1. Defining Culture This lecture comes from the text: Understanding Intercultural Communication (2005) Written by Stella Ting-Toomey and Leeva C. Chung

2. BACK To THE ROOT The word “Culture” comes from the Latin term cultura or cultus, such as agriculture. Freilich(1989, p.2) described culture this way, Culture comes from the “root meaning of an activity, culture became transformed into a condition, a state of being cultivated.”

3. What does it mean to be “cultivated?” “To be a ‘cultivated’ member of a cultural community, the implication is that you understand what it means to be a ‘desirable and ideal’ member of that particular system or group” (p. 27).

5. Given our definition, what are some examples of culture(s)?

6. Culture: an iceberg metaphor Surface-Level Culture: Popular Culture Intermediate-Level Culture: Symbols, Meanings & Norms Deep-Level Culture: Traditions, Beliefs & Values Universal Human Needs

7. The surface: pop culture For better or for worse, we learn about other cultures through Pop Culture artifacts. WAKA WAKA What do we learn about “African” culture from this video?

8. The surface: pop culture “Popular culture basically refers to cultural artifacts or systems that have mass appeal and that infiltrate our daily life” (p. 29).

9. The surface: pop culture Popular images as portrayed in television, film, advertising, pop music, and even comic strips reinforce cultural and gender ideologies in society. . .then we export them. What are your favorite Television Shows? Why?

10. The surface: pop culture Some forms of popular culture have a direct correlation with the cultures' underlying values and norms, but other forms of popular culture have been created for sheer entertainment.

11. The surface: pop culture Pop Culture is directly connected to economics. A LITERAL EXAMPLE:

12. The surface: pop culture How authentic are the pop culture images we encounter?

13. Diving Down: Cultural symbols, meanings & NOrms Symbol: is a sign, artifact, word(s), gesture, or nonverbal behavior that stands for or reflections something meaningful.

14. Diving Down: Cultural symbols, meanings & NOrms Meanings: or interpretations we attach to a symbol cue both objective and subjective reactions.

15. Diving Down: Cultural symbols, meanings & NOrms Cultural Norms: Collective Expectations we have of what constitutes proper or improper behavior in a given interaction scene. . .this is our cultural script. Sheena Iyengar

16. Culture: an iceberg metaphor Surface-Level Culture: Popular Culture Intermediate-Level Culture: Symbols, Meanings & Norms Deep-Level Culture: Traditions, Beliefs & Values Universal Human Needs

17. DEEP & DARK: Traditions, beliefs & values Understanding normative culture v. subjective culture: Normative Culture is the patterned way of living by a group of interacting individuals who share a common set of history, traditions, values, and interdependent fate. Subjective Culture is the degree of importance culture members assign to the layers of cultural beliefs and values.

18. DEEP & DARK: Traditions, beliefs & values Culturally Shared Traditions Healings Weddings Cultural shared traditions reinforce the “ingroup” solidarity, communal memory, cultural stability and continuity functions. Funeral Rituals

19. DEEP & DARK: Traditions, beliefs & values Cultural Shared Beliefs Existence Reality God Origins

20. DEEP & DARK: Traditions, beliefs & values Culturally Shared Values “good” and “bad” Shalom Schwarts’ (1992) research indicates that there are clear cultural value structures which reflect people’s needs, for example, benevolence. This value structure indicates how valuable a culture perceives a “deeper” meaning in life.

21. DEEP & DARK: Traditions, beliefs & values VALUES Understanding particular cultural value dimensions and orientations, we can meaningfully link some of those patterns with different communication styles issues. Values serve as guidelines and preferable modes of conduct in the pursuit of certain valued existential outcomes. These are called instrumental values. Values also serve as preferable end states or goals. These are known as terminal values.