Тема 3.
Lecture 3. Elements of Cultural Systems
Culture can be defined in numerous ways: community, social class differences, minorities, social groups, nationalities, geo-political units, societies. All these have a place, for culture is multifaceted. In our examination of culture, however, we want to emphasize those features of culture that contribute to the perception of difference and hence influence intercultural communication. For that reason, culture is defined as follows: “Culture is the holistic summation and interrelationship of an identifiable group's beliefs, norms, activities, institutions, and communication patterns.”
We do not yet fully understand how much of human behavior is instinctive and how much is learned, although most social scientists accept the notion that culture is mostly learned. In any case, culture is a powerful vehicle for learning and socialization, a term Brislin applied to cultural learning. That means we adapt to the group ways of doing and thinking. Usually, we learn in a group context, not in isolation. Schools, families, neighborhoods, churches, mosques, synagogues, and affiliative groups, represent instances of the social process associated with learning. Through the group factors such as language, habits, customs, expectations, and roles, individuals shape their world—and think, act, and communicate typically according to social group expectations. Of course, a person can reject or modify cultural influence, and one can exercise free will. Many cultural imprints are subtle and habit-based. Without scrutiny, culture's influence remains elusive, if not beyond conscious recognition.
How does culture function?
First, culture sets an agenda of rules, rituals, and procedures. Attitudes toward time, how to dress, when and what to eat, when to come and go, and how to work, illustrate this first function of culture. Basic to socialization is developing a sense of proper and improper behavior and communicating within those cultural rules. For example, your family (an obvious significant cultural unit) may have warned you "not to point at people" with reprimands if you pointed anyway. The numerous cultural rules are assimilated over time.
Fundamental themes surrounding human development account for cultural rules, rituals, and procedures. We learn various ways to live ranging from survival (involving dependency), to group relations (involving interdependency), to self-worth and autonomy (involving independence). These universal needs on a dependent-interdependent-independent continuum can be viewed as overlapping. Culture sets the rules on how these features of life and relationships are worked out. In this sense, the rules for exhibiting these themes or principles have cultural boundaries. A smile conveys sincerity and leads to interpersonal trust in one culture, but serves to hide emotions in another. This is a case of culture exerting boundary and agenda-setting influence on human actions and thought.
Second, culture reinforces values of good and evil and conveys belief. Consequently, we develop approaches to thoughts and beliefs about the world.
Third, culture teaches how to relate to others, or how to communicate.
How does culture relate to communication?
By encouraging communication style expected within each culture. Communication style is highly fashioned after the appropriateness of cultural communication expectations for each person. For example, loudness, pitch, rate, and certain stances and gestures characterize communication behaviors. The specific way a cultural communicator uses these may depend on that person's conception of the "ideal" cultural person.
By the power to shape perception. Ways of thinking, dominant symbols or images, and communication norms all are linked with culture. Depending on your culture's attitude toward people dissimilar to them, and how you were taught, you may have a good or a bad measuring device. The human tendency toward categorizing others is without question—and culture obliges by offering category systems to its members.
Culture is something like a glue that bonds people together. A person who refers to Mexican American culture probably is thinking of a large population with some commonalities of world views, attitudes, concept of self, and language. Obviously, one problem in identifying culture is over generalizing or stereotyping, since numerous differences among individuals exist in any one culture. To avoid this problem of stereotyping, we cannot then swing to an opposite extreme and argue for no commonalities. On the contrary, there is a middle ground where we can speak of modalities or commonly occurring tendencies among groups of people. By modality we do not suggest stereotypes as if to say a group always demonstrates certain qualities or never changes. Of course, numerous individual differences and a range of diversity characterize cultures. Too, the precise boundary where one culture ends and another culture begins is obscure. Nevertheless, we can approach the concept of culture perhaps as we approach the notion of group in small group communication, where we recognize the group's interdependence and its development of unique style, common features, and patterns as a whole, but realize individual differences.
Elements of Culture
Culture is like luggage we always carry. From it we unconsciously lift daily needs: survival, information, prediction and maintenance of interpersonal relationships, and personal goals. From our culture, we apply what we consider the appropriate categories and communication tools as we interact. We do and think what our cultural learning taught us in each communication opportunity.
As a system, culture contains the following elements as major components, together comprising culture. True to what is called general systems theory, the elements outlined here function as an organized, holistic set to define a system. Applied to culture, a system and the elements in that system exhibit several qualities: mutually interactive; each part influences the whole; each element has its own attributes or properties, but they contribute to the whole; serve to define boundaries, or invisible lines differentiating one culture from another; both causes of and results of communication; communication patterns are in a sense inseparable from the culture and the culture from communication; typically has self-monitoring and feedback leading toward balance and stability when elements are out of balance or not functioning correctly; 6. systems can be open or closed; an open system exchanges energy or material with its environment, generally can alter its internal structure, and is open to change (unless too much openness violates the system's boundaries resulting in identity or integrity loss); closed systems lack outside stimulation, hold excessively rigid boundaries, and often cause diminished adaptation to growth and change. Even though the elements mutually interact, a hierarchy begins in the inner parts of the model with cultural history, cultural identity, world view, and beliefs and values.
Cultural History. Historical development and tradition for people are a foundation for analysis— basic cues to understanding a culture. Cultures have various ways of expressing their history, heritage, and traditions. Among some African cultures, a totem—often displaying elaborate artistry—is used to show tribal history. In some cultures, the past is recorded in books, or in some cases by local historians who specialize in memorization of a culture's history. No matter how a culture records its history, the point for the intercultural communicator is to appreciate a culture's past.
Cultural Identity. Members of every culture have a sense of social identification: who they are and why. In other words, cultures can be likened to a group personality. One's cultural identity affects interpersonal relationships and expected models of individual personality behavior. From a sense of social identity (who we are), one receives a sense of personal identity (who I am). For example, in some cultures, decisions are collective rather than individual—even to the point of giving up individual rights in favor of decisions made by the leaders in that culture.
Cultural World View, Beliefs, Values, and ways of Processing Information and Thought. Each culture has an interpretation of reality, or perceptual “window’, through which people see self and others. Moreover, cultures hold assumed truths (beliefs), concepts deemed as holding ultimate significance and of long-term importance (values), and world view. World View is a specific belief system about the nature of the universe. More than just an outlook or philosophy of life, world view functions as a central construct related to how much control one believes is available. A culture's pattern of thought refers to the way a cultural group views such things as decision making, the kind of logical system and evidence usage practiced, and cognitive pathways of thought.
Cultural technology. Probably the most salient features to most tourists abroad are the differences in a culture's technology, material culture—food, clothing, travel: and tools or machine technology. Since technology is usually a matter of cultural invention and of intercultural contact with other technologies, it might be argued that no opportunities have arisen for acculturation of a technology, or perhaps the culture has rejected the technology. Too often, we prematurely judge a culture by its material features. A person who values technological features may overlook a rich cultural heritage in such areas as art, language, and interpersonal relationships.
Material culture does not exist merely as a feature with functional value. Overt material culture may reflect a more subtle, covert peculiarity (much like the tip of an iceberg revealing only a small part of the total iceberg).
Cultural Roles. Cultural attitudes also revolve around categories of people and their expected pattern of performance or activity. These predetermined patterns, or at least prescribed and expected behaviors about categories people occupy, are called roles. Each culture has its expectations of us, according to various role areas:
Age roles. Occupational roles. Friendship roles. Gender roles.
Roles serve in three ways. First, roles help guide personal and social behavior. Second, they serve as standards in a stabilizing function, allowing members to predict certainty about what otherwise would amount to ambiguity in role relationships. Third, they give identification, as if to satisfy a need to know self and others. However, roles can be a source of stress, especially if (1) a person does not fit a cultural role, (2) there appears to be no adequate role model or if the guidance is too ambiguous, or (3) if a person is attempting to play multiple roles.
Artistic Expression. Another element in cultural systems is the relevant artistic expressions of a particular culture. When we consider music, sculpture, painting, and weaving as reflections of underlying themes of a culture at a given time in its history, this element assumes deeper significance. The myriad of aesthetic differences and explanations of why one culture's view of "beautiful" is another culture's view of "ugly" go far beyond the scope of the artistic object or its manifestations. Artistic expression can reflect current, relevant themes of a culture, by which the investigator gathers more and better insight. Or an investigator may discover a bit of artistic work to hold only vestigial significance, meaning the art once held unusual significance but no longer holds the original meaning.
Cultural Language and Interaction. The relation between language and culture is significant. Language and its categories filter, shape, and organize reality by the boundaries that linguistic systems draw. Every culture has a language, although of the thousands of language communities on earth, over one-fourth have yet to be written.
Every culture has a linguistic code and a sense of interactional rules. In terms of the code, there is not only a language for every culture, but there are specific categories of that language that may not transfer to other cultures. Many cultures use unusual codes, which may prevent others from understanding. For example, jargon, slang, or "in-house" codes allow rapid, shorthand-type communication. Cultures can speak telegraphically, where a single phrase has a wealth of meaning for people who have experienced the phrase. These codes can function for clarity, or they can function to hide meanings from others outside the subculture. With our own in-house communication system, people who do not share the jargon will sooner or later drop out. This category of interaction and language also implies a set of linguistic usages expected in every interactional context. For example, there are certain words and phrases expected in greetings and leavings.
Cultural Changeability. Another element of cultural systems assesses likelihood of a culture's change. What is the change potential in a culture? How stable or unstable is a particular culture? It is not immediately obvious why, but cultures can be analyzed on a continuum from innovative to resistant. For apparent historical and traditional reasons, some cultures have propensity for change; others do not.
Ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is a unique element of cultural systems. More than simply an attitude, ethnocentrism refers to culturally shared notions of superiority in comparison with other cultures. Almost every culture exhibits some tendencies to judge others. The us-versus-them attitude is easily observed in interracial interaction when cultural categories remain stagnate or inflexible. In many nations, urbans look down upon rurals, elites scorn peasants, and white-collar employees devalue blue-collar employees. Some individuals within national cultures practice ethnocentrism. This tendency to judge appears universal and is part of the attitude system sometimes lurking in intercultural communication climates. High ethnocentrism leads to negative stereotypes.
Nonverbal Behaviour. Every culture has some system of nonverbal behaviors—gesture, touch, facial expression, and eye movement. The collective pattern of such behaviors, while usually in concert with spoken communication, is itself a symbol system. Nonverbal behavior, in this sense, becomes nonverbal communication and is loaded with cultural expectations. Researchers agree that a culture's nonverbal communication system is the most powerful communication system available, although not without its liabilities. The differences in nonverbal behavior among cultures can cause breakdowns in intercultural communication.
Spatial relations. One facet of nonverbal behaviors involves use of space. As a part of the dynamic interrelationship with other cultural elements, space is correlated with information and meaning inferences. Space is related to relationship development, perceptions of feelings and moods, inferences about intentions, and generalizations about personality. Inferences about spatial usage also leave wide ambiguities.
Time. Time is also considered a facet of nonverbal behavior. Time's implications for intercultural communication begins with understanding how time is culturally rooted, and our use of time is wedded to our culture's cognitive perceptions surrounding time.
Recognition and Reward. Every culture has norms for understanding success and failure. Within the boundaries of cultural systems, relationships exist that express recognition and reward. Initiation rites, when successfully completed, represent a cultural method for advancement in tribes and clans. Proper behavior is usually rewarded in some way. Of course, what constitutes proper behavior is culturally variable. What constitutes rewarding is also culturally dependent. The kind of reward or recognition that is appropriate is a significant cultural difference. Money is appropriate in some cultures. Gifts, personal praise, written statements, future contracts, new titles, promotions in rank, acceptance into a group, initiation completion, and equality are but a few additional ways of showing recognition.
Cultural Rules and Procedures. Every culture has rules, meaning the regulations and expectations guiding the conduct about how things are to be accomplished. Procedures are related to rules and are the operational habits for enacting cultural rules. Most people are aware of the way we are expected to perform in a culture. Unfortunately, the rules of a culture are rarely stated; nevertheless, we are expected to develop communication competence with those rules.
Rituals refer to activities customarily followed in a culture. Some rituals are formal, as in ceremonies, rites, formal occasions, initiations, solemn observances, or liturgies. Examples include weddings, births, funerals, baptisms, graduations, and a host of others. Other rituals are informal customary observances and lack the stiffness and solemnity of formal rituals. Examples include meeting friends after work, going to lunch at a certain place every week, crossing your fingers for good luck, or throwing bird seed at a wedding. In general, these are more casual. Rituals can be mixtures of formal and informal or be marked by a series of punctuations of formal/informal rituals (even routines) within a larger ritual.
Institutional Subsystems in Culture
Ways of acting concerning these systems elements discussed previously and other features become routine in formal ways within a culture. Patterns of expectation for an entire group's survival could be described as institutional subsystems of a culture.
Economic Subsystems.
Family Subsystems. Like many cultural elements, concepts of family frequently are compared only with our own cultural experience. Our culture becomes a measuring rod with which to compare and contrast cultural views of social organization and marriage. Because they face common problems and needs, family units adapt to meet those needs. For example, if an economic need exists for farm labor, a person from that cultural situation might deduce that having many children could supply that need. To foster that goal, the marriage practice of polygyny (polygamy is the generic word for more than one spouse, but technically one man with many wives is polygyny) may result as that culture's way of meeting its needs. Superstitions, magic, and various religious beliefs supporting such a marital norm may ultimately develop, thus making it, in a sense, an institution. Other basic modes of marital units, such as polyandry (one woman with more than one husband), monogamy (one husband and one wife), and serial monogamy (a series of monogamous marriages with different partners) develop in a similar way.
Researchers describe family units under two major classes. The first unit is the nuclear family, a unit referring to father, mother, and siblings. The second unit is the extended family, which includes the nuclear family and extends to incorporate the grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and so on. Beyond these two classes, the trained cultural observer is concerned with the actual lineage, wherein group membership can be actually demonstrated from some common ancestor. Descent groups refer to groups where a common ancestor is assumed and where group members have ritual, property, or activity in common. A collection of lineages where common descent is not necessarily demonstrated is a clan. Collections of clans may become a tribe.
The fundamental family unit accrues only after marriage procurement, a process that also varies culturally. For example, some clans adhere to strict prohibitions, allowing marriage only within the clan (or even some other significant unit), a practice called endogamy. One reason for endogamy is the containment of property or perhaps sacred qualities connected with a lineage. For instance, the ideal marriage of a Yoruk of Turkey is between first cousins. Another variation of marriage availability is the procurement of marriage partners from outside the clan (or other significant unit), a practice called exogamy. Sometimes exogamy occurs to strengthen ties with other clans or to ensure the exchange of economic resources through marriage. The Tzetal tribe of Mexico opposes intrafamily marriages, including marriage to even very distant kin.
Kinship systems also involve the role of authority. Male-dominated authority patterns in the family are called patriarchal, while female-dominated authority patterns are called matriarchal. Finally, qualities of inheritance or naming, or both, that come through the mother's side are found in matrilineal cultures. Patrilineal groups foster inheritance or naming, or both, emphasizing the father's side.
Political Subsystems. Universally, societies have some form of governing organization functioning on a formal level and an informal level. On the formal level, such governing organizations originate because of self-appointment, inherited rights, vote, consensus, or political takeover. A less obvious informal method of accruing perceived power, status, and leadership also exists. In various cultural groups, some leaders are assumed to have a certain degree of supernatural power.
Subsystems of Social Control. All cultures have methods of dealing with violations of norms (accepted modes of behavior) and laws. Societal punishment appears to be universal, although consequences vary from fines to banishment or death.
Health Management Subsystems.How a culture addresses the health of cultural members also poses a significant cultural system. Cultural differences related to health care delivery unfortunately correspond to differential quality of life questions. Traditionally disadvantaged ethnic populations in the United States have higher than average infant mortality rates and overall fewer years life span on the average. While socioeconomic factors play some role in these differences, other cultural factors intervene. Brislin identifies a number of reasons for poor physical and mental health related to culture. Some of his reasons are adapted as follows: with lack of insurance or personal resources people wait too long before calling a health professional; traditional remedies may be used either because modern medicine is too expensive or because it is seen as ineffective; little trust in health subsystems or in health professionals; inadequate or inaccurate information provided for families; cultural values toward the age at which mothers pay more attention to their infant's health needs; accurate indicators of physical or psychological distress are not viewed as significant indicators of illness to report. In other words, symptoms a certain culture looks to as a sign of illness may be inaccurately linked to the real illness, and conversely, symptoms that modern health professionals look for in examinations may seem irrelevant to an acculturated individual; nonverbal signs typically associated with certain psychological disorders (like depression) are culture-bound, especially clinical diagnoses that involve inter action and rapport qualities and facial expressions. Mental health experts must conduct clinical evaluations using cultural base lines of normality.
Educational Systems.
Religious Subsystems. Religious systems involve beliefs, ceremonies, places of worship, norms of respect, and linguistic concepts that can cause great embarrassment for those who do not understand them.