Culture and Communication
To fully understand communication, one has to study the different ideals and perspectives of different cultures’ communication. Understanding cultural differences in communication is an essential tool in expanding knowledge, enhancing competence, and ensuring professionalism in communication. There are many different issues, such as language, gender, nonverbal communication, culture codes, and many more unique elements to each culture in the world. Arguably one cannot establish optimum relationships without understanding these concepts. Therefore, I interviewed a person from a different culture to have some insight into the cultural factors that pertain to communication. My interviewee identifies as a male college student, a young adult, and a male American. He offers significant details about the values he holds as a member of these cultural groups. This paper will analyze communication in my interviewee’s culture compared to mine while focusing on cultural values and norms and perceptions of the self and others.
First, my interviewee identifies with different cultural groups. This arguably shapes his way of thinking, how he acts, and how he communicates with people around him. He identifies with the large American population but subgroups himself as white. From the interview, my respondent agreed that cultural groups and orientations often shape how we see the world. He argues that he has different viewpoints about society and the world at large, depending on which culture group he is involved in at different times. Clearly, this is similar to my own perspective about culture. Different subgroups of a larger community have many things in common, and therefore they will develop similar and more unique communication patterns. Gudykunst et al. 1989 argue that many relationships and interpersonal communication are built upon similarities and associations. For example, in both cases, my interviewee and I are male college students and therefore have similar views about life and education.
Further, we both admit that we come from divorced families. Even though we did not dwell on the issue, I believe we share similar perspectives towards family, marriage, and relationships. Evidently, Gudykunst et al. 1989 also comment that minor differences, such as family issues, can change their identities. This is true. After all, evidently, we both have similar views regarding change because we have undergone some life-changing moments before.
Equally important, my interviewee has different values and norms that he resonates with due to his culture. During the interview, I gave a brief overview of the values that I had about my culture to get his viewpoint. As a Chinese, I am very proud of my culture. Arguably, America and China have always competed on the issue of superiority and dominance of the world economic arena. Essentially, Wong 2019 contends that the two countries have always tried to dominate each other, and member citizens from each side have strived to ensure they help their nations reach these objectives. This is, however, is not my general standpoint. As I revealed from the interview, international Chinese college students do not normally care about politics. I would infer that I represent the group when I say that we always focus on our lives regardless of who runs our country or how it is run. We are proud of our Chinese culture and always strive to carry it wherever we go.
My interviewee is also a proud American. He believes that he is privileged to be white, and even though he does not like to admit it, he feels that other Americans, especially minorities, are disadvantaged. Matsumoto et al. 1996 argue that collectivism influences communication patterns such that individuals with shared values will often not relate to unfamiliar groups. That said, I think my interviewee might have a communication deficit while interacting with minority races in America because he has a psychological barrier to communication. Further, he holds different viewpoints regarding the government. For instance, he argues that he is usually critical about the government as a part of the young American adult group. Young Americans are compassionate about who leads the country and the different forms of governance used. He comments that his friends are in constant debate on whether Trump might win again or who would serve as the best president for America
, especially with the coming presidential elections.
Besides, I asked my respondent his perspectives about himself and others. I made an inquiry about his thought on change, and he offered a substantial argument on the same. First, he believes in change and positive readjustment. He conforms to the argument of Maccoby 1962 argument that change and transition affect the variability of opinions and beliefs, and consequently, it influences how people communicate over time. The respondent believes that every individual has a chance at changing and achieving his objectives. Similarly, I believe in the ‘American dream,’ and I struggle to make sure I achieve my goals. I also believe that change is constant in human life; no individual can fully develop without change. On that note, we both believe that change is often triggered by the people that we associate with as individuals. For instance, he argues that initially, one of his friends was a Trump supporter, but he changes his perspective after associating with the respondent. Our similar perspective on others made it easier to communicate on the topic.
Also, we share similar perspectives about ourselves. From the interview, my respondent asserts that, sometimes, people’s judgment might affect our lives. He comments that he has had to adapt to judgment because if we become easily influenced by other people, we might lose sight of our objectives. Besides, people might judge us on many minor issues and ultimately change us. He argues that he is open-minded and always ready to meet new people. I believe that this significantly helps my respondent fit in with many people and easily communicate. He reveals further that he takes time to listen and understand other people’s experiences to get a clear picture of their cultures, ethnicities, and religions. Hogan 2013 comments that listening and understanding people without prejudice is one effective way to eliminate psychological and attitudinal barriers of communication.
In essence, I believe that this is paramount to effective communication, especially in a cultural, religious, and ethnic diverse world. I also assert that our relationships with people help us learn, and we should not take all judgments to heart. Failure is in human nature, and we should always accept positive inputs or corrections. This should, however, not bar as from achieving our objectives. I agree with the respondent that we should always believe that our lives are true and justified. Like him, I feel that sometimes, we have to make changes to reorient our lives back on track towards our success goals.
All in all, the interview revealed different significant concepts about culture, especially in communication. Different cultures might have different opinions about concepts and life, but it is all dependent on the environment in which they grew up in. Our personalities shape us into distinct individuals, but our connections to the people around us arguably make us whole and complementary to each other. In that case, understanding effective interpersonal communication requires a detailed study of different cultures and how people are modeled in their groups. Fleury 1999 asserts that diversity requires concrete management. The combined personalities, especially in organizations, call for a distinct communication strategy to ensure that the right messages are passed through the right channels. For instance, the interview revealed that even though we might be of the same age bracket, our other cultural groups forge different perspectives towards politics and society.
Besides, communication is overly affected by the values we hold dear and the different perspectives we have about ourselves and the people around us. For instance, my respondent argues that he has learned not to take people’s judgment because he has his own path to follow. In essence, this means that our interpersonal relationships and communications are critically affected by how we see ourselves. But still, the way people judge us also affects how they communicate with us. At times, we often are pushed to change and accommodate new patterns in our lives, depending on how our attitudes and beliefs transition over time. This, in turn, alters our communication patterns, relationships, and ideals.
References
Gudykunst, W. (1989). Culture and the Development of Interpersonal Relationships. Annals Of The International Communication Association, 12(1), 315-354. doi:10.1080/23808985.1989.11678725
Matsumoto, Y., Gudykunst, W., Ting-Toomey, S., Nishida, T., Kim, K., & Heyman, S. (1996). The Influence of Cultural Individualism-Collectivism, Self Construals, and Individual Values on Communication Styles Across Cultures. Human Communication Research, 22(4), 510-543. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.1996.tb00377.x
Hogan, K. (2003). Can’t Get Through: Eight Barriers to Communication. Pelican Publishing.
Maccoby, N. (1962). Social Judgment: Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Communication and Attitude Change. Muzafer Sherif, Carl I. Hovland. American Journal Of Sociology, 68(1), 126-127. doi:10.1086/223278
Tereza Leme Fleury, M. (1999). The management of cultural diversity: lessons from Brazilian companies. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 99(3), 109-114. doi: 10.1108/02635579910252635
Wong, E. (2020). U.S. Versus China: A New Era of Great Power Competition, but Without Boundaries (Published 2019). Retrieved 8 October 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/world/asia/united-states-china-conflict.html