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NCSU COM 112 - COM 112 Chapter 2

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CHAPTER PREVIEW1. 1 Understanding Culture and Communication2. 2 How Culture Affects Communication3. 3 Understanding Gender and Communication4. 4 How Gender Affects CommunicationWHEN CULTURAL ASSUMPTIONS BACKFIREWhen 14-year-old Santiago Ventura left his home in the Mexican state of Oaxaca for farm work in Oregon,he had no way of foreseeing the problems he would face. After the fatal stabbing of a fellow farm worker at a party, Ventura was questioned by a Spanish-speaking police officer. Ventura spoke neither Spanish nor English, however, but only the native language of the Mixtec Indians. While being questioned, Venturanever made eye contact with the officer, because Mixtec Indians believe it is rude to look people directly inthe eye. Due to his poor grasp of Spanish, Ventura simply answered “yes” to all of the officer's questions, leading the officer to presume his guilt. After a trial in which his lawyer forbade him to testify because of his language limitations, Ventura was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. Onlyafter five years of protest by immigration advocates and jurors who doubted Ventura's guilt did another judge set aside the verdict, freeing Ventura from his wrongful imprisonment.Page 36Had we been involved in Santiago Ventura's case, many of us would have interpreted his words and behaviors just as the arresting officer did. If we had asked Ventura whether he had committed a crimeand he replied “yes” while also avoiding eye contact, most of us would have concluded that he was guilty. As this story illustrates, however, culture acts as a lens through which we make sense of communication behavior. The arresting officer applied his own cultural lens to Ventura's behavior by assuming—incorrectly—that everyone from Mexico speaks Spanish and that a lack of eye contact signifies dishonesty.Culture isn't the only lens that affects our understanding of communication. Another powerful influence—one that is always with us—is gender. Indeed, many people feel that communicating across genders can be nearly as confusing as communicating across cultures, if not more so. Moreover, culture and gender affect not only how we communicate but also how we interpret and respond to other people's behaviors. Other lenses, such as ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status, also can influence communication. However, gender and culture shape our behaviors and interpretations in so many ways that it's worth taking an in-depth look at each.1 Understanding Culture and CommunicationOur cultural traditions and beliefs can influence how we make sense of communication behavior even without our realizing it. The officer who questioned Santiago Ventura probably never considered the possibility that he was applying inaccurate cultural assumptions to Ventura's behavior. By the same token,Ventura would have had an enormous advantage if he had understood the officer's cultural beliefs and adapted his behavior accordingly. Each of us is affected by the culture in which we were raised, and we tend to notice other cultures only when they differ from ours. In many people's minds, culture—like an accent—is something that only other people have. Let's begin by understanding in what sense we all havecultural traits and biases.Defining CultureWe use the term culture to mean all sorts of things. Sometimes we connect it to a place, as in “French culture” and “New York culture.” Other times we use it to refer to an ethnic or a religious group, as in “African American culture” and “Jewish culture.” We also speak of “deaf culture” and “the culture of the rich.”For our purposes, we will define culture as the system of learned and shared symbols, language, values, and norms that distinguish one group of people from another. That definition tells us that culture isn't a property of countries or ethnicities or economic classes; rather, it's a property of people. Each of usidentifies with one or more groups that have a common culture comprising a shared language, values, beliefs, traditions, and customs. We'll refer to a group of people who share a given culture as a society.Page 37DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN IN-GROUPS AND OUT-GROUPS. Researchers use the term in-group to refer to a group with whom we identify, and out-group to describe a group we see as different from ourselves.1 If you grew up in the U.S. Midwest, for example, you would probably view other midwesterners as part of your in-group, whereas someone from the Pacific Northwest would not. Similarly, when you are traveling in foreign countries, the residents may perceive you as being from an out-group if you look or sound different from them or behave differently.For some people, being perceived as different can be an exciting or intriguing experience. For others, however, that experience can be stress inducing. For example, research shows that immigrants often experience abnormally high stress during their first year in their new homeland.2 We often refer to that stress as culture shock, or the jarring reaction we have when we find ourselves in highly unfamiliar situations. In the film The Kite Runner (2007), for instance, Amir and his father are forced to flee Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in the 1980s, and they relocate in Fremont, California. Amir's father goes from being a wealthy merchant to a gas station attendant, as he and Amir struggle to adapt to an entirely new cultural environment in the United States. Research shows that the stress of culture shock can contribute to illnesses such as high blood pressure, depression, and heart disease.3Some researchers point out that our ability to distinguish between those who are similar to us and those who are different probably helped our ancestors survive by encouraging them to associate with people whose goals and priorities were similar to their own.4 That tendency endures today, and research shows that many people exhibit strong preferences for individuals and groups they perceive to be like themselves. In other words, people are often more suspicious and less trusting of others whose ethnic, national, and/or cultural backgrounds are different from their own.5 Researchers use the term ethnocentrism to describe the systematic preference for characteristics of one's own culture. That tendency can make it particularly discomforting to live or work someplace where you are considered a minority. In its account of Muslim students studying


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