Collectivism versus Individualism

^{One of the most fundamental ways in which cultures differ is in} the dimen­sions of collectivism versus individualism. Individualists tend to be more distant in their personal interactions with others, and they must go through the process of acquiring affective relationships; collectivists, on the other hand, interact closely and are interdependent.¹⁴ Individualists tend to be self-motivated and can be stimulated to achieve by individual competition. Collectivists, on the other hand, are better encouraged by appealing to their group spirit (обращаться к духу группы) and by requesting cooperation.¹⁵

Collective cultures place less value on relationships with out-groups (strangers, casual acquaintances) than do individualistic cultures. There­fore, persons of a collective culture, such as the Japanese, tend to focus most of their appropriately positive behavior on persons in their in-group, in order to maintain group cohesion (сплоченность группы), cooperation, and harmony.¹⁹ Persons in out-groups are much less important. Individualistic cultures like the United States do not differentiate as much between out-groups and in-groups and therefore do not differentiate as much in their “friendly” behavior.

^{Further, collective cultures are less tolerant of variation in culturally pre}­scribed behavior than are individualistic cultures.²⁰

• ^{What are the difficulties of the communicational process} if its participants think in the frame of collectivism and individualism?

Face

^Face is the value or standing a person has in the eyes of others. This stand­ing can be a source of the person’s sense of personal pride or self-respect. In many cultures maintaining face is of great importance, and one must take great care in disagreeing, criticizing, or competing. Europeans are often amazed by the North American media’s relentless exposure of U.S. prob­lems and by the amount of self-criticism that takes place within the nation.

• ^You can find some video illustrating a conflict situation and maintaining face|faces.

Hierarchy

In a culture, differences can be accorded to the order of birth, order of arrival, and order of status. Hall states that societies will order people, situation, or station - but not all three simultaneously. As a consequence, depending on the culture, people requiring a service might be attended to according to their age, in the order of their arrival, or in keeping with their perceived so­cial rank.

^{Hierarchical organization of a culture affects people on a daily basis. “}Flat” hierarchical organization (организация с неявно выраженной иерархической структурой) affords an open and mobile society, whereas a steep hierarchy (организация с неявно выраженной иерархической структурой) constricts social advancement (сдерживать социальное продвижение).²⁴ The acceptance of hierar­chy in a society is, by definition, an acceptance of inequality.²⁵

The difference in the hierarchical organization of cultures is a significant factor in intercultural communication. The concept of hierarchical distance, which can also be conceived of as interpersonal power distance, affects the degree of formality that is used in communication style.

A decentralized and democratic society encourages participatory communication (способствовать совместной коммуникации),²⁸ while a centralized, authoritarian society discourages(препятствовать) it.

^{Japanese tradition, for example, is based on classification, rank, order, and harmony, in contrast to North American tradition, which is based on declassification, equality, exploration, and adventure (although there is, of course, some overlap).29} Gender and minority statuses can affect one’s position in the hierarchy of a culture.³⁰

^{A number of communication specialists studying gender differences in communication in the United States agree that women are} more skilled than men at nonverbal communication. One of a number of plausible explana­tions (правдоподобное объяснение) is that women more often have passive or submissive roles (в подчинении) and learn to read nonverbal communication cues (знак, сигнал) to appease(потакать, усмирять) those in positions of power. If this is true, one can expect that in cultures with the steep hierar­chical organization that equates to high interpersonal power distances, per­sons will be highly skilled in interpreting nonverbal communication cues.³⁴

• How do you understand flat and sleep hierarchy?

History and Experience

A person’s life experience and a culture’s history mold (является матрицей) an individual’s per­ceptions. In some cultures history is a part of the living present, and it col­ors people’s perceptions of their lives on a daily basis.

• ^{How do you understand the following statement: “A person’s life experience and a culture’s history mold an individual’s per}­ceptions”.

Master Symbols

A culture may have strong political, religious, or other belief systems. As a result, there often will emerge a highly abstract master symbol (господствующие символы) that is agreed upon and respected by groups. If the social structure of a culture is tightly organized around such master symbols, such as the greeting “Allah is great” or the belief that “Christ is my savior,” it will be difficult, and sometimes impossible, to share perceptions cross-culturally.³⁹ Master symbols repre­sent core cultural values (представлять глубинные, ядерные культурные ценности) , a violation of which may be an absolute barrier to communication.

Power

^{When there is} a significant discrepancy (различие) in power or status between groups, intergroup posturing tendencies (тенденции взаимоотношений) are particularly acute (сильные, явно выраженные) and can present ob­stacles to intercultural communication.

Role

The role that society prescribes for persons can vary greatly by culture.⁴⁴ Cultures that have a high-context communication style will read a great deal of meaning into how a person adheres to (придерживаться), or deviates from (отклоняться), their culturally imposed role, and a culture often imposes severe sanctions for any deviation from a person’s prescribed role .

Cultures commonly impose roles by gender or social class.

^Gender. Cultures regard some behaviors as masculine or feminine, and behavior associated with one sex is usually considered inappropriate for the other.⁴⁵ Anglo-Saxon social convention, for example, discourages men from bringing aes­thetic or nurturing feelings to consciousness, just as it took away men’s tears in the nineteenth century. Social systems even control what should be thought and felt. This structures the psyches of both sexes to reproduce the society’s desired ideal types.⁴⁶

Cultural differences in prescribed gender behavior can cause contempt or confusion in interacting. When an Arab holds the hand of another man to walk down the street, or when Latin men walk arm in arm, this behavior can be confusing to North Americans and Northern Europeans, to whom these signs of friendship carry homosexual overtones. Further, cultures also dictate how males and females interact with each other.

Annie Nimos moved from Brazil to the United States. She felt that some­thing was not quite right when she walked in public places. After a month or two, she realized that she felt invisible. No one looked at her. Then she realized that she felt that no men looked at her. In Brazil, a man would stop on the street and watch a woman walk by, visually following her for a full 180 degrees. His eyes would take her in from head to toe. The woman would not acknowledge the presence of the man, although she was quite aware of it. In the United States, such an overt demonstration of interest would be considered threatening or inappropriate. The cues for expression of appre­ciation between the sexes were different in the two countries, and after Annie became accustomed to the different roles and cues she no longer felt like she had “disappeared.”

Social class. We all identify with a social class, consciously or uncon­sciously, and we sort others and ourselves into social classes when we inter­act. We use criteria such as income, occupation, education, beliefs, and at­titudes. We also sort people into classes by grammar, accent, houses, cars, dress, and other factors. Our perception of another’s social class affects how we communicate with them. Whatever system we use to sort people by class in our own culture, it can be more difficult to sort people from other cultures. The attributes present or lacking that we consciously or unconsciously use to assign people to a social “class” in our own culture may not apply to an­other culture. This may cause us to misinterpret a foreign person’s station in life.⁴⁹ We consequently may not appreciate “who” they are in their own so­ciety or communicate with them in a manner that they find acceptable.

Social class can assign roles in a culture (предписывать роли). Some societies have a very vis­ible servant class, while others have none. Perhaps the best-known system is the Hindu caste system in India, with priestly Brahmins as leaders and the untouchables placed at the bottom of the hierarchy and consequently as­signed the most distasteful tasks in society. Class may be determined by ge­nealogical descent, as among European royalty. A British lord, even though not necessarily wealthy, plays a different community role than a gardener. In many cultures that were colonized by Europeans, lighter skin is associated with a higher social class, and darker skin with a lower class. The higher classes enjoy more privileged roles, and the lower classes are assigned man­ual labor.

• Are there any signs in Russian or USA, British, Italian cultures that help us to define the status of a person?

Rules

^{Customs, manners, courtesy, etiquette, and rituals are all} rules of culture. Cultural rules are based on ideas and can govern bribery, nepotism (семейственность, кумовство), gifts, buying and selling, eating and drinking, the usage of time, the seating of guests, and social relationships.Rules govern formality and ritual, and what types of interaction take place when and where.It is essential to know the manners (rules) of a target culture for success­ful intercultural communication.

Social Organization: Government and Family

The institutions of a culture can be formal or informal and affect how the culture organizes itself. The organization of the government and the fam­ily in any given culture is an important factor that affects intercultural com­munication.

People may rely and therefore focus on a formalized government system to fill many of their material needs, as in Denmark, where abstract government laws and edicts carry great weight. In contrast, people may be able to rely only on an informal extended-family system of support, as in Mexico, where family relationships are of paramount importance and gov­ernment rulings take second place.