What is culture?

Culture is seen as a combination of everything that is human made, and as a system of shared meanings. It is also sometimes equated to communication: ‘culture is communication, and communication is culture’.

Definition of culture

There are a lot of definitions of culture. The authors suggest the following definition, because it treats culture as an implicit theory that guides our behavior.

“Culture, conceived as a system of competence which is shared in its broad design and deeper principles, and varying between individuals in its specificities, is then not all of what an individual knows and thinks and feels about his or her world. It is his or her theory of what his or her fellows know, believe, and mean, and the theory of the code to follow, the game being played, in the society in which he or she was born. This theory is used to interpret unfamiliar or ambiguous things, during interactions with strangers, and in other settings. The user of culture may not be conscious of this: it may happen unconsciously. So, cultural members follow rules that they are not consciously aware of, and see the world through their culture. Individuals differ in their cultural code theories, and not every individual knows all the sectors of the culture. Each individual within a culture has a variant version of the code. So, culture in this view is ordered not simply as a collection of symbols fitted together by the analyst, but rather as a system of knowledge, which is shaped and constrained by the way the human brain acquires, organizes, and processes information and creates ‘internal models of reality. “

So, this definition suggests that we are not always aware of the rules of the “game”, in which the culture is the game. For example, if a stranger from Mars asked us to explain the rules of our culture, we may not be able to describe many of the rules, because we are simply not aware of them. We also use culture as a guiding theory, to interact with other people in our societies. But, it is important to keep in mind that every individual has a unique view of a culture, an that no one individual knows all aspect of a culture. However, the theories within the culture overlap, so they can coordinate their behavior in daily life.

Cultural Norms and Rules

Most often, we learn about our culture from our parents. They teach us the norms and communicate rules about behavior in our culture. Norms are the guidelines of how we should behave or should not behave, which are based in morality. Rules, are guidelines for the ways we are expected to communicate, and are not based in morality. These norms and rules are not directly communicated. For example, they do not tell us that we should kiss someone on the cheek for three times when we meet them. Instead, they model this kind of behavior and correct us when we violate a norm or a rule.

When we interact with other children, they also learn us about norms and rules. They also teach us additional rules. We learn to cooperate and compete with others. We also learn about our culture through religious services or school, and through mass media, such as the television. Television is the main medium through which we use what others expect us to behave like.

Cultures and Subcultures

The term culture is often used to refer to systems of knowledge shared by a large number of people. The boundaries of these cultures are often political or national. Subcultures are groups within cultures. These groups share a lot of the values of the cultures, but additionally have values that differ from the larger culture. These can be ethnic subcultures, a subculture of the disabled, an elderly subculture, a student subculture, etcetera. These subcultures also have norms and rules.

How do cultures differ?

To explain how cultures communicate, we need to understand how they differ. For example, we may try to understand why communication in Japan differs from communication in the U.S. To understand this, we need to look at dimensions on which cultures can be different or similar. These are called the dimensions of cultural variability. For example, the dimensions individualism-collectivism. In individualistic cultures, individuals are prioritized over groups, and in collectivistic cultures, the groups are prioritized over the individuals. For example, members of individualistic cultures emphasize person-based information to predict each other’s behavior, and members of collectivistic cultures use group-based information to predict behavior.

In collectivistic cultures such as in Japan, there is an emphasis on contextualism, harmony, dependency, and reserve or restraint. Other collectivistic cultures emphasize different constructs, such as the family in Latin cultures, and the community in African cultures.

What can be said about Individualism-Collectivism?

Individualism-collectivism is a major dimension of cultural variability which is used very often to explain cross-cultural differences in behavior.

Cultural Individualism-Collectivism

In individualistic cultures, the individuals’ goals are more important than group goals. Self-realization is an important goal for individuals in such a culture. So, individuality is more important than group membership.

In collectivistic cultures, individuals have to fit in their groups. An example of such a culture is Kenya. So, group memberships are more important than individuality.

The importance of ingroups

The importance of ingroups is a main difference between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Ingroups are defined as groups that are important for the members, in which the members care for each other, and will make sacrifices for each other. In individualistic cultures, there are a lot of ingroups and one ingroup does not impact the behavior of individuals a lot. In collectivistic cultures, there are few ingroups (work group, family, university). These ingroups have a strong influence on these individuals.

So, there are ingroups in both dimensions, but the impact of these ingroups differ. In individualistic cultures, the sphere of influence of the ingroup is very specific (so, only for a specific circumstance, the group affects the individual). However, in a collectivistic culture, the sphere of influence is very general (the ingroup affects the behavior of the individual in many areas of their life).

Self-Ingroup Relationships in Collectivistic Cultures. There are three types of self-ingroup relationship in collectivistic cultures: undifferentiated, relational, and coexistence. The undifferentiated facet of collectivism refers to firm and explicit group boundaries, coupled with undifferentiated self-group boundaries. This can happen in two ways: some individuals are not separated from their ingroups, and view themselves as “one” with the ingroup. Second, some people give up their self-identity and immerse in the ingroup (cult members). Most discussions about collectivism are based on the latter, however, this form of collectivism is rare.

The relational facet of collectivism refers to pure boundaries between in-group members which allow thoughts, ideas, and emotions to flow freely. It is focused on the relationship that is shared by in-group members. For this form, it is important to be open to others, to be non-judgmental, and to be prosocial. In Japan this is called ‘amae’ (dependence), and in Korea this is called ‘chong’ (affection).

The coexistence facet of collectivism refers to a separation between the public self and the private self. The public self is entangled with the collectivist values, and the private self maintains individual values. In this form, individuals follow the group norms and fulfill their roles, because they believe that collective actions need to be harmonious. When the individuals’ goals are not compatible with the ingroup’s goals, then those individuals are expected to sacrifice these goals, for the harmony of the group. This is called ‘tatamae’ (conventions) and ‘honne’ (true intentions) in Japan. So, in Japan, individuals are expected to behave on the basis of tatamae (expectations of them), and not honne (their personal goals).

Horizontal versus Vertical Cultures

The two dimensions also differ in their degree of horizontalism and verticalism. In horizontal cultures, people are not expected to stand out. So, equality is an important concept. In vertical cultures, equality is not valued as highly.

In horizontal and collectivistic cultures, a high emphasis is placed on equality, but not on freedom. For example, in Japan they say: “The nail that sticks out, gets hammered down.” In vertical collectivistic cultures (India), people are expected to fit in the group, but they are also allowed to stand out in the group. There is a low emphasis on equality and freedom. In vertical individualistic cultures (U.S., Britain, France, Germany), people are expected to stand out from others, and to behave as individuals. There is a low value on equality, and a high value on freedom. In horizontal, individualistic cultures (Sweden, Norway), people are expected to act as individuals, but they are not expected to stand out from others. So, there is a high value on equality, and a high value on freedom.

What are individual factors that mediate the influence of individualism-collectivism on individuals’ behavior?

There are three individual factors that mediate the influence of the two dimensions on communication: personality, values, and self-construals.

Personality Orientations

Idiocentrism and allocentrism are personality orientations which result from individualism and collectivism. Allocentrism is positively related to social support, and negatively with alienation and anomie in the U.S. Idiocentrism is positively related to achievement and perceived loneliness in the U.S. People are less sensitive to others’ needs, when they are idiocentric.

In individualistic cultures, idiocentric individuals find it important to do their own thing, and disregard the needs of their ingroups, and sometimes do not like the ingroup norms. Allocentric individuals in collectivistic cultures however care about the ingroup norms, and do not doubt about these norms.

Individual values. Our values affect our rating of different behaviors (positive or negative). It also affects the way we define situations. Values can be hedonism, power, achievement, and self-direction. These are related to individual interests. Other values are tradition, conformity, and benevolence. These are related to collectivist interests. The values of security, universalism, and spirituality serve mixed interests.

Some values, such as hedonism, achievement, self-direction and stimulation are individual-based, but this does not mean that it is at expense of any collectivity. Thus, even in collectivist groups, these values may be promoted by the leaders. We can also hold both individualistic and collectivistic values. However, one predominates.

There are also similarities in value priorities across cultures. For example, benevolence, self-direction, and universalism are often most important values in cultures. Stimulation values are least important. Security, conformity and hedonism are in between.

Self-Construals

Another way in which the influence of the dimensions on our communication is mediated, is through the way we think of ourselves. This is called our self-construals. This is an important determinant of behavior. A common distinction in the conceptualization of self construal is the distinction between independent and interdependent self-construals.

An independent self-construal view of the self means that an individual is unique, and independent. People who emphasize this view, aim to be unique, and strive for their own goals. For these people, their self-esteem is based on the ability to express themselves.

An interdependent view involves seeing oneself as part of an social relationship, and recognizing that one’s behavior is determined and reliant on by what others think, feel, and do. So, when someone is at home, the family is the guide for the behavior of this individual. If someone is at their job, then the co-workers decide their behavior, etcetera. For these individuals, self-esteem is based on their ability to adjust to others, and to maintain harmony in the social context.

In an individualistic culture, independent self-construals predominate, and in collectivistic cultures, interdependent self-construals predominate.

Situations can prime us to activate independent or interdependent self-construals.

What is the difference between Low and High-Context communication?

A low and high-context scheme looks at cultural differences in communication processes. A high-context message refers to a message in which most of the information is in the physical context or internalized in the person, and very little is coded in the explicit, or transmitted part of the message. So, the context is the most important in the message. In a low-context message, the message is transmitted mainly through the explicit code.

Both forms of communication are used in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. For example, in collectivistic cultures, people may use low-context communication in everyday communication, but when the harmony of a relationship is threatened, they may use high-context communication. In individualistic cultures, people mainly use low-context communication, but when they want to express emotion in intimate relationships, they might use high-context communication.

Low-context communication is often direct. High-context communication is more indirect and also more ambiguous.

When we understand these differences in low and high-context communication, this may improve the quality of communication with strangers. For example, if individualists do not understand high-context communication, they might get angry.

What are other dimensions of cultural variability?

The major dimension of cultural variability is individualism-collectivism. However, there are also other dimensions. Three other dimensions are now discussed.

Uncertainty Avoidance

When members of a culture are high in uncertainty avoidance, this means that they have a lower tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. Therefore, they express higher levels of anxiety, and they feel a greater need for formal rules and absolute truth. They also have lower tolerance for people or groups with deviant ideas or behavior. They also express emotion less compared to low uncertainty avoidance cultures.

In low certainty avoidance cultures, people have lower stress, and accept deviant behavior more. They also take more risks.

However, uncertainty avoidance is not the same as risk avoidance. For elaboration, people in high uncertainty avoidance, do not tolerate ambiguous situations. However, they may then engage in risky behavior, to reduce these ambiguities (such as starting a fight). So, their view is more: “What is different, is wrong.” People in low uncertainty think: “What is different, is curious.”

Differences between these cultures affect intergroup communication. In high certainty avoidance, there are more critical attitudes toward younger people. Also, there is a suspicion of foreigners as managers in these cultures, and in low uncertainty avoidance there is acceptance of foreigners as managers. Also, in high uncertainty avoidance, immigrants are not as accepted. In low uncertainty, this is not the case. These people are also more prepared to live abroad.

Power Distance

Power distance is defined as ‘the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations accepts that power is distributed unequally”. So, individuals in high power distance cultures view power as part of their society. In low power distance cultures, there is less dependence of subordinates on bosses, and there is a preference for consultation. Thus, the emphasis is more on the interdependence between boss and subordinate. The emotional distance between them is also small: subordinates will more easily approach and contradict their bosses. Egalitarianism is also an important factor which mediates the influence of power distance on communication. It is defined as viewing others as equal. High egalitarianism is related to low power distance, and low egalitarianism is related to high power distance.

Masculinity-Femininity

This dimension of culture focuses on gender roles in cultures. Masculinity refers to cultures in which gender roles are very distinct (men need to do this, and females need to do that). Femininity refers to societies in which social gender roles overlap (men as well as women need to be modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life). In high masculine cultures, power and assertiveness is highly valued, while in feminine cultures, the quality of live and nurturance is valued.

What is a Cultural Identity?

A cultural identity is a social identity that stems from our membership in our cultures.

The strength of our cultural identity

The strength of this identity reflects the degree to which we see our cultures as important in the way we define ourselves. It seems that when we are in another culture, we define ourselves more with our own culture, compared to when we are in our own culture. It also seems that people who have lived abroad, rate their cultural identity more positively. For example, Asian Americans, and European Americans identify more with the U.S. culture compared to African Americans.

Content of Cultural Identities

The strength which with we identify with our cultures influence the content of our cultural identities. For example, Americans who identify a lot with the culture in the U.S., value freedom, social recognition, and independence more compared to Americans who do not identify a lot with the U.S. culture.