- •Definitions of Culture
- •Characteristics of Culture
- •Beliefs and Attitudes
- •Collectivistic versus Individualistic Cultures
- •High-Context versus Low-Context Cultures
- •High/Low-Context Communication Problems
- •Linear-Active and Multi-Active Cultures
- •Linear/multi-active scale
- •Reactive Cultures
- •Affective versus neutral cultures
- •Degrees of affectivity in different cultures
- •Reconciling neutral and affective cultures
- •Characteristics of feminine culture:
- •The social-symboliс construction of gender
- •Feminine and masculine communication cultures
- •Feminine talk
- •Masculine Talk
- •Communicating effectively between gender cultures
- •Summary
- •Gender Expectations
- •Spousal Abuse
- •Romantic Implications
- •Inequality
The social-symboliс construction of gender
Perhaps you have noticed that the terms feminine and masculine are used rather than women and men. The former refer to gender and the latter to sex, which are distinct phenomena. Women, men, male, and female are words that specify sexual identities, which biology determines. In contrast, feminine and masculine designate genders, which are socially constructed meanings for sex.
In summary, gender and sex are not synonymous. Sex is biological, while gender is socially constructed. Sex is established by genetics and biology, while gender is produced and reproduced by society. Barring surgery, sex is permanent, while gender varies over time and across cultures. Sex is an individual property, while gender is a social and relational quality which gains meaning from prevailing social interests and contrast with the other gender. What we've covered so far explains the first relationship among gender, communication, and culture: We see that societies create meanings of gender that are communicated through an array of cultural structures and practices; in turn, individuals become gendered as they embody social prescriptions in their personal identities.
There are also differences in male and female brains. Females generally have greater specialisation in the right hemisphere which controls integrative and creative thinking, while males typically have more developed left lobes, which govern analytic and abstract thought. Generally, females also have better developed bundles of nerves connecting the two brain lobes. This suggests women may be more able to cross to the left hemisphere than men are to cross to the right.
Feminine and masculine communication cultures
Beginning in the 1970s scholars noticed that some groups of people share communication practices not common to outsiders. This led to the realization that there are distinctive speech communities, or communication cultures. William Labov (1972, p. 121) defined a communication culture as existing when a set of norms regarding how to communicate is shared by a group of people. Within a communication culture, members embrace similar understandings of how to use talk and what purposes it serves.
Once scholars realized distinctive communication cultures exist, they identified many. Members in each of these groups share perspectives that outsiders don't have, and their distinctive values, viewpoints, and experiences influence how each culture uses language. This holds true for gender cultures since women and men in general have different perspectives on why, when, and how to communicate.
In combination, psychodynamic theories and social science research offer a coherent picture of how gender cultures are produced and what they entail. Feminine socialization emphasizes relationships and sensitivity to people and the process of interaction, while masculine socialization stresses independence, power, and attention to outcomes. Table 1 summarizes how these differences in gender cultures affect communication.