Diversity Competence

Cultures Don't Meet, People Do

Edwin Hoffman, Arjan Verdooren

• Publisher: CAB International
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781789242423
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

In today's world many people live, learn and work in international and multicultural environments. Intercultural communication has become an important topic in many fields of work and study. Given the complexities of globalization, knowledge of cultures and cultural differences is rarely sufficient.In this book, interpersonal communication forms the point of departure: the meeting of people, not of cultures. The authors describe what diversity competence entails: which processes, challenges and skills are relevant in a 'superdiverse' world. They demonstrate how the TOPOI model offers an inclusive, communicative approach to analyzing and addressing potential miscommunication. - Addresses controversial topics frankly and clearly without being simplistic.- Discusses theory from several different fields.- Case studies provide practical examples and guidelines.- Companion website with extra case studies and study assignments. The target audience for Diversity Competence includes students, educators and professionals in the fields of communication and media, business, management and leadership, governance and international relations and cooperation.

1
Culture: everywhere and nowhere

Introduction

1.1 What is culture?

1.1.1 Culture is everywhere – and nowhere

1.1.2 Culture and groups

1.1.3 Culture as repertoire

1.1.4 Cultures and history

1.1.5 Cultural heterogeneity

1.1.6 Transnational cultures

1.2 The workings of culture

1.2.1 Culture as a model of and for reality

1.2.2 Culture and familiarity

1.2.3 Cultural mixing

1.2.4 Not every difference is cultural

1.3 Cultures and individuals

1.3.1 Multicollectivity

1.3.2 Radical individuality

1.3.3 People as products and producers of culture

1.3.4 First-order and second-order desires

1.3.5 Culture and context

1.4 Study assignments

Introduction

‘Culture’ has become a popular concept to mention both in academic discussions and public debate. Where once culture was associated mainly with arts such as architecture, music and painting, it is now commonly related to people’s everyday behaviour as well. It has even become quite common to use culture as an explanation for various phenomena, ranging from marketing and consumer habits to international relations (Nyteri & Breidenbach, 2009).

Even though people have become much more aware of cultural differences, we believe it is worthwhile to take a closer look at what culture actually is and how it influences people and interactions. Whether you are a student in an international programme or a professional working in an international or multi-ethnic environment, if you want to improve your ‘intercultural competence’, a greater awareness of the role of culture is an important start. We are convinced that it is imperative, especially in today’s world, to go beyond a simplistic and deterministic understanding of culture.

In this chapter we will discuss various perspectives, theories and aspects of culture in order to lay the foundation for our approach to intercultural communication, competence and interaction, which will be discussed in the following chapters.

1.1 What is culture?

Culture as a phenomenon is famously difficult to describe or to define. There is a huge variety of definitions in the scientific literature: an inventory by Kroeber and Kluckhohn as early as 1952 (p. 181) identified 164 different definitions of culture, and it can safely be assumed that many more definitions have been added since.

Yet what most definitions have in common is that culture 1) refers to habits (so not one-time phenomena), 2) is a characteristic of a social group (not of individuals), and 3) refers to learned aspects of social life (thus not biological or inherited traits) (Hansen, 2009a, p. 9). Consequently, we define culture as a complex set of habits that characterize a social group. This set of habits encompasses cognitive resources (knowledge, beliefs, values) and behavioural patterns (Rathje, 2009). Different social groups come to different views and behavioural patterns, therefore creating different cultures and cultural differences.

This approach to culture was first applied by cultural anthropologists. After studying the habits and beliefs of people outside the ‘Western’ world, they argued that these should no longer be seen as inferior, as was commonly understood by Western Europeans at the time, but as different (Lemaire, 1976). This perspective on culture proved of great value in battling ethnocentrism: the tendency to consider one’s own views and customs as normal, self-evident, and often superior to those of others. The awareness that your own habits are commonly just as strange to others as other’s habits are strange and unfamiliar to you, is often a good first antidote to such ethnocentrism.

Unfortunately, nowadays one of the main problems of the concept of culture is that it is easily used simplistically or even opportunistically. This leads to statements such as ‘I don’t think that is part of his culture’, ‘My culture does not allow me to do this’, or ‘Those cultures do not mix’. Instead of creating deeper understanding and effective communication, such views can lead to either-or and us-versus-them scenarios. This section is devoted to providing a deeper and broader understanding of the nature of culture by discussing its various aspects.

1.1.1 Culture is everywhere – and nowhere

When trying to understand the significance of culture for human experience and interaction, one could state that culture is both everywhere and nowhere. It is everywhere, in the sense that it affects people’s feelings, thoughts and actions on many levels and occasions. Human beings need to make sense of their experiences to properly function. In doing so, they can develop different understandings of their lives and the world they live in. People need to give meaning to what they do, since there is no inherent meaning in their actions as such. Culture plays a crucial role in giving meaning to experiences. For instance, shaking hands in itself has no meaning, unless people give it meaning, e.g. as a way of greeting and paying respect. Culture, in its broadest sense, thus has to do with everything that is developed by people to organize their lives and experiences.

In this sense, culture is like the wind (thanks to Maarten Bremer for this metaphor): invisible yet always there, somehow steering people in one direction while making it difficult for them to go in another direction. And as with the wind, you notice it most when you go against it. People are often unaware of how they are influenced by culture, until they are confronted with unfamiliar cultural patterns. People are ‘socialized’ into a culture from a young age, by their parents, their family, teachers, peers and others. It may come as a shock when they learn that other people have been raised in different ways, and their first response is often to reject ideas or behaviours they are unfamiliar with.

A professor says, ‘When I first started teaching international groups of students, I was often very upset when some of my students didn’t look me in the eye while I was talking to them. I felt they were not listening to me or even disrespecting me. When I told this to a colleague, he explained to me that many of our students are taught that it is considered polite to avoid eye contact, especially between people of different social registers (like a student and teacher, or a child and his elder relatives). For many of them, it is considered disrespectful to look someone straight in the eye when being talked to, especially by teachers.’

At the same time, culture is nowhere because it does not exist in any specific or ‘real’ sense. Culture is obviously a concept invented by people – and in that sense culture as a concept is also part of culture. Culture is in itself something abstract – a helpful tool to analyse phenomena on the collective level (Baumann, 1996) and to make distinctions between the behaviour and ideas of groups of people (Scollon, Wong Scollon & Jones, 2012). But in itself, it is often an explanation that does not explain: to say that a culture is such and such does not provide an explanation, but merely an observation about a group of people or a particular place (Bennett, 2005). The fallacy of thinking that cultures are actual ‘things’ with clear borders that exclusively separate groups of people and determine their behaviour is called ‘cultural essentialism’ (Holiday, 2011), and it is this essentialism that we try to avoid throughout this book. By discussing the many aspects and complexities of cultures, we will try to show that ‘culture’ is a very significant phenomenon, without implying that it does anything on its own.

1.1.2 Culture and groups

Often when people speak of ‘culture’, they are referring to groups on the basis of nationality: people that are from and live in the same country, or on the basis of ethnicity: people that share a common kinship and history. Nationality and ethnicity can overlap but are not necessarily the same. Nations (or countries) can comprise several ethnic groups, and migrants and their children often hold the nationality of the host country but are still considered to have a different ethnic background. Sometimes, people use culture to refer to even bigger groups based on geography, e.g. Asian, African or even Western culture. Many examples in this chapter refer to culture at the level of nationality or ethnicity.

However, culture is a characteristic of any human group. Nearly every group that shares something in common, has a mutual culture. Aside from national or ethnic groups, professional groups (police culture, banking culture, IT culture), regions (Mid-West culture, Bavarian culture), city cultures (Beijing culture, Parisian culture), groups around sports and leisure activities (gaming culture, FC Liverpool culture), family cultures or company cultures (IKEA culture, IBM culture, KFC culture) are all characterized by certain habits and traditions. In today’s world, we can even speak of ‘online’ cultures where communities are formed through the internet, enabling people in different locations to communicate around a videogame, a common interest or fanship via social media, forum discussions, chat, blogs and vlogs.

Such cultures are often dubbed ‘subcultures’, implying that they are somehow less powerful or relevant than national or ethnic cultures. This can be misleading, since they are not necessarily less influential or meaningful to people than national or ethnic cultures. Moreover, organizational and professional cultures sometimes differ greatly from what is common on a national level.

An American academic working in the Netherlands was amazed the first time he was present at a Dutch PhD ceremony. He had considered the Dutch to be quite informal and direct in their communication, and was consequently very surprised that the ceremony involved professors in traditional gowns discussing the research in an indirect and diplomatic fashion. Every question or comment started with ‘Esteemed candidate’, and was followed by extensively complimenting the candidate’s thesis before coming to the point. The PhD candidate would then respond with ‘Thank you for your question, highly esteemed professor’, before addressing the issue.

In interactions and specific situations, many people tend to look for explanations in ethnic, religious or national cultures. Depending on the situation, however, other cultural influences can be much more meaningful or relevant to people’s behaviours or experiences.

A group of students are having coffee after a lecture, and at one point discuss their experiences of having moved to Stockholm. One of the students, with a Somalian-Swedish background, says she very much had to get used to living in Stockholm, because people were so distant and reserved in public. ‘You mean when you compare it to Somalia?’ one of the students asks. ‘No, I never lived in Somalia’, she responds. ‘I grew up in a small town in the North of Sweden. People there all know each other and say hello when they run into each other on the street. That’s so different from here!’

The multitude of cultures on various levels form a myriad of influences that are sometimes intertwined and at other times operate independently of each other. If one would make a map of the cultures of the world, rather than drawing clearly defined and neighbouring areas, it would be more appropriate to draw a mosaic of bigger and smaller shapes in various sizes, sometimes overlapping and sometimes not.

1.1.3 Culture as repertoire

Cultures provide their members with a repertoire of ideas, behaviours and symbols that they can apply in daily life. These form a resource to solve problems, make decisions and guide their responses. We choose the word ‘repertoire’ because it implies that people are not completely free to choose what cultural elements they have access to, but nor is it predetermined whether, and when, they make use of cultural elements. It is in the practice of interaction and communication that repertoires can be applied, reviewed, ignored, developed and expanded. To give an idea of what elements can be part of people’s cultural repertoires, we will describe the elements of knowledge, values and norms, language, as well as heroes, traditions and rituals.

To start with, people in a given culture share a certain knowledge. This can relate to practical ‘everyday knowledge’ of ‘how things work around here’. At the level of society this could refer to such things as the opening hours of shops and public institutions, traffic rules, and the legal and political systems. Knowledge of these things helps to function on a practical level in a group and to avoid accidents, closed doors or invalid votes. Moreover, cultural knowledge can also relate to more abstract knowledge – e.g. philosophy, arts, history or science – that is prevalent and plays a role in a group. This kind of knowledge can serve as a source of ideas, inspiration and discussion, which together can constitute a group’s collective ‘frame of reference’.

Values indicate what people find ‘valuable’ in a group: what is considered important, good, healthy, appropriate and desirable? For instance, the age at which one is expected to move out of one’s parents’ house can be related to the degree to which the value ‘independence’ is rated. Values are rarely made explicit, but often lead to statements that sound ‘logical’ to its members (‘It would be healthy if John moves out of the house soon’).

Norms are the practical expressions of a social group’s values; the specific criteria by which people and their behaviour are judged within (and sometimes outside) a group. For instance, ‘the norm’ may be to move out of your parents’ house in your early twenties, or the norm may be to live with your parents until you get married. Groups may also contain norms to judge whether or not people uphold certain values: for instance, norms about whether or not someone is a good father, a good manager, a good policeman or a good teacher often reflect a group’s underlying values.

People of a common culture also share a language. Language literally gives words to people’s experience: without those words it would be difficult to imagine or recognize some things that are valued in a group. Language can take the shape of official languages or dialects but also of slang, terminology or humour. Language is functional in the sense that it expresses ideas, but it is also of symbolic value: people communicate their shared group membership through familiar words and expressions, creating a sense of belonging and familiarity. This can even be found in online cultures, around certain expressions (e.g. ‘YOLO’ – ‘you only live once’) or memes (recurring images or other cultural elements with varying subtexts). The impact of language differences on interactions is discussed more thoroughly in Chapter 5 on the TOPOI area Tongue.

Heroes, traditions and rituals are cultural components with a high symbolic value. Heroes are people that members of a culture look up to: think of people like Steve Jobs in the United States (or in the IT industry), Lao-tze in China or Jay Z in the hip-hop community. Generally, heroes have certain traits and characteristics that are valued in a group, e.g. optimism and innovativeness (Steve Jobs) or assertiveness and self-confidence (Jay Z). Traditions and rituals are displayed at certain occasions and moments that give a group a sense of collectiveness, unity or reflection. Examples include national commemorations, painting eggs for Easter, bowing before a martial arts class or cheering for an encore at a concert.

To a large degree, the elements of a culture work together as a system: knowledge, values, ...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Dedication
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction: intercultural communication in a globalized world
• 1 Culture: everywhere and nowhere
• 2 From intercultural competence to diversity competence
• 3 Critical diversity issues: power and ethics
• 4 Diversity-sensitive communication and the TOPOI model
• 5 The TOPOI area Tongue: verbal and non-verbal language
• 6 The TOPOI area Order: views and logic
• 7 The TOPOI area Persons: identity and relationship
• 8 The TOPOI area Organization
• 9 The TOPOI area Intentions: motives
• 10 TOPOI interventions
• 11 Applications of the TOPOI model
• Literature
• Index
• Information about the authors
• Back Cover