem wrong, but from their point of view, it is right & natural
- Recognize another person’s perspective & take that into account when you communicate.
- Requires an understanding of both ours and another’s point of view.
- Even if you don’t think the same way, you can still respect another person as the expert on her or his perspective.
- Don’t assume we understand what others feel or think – when we claim to share what we haven’t experienced, we take away from others’ lives and identities.
- Example: African American woman being told by white women that they understand her experiences as a black woman: “‘Sexism is the same as racism,’ or ‘I’m a minority too – I’m a red-head.’ Similar experiences should not be confused with the same experience; my experience of prejudice is erased when you identify it as ‘the same’ as yours.” Marsha Houston
- It’s ok to say, “You know what, I have no clue what that’s like.”
|Accept differences without approval||No culture is intrinsically better than any other||Acknowledge genuine differences|
|Still assume differences are wrong||Different values, beliefs, communication styles come from different cultures||Remain anchored in values & customs of own culture|
Learning more about others increases understanding of others (and ourselves)
Notes adapted from: Wood, Julia T. “Adapting Communication to People and Contexts.” Communication Mosaics: A New Introduction to the Field of Communication – Custom Published for Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Belmont: Wadsworth, 1998. 181-211. Print.