Individualism vs. Collectivism

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 407.

TABLE 6. The Influence of Cultural Patterns

CULTURAL PATTERNS AND COMMUNICATION

The variation in cultural values has a direct and continuing influence on how you perceive the world, behave, and communicate. The hope is that you will be motivated to learn more about variations in cultural patterns so that you will be able to understand, predict, and even adapt to the behavior of people from different cultures.

By now, you have probably realized that cultural patterns occupy a very prominent position in the field of intercultural communication. This chapter has provided only a preliminary overview of how those patterns can help you understand and anticipate varied communicative behaviors that may arise during an intercultural exchange. A succinct overview of the most common patterns and their influence on behavior and communication is provided in Table 6.

Individualism (e.g., USA, Australia, Canada)

• Focus is on the individual & selfpromotion

• Independency

• Task dominates relationship

• Social obedience through sense of guilt

Collectivism (e.g., Korea, China, Mexico)

• Focus is on the group/affiliations & selfcriticism

• Interdependency

• Relationship dominates task

• Social obedience through sense of shame

Egalitarian vs. Hierarchical(Power Distance)

Egalitarian (e.g., Australia, Canada, USA)

• Horizontal relationships

• Subordinates consulted

• Equality expected

Hierarchical (e.g., Mexico, India, Korea)

• Vertical relationships

• Subordinates informed

• Inequality accepted