Week 15- Course Overview Essay PDF

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Over the past fifteen weeks, we have examined many components of intercultural communication including: - Hofstede’s Cultural Variables - Time Orientation - High and Low Context Language - Family, Religious, and Gender Influences - Non-Verbals, including space, haptics (touch), eye contact, etc. - Language - Business, Education, and attitudes toward Health Care Now it is time to synthesize and solidify your understanding of the discipline! For your final discussion you will create a 1,000 word expository essay (about 3 pages long) examining how the aforementioned elements are articulated in your own culture. Your essay should be written in a manner so that a person who has never interacted with your culture, providing plenty of vivid, well-articulated examples, as well as theoretical support from our textbook and class discussion. You will want to include at least three sources for this work. These should be from scholarly resources. Please edit your essay to make sure you exhibit a clear understanding of course material and that your work displays a clear structure, and comprehensible flow. As the discussion is worth 100 points, you will also want to carefully proofread your grammar and syntax. Unlike most weeks, a student response is not required. However, please submit your essay, in-line for all to read - do not link to a word processor file, or else credit will not be given. Outline: I. Introduction: a. Hook: Though I participate on a daily basis in the American dominant culture, I consider myself more of a member of the Chinese American and Mexican American cocultures. b. Background Information: A co-culture is a sub-culture of sorts that coexists with, and often under, the larger dominant culture (9). In my case, since I am an American, I participate in the dominant American culture. Simultaneously, because I am of Chinese and Mexican ethnic heritage, I am a member of those co-cultures. In the study of intercultural communication, seven core principles are often examined in order to begin understanding a culture. These are 1) Hofstede’s Cultural Variables, 2) Time Orientation, 3) High and Low Context Language, 4) Family, Religious, and Gender Influences, 5) Non-Verbals, 6) Language, and 7) Business, Education, and attitudes toward Health Care.

c. Thesis: Through an examination of the aforementioned elements in both the Chinese American and Mexican American cultures, we can begin to deconstruct, and thus comprehend them. II. Hofstede’s Cultural Variables: (pg. 184) a. Topic Sentence: Hofstede’s Cultural Variables were developed by a social psychologist, Geert Hofstede. They are cultural examination tools that help us to “visualize cultural differences and their impact” (1). There are six variables, which are individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance, masculinity/femininity, long-term/short-term orientation, and indulgence/restraint. Background: Since Chinese American and Mexican American co-cultures are largely based in the Chinese and Mexican cultures, respectively, I think it is helpful to analyze the structures and characteristics of those cultures, too.

Above one can see that the Chinese and Mexican cultures are very similar in some of Hofstede’s Cultural Variables, while very different in some others. b. Individualism/Collectivism: The first of Hofstede’s variables, Individualism/Collectivism, measures the importance placed on individualism versus collectivism in a culture (185). As Hofstede’s website, Geert-Hofstede.com, defines it, this variable is, “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally” (2).

From my personal experience, both the Chinese American and Mexican American cocultures are more collectivistic than they are individualistic. When compared against each other, though, I do agree with the chart above that identifies the Chinese culture as ten points more individualistic than Mexican culture. Some examples from my own life would be my Chinese grandmother’s strong exhortations for me to become a lawyer or a doctor, so I can be independent and wealthy. She is a seventy-nine year old Chinese American woman who immigrated to the United States at eighteen years old. From her perspective, and by extension, the larger Chinese American perspective, the individual is powerful. One controls one’s own destiny, but of course, insofar as luck allows (more on spiritual and superstitious beliefs later). In the Chinese American culture, there is also much emphasis put on academic merit. A child or teenager is “good” if he or she is a student that earns high grades. I think this stereotype is largely based in reality. Mexican American culture, however, is somewhat more collectivistic. The family or la familia, as Communication between Cultures puts it (81), is the basic framework of society. The Mexican side of my family is slightly more collectivistic than the Chinese side. An instance from my own life would be the attention paid to the group. Decisions are made as a family, not just by the parents. Distant relatives will help each other simply because they are related, no matter to what extent. The reason I say both Chinese and Mexican American co-cultures are more collectivistic than individualistic is because they are both more collectivistic than the dominant American culture. They both prioritize the family and the collective more than the rest of the American culture, I think. c. Uncertainty Avoidance: Uncertainty Avoidance measures “the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these” (2). Members of the Chinese culture, as a whole, are more willing to take chances and be comfortable with taking those chances than are members of Mexican culture, as evidenced in the above graph. As for Chinese Americans and Mexican Americans, I think the same holds true. For instance, my Chinese grandmother met a man in Hong Kong (my future grandfather), married him three months later, and moved herself and her entire life with her to New York City all within the same few months. She wanted to leave her small village in Canton to obtain the “opportunity,” as she says, that the “Gold Mountain,” or the United States, offers. Both the Chinese and Chinese Americans are enthusiastic about change. The uncertainty avoidance is relatively low in Chinese American culture. The Mexican and Mexican American culture, on the other hand, is less so. I think this is reflected somewhat in the institutions of orthodoxy per the Roman Catholic Church. As is well-known, 82.7 percent of Mexico’s population is Roman Catholic (3). There are many regulations, rules, and rites that one must go through in order to secure salvation in Roman Catholic tradition. If one breaks a seriously held tradition in even the slightest way, uncertainty and the stress over that uncertainty is likely to plague that person’s mind. From my knowledge, many Mexicans and Mexican Americans feel threatened by uncertainty. Of course, this does not hold true for every individual. Overall, though,

Mexican Americans seem to be more concerned with avoiding uncertainty than are Chinese Americans. d. Power Distance: Power Distance, the next variable we will examine, is defined as, “the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally” (2). Statistically, both the countries of China (5) and Mexico (4) have ten percent of their populations in the extreme poverty bracket. These cultures, according to Hofstede’s website, are relatively expecting and accepting of their poverty, and thus their lack of power. I think there is a different attitude in Chinese American and Mexican American culture, however. This is where the “American” part of their titles come into play. Both co-cultures are rather unwilling, by my estimation, to simply accept the large gap between rich and poor, influential and non-influential. Chinese Americans and Mexican Americans desire to be heard politically and socially, just like any other American. People in both my Chinese family and my Mexican family in the U.S. are interested in politics and law. My Chinese uncle is a lawyer and some of my Mexican relatives were politicians. I think that this aspect actually differentiates Chinese from Chinese Americans and Mexicans from Mexican Americans. e. Masculinity/Femininity: Here, the Masculinity/Femininity variable quantifies what motivates people – wanting to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine) (2). Both Chinese and Mexican cultures are largely masculine. This has likely carried over to Chinese American and Mexican Americans co-cultures. Chinese Americans, like the Chinese at large, focus on success. We want to be the best at it all, whether it be STEM Research or the Olympics. What the individual desires to be their vocation to be (feminine) matters much less than what will bring one that coveted success (masculine). Similarly, Mexican Americans, like Mexicans at large, also focus on success. In this coculture, we want to be the best at what we do, but if that is unattainable, we can settle with less. For example, my Mexican father has always encouraged me to earn the best grades that I can, but if I cannot reasonably do so, then he is finds a less than perfect score perfectly honorable, too. f. Long-term/Short-term Orientation: Long-term/Short-term Orientation describes “how every society has to maintain some links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future, and societies prioritise these two existential goals differently” (2). In this aspect, I think that Chinese Americans act in the same ways as Chinese do and that the same is true for Mexican Americans in relation to Mexicans. Chinese Americans prioritize the future much more than Mexican Americans do. From my experience, Chinese Americans are nearly always concerned for what the future will bring. We will take both chances and precautions in hopes for a better future. My Chinese grandmother, as grandmothers proverbially do, has told me in the past that I should marry merely because I will need children to take care of me when I am too old to take care of myself. As is evident, her outlook (as well as many other Chinese Americans’) pivots on future concerns.

Also, from my experience, Mexican Americans prioritize the future much less than Chinese Americans do. We are more concerned with the present than we are with the future. In our perspective, there are enough concern for today, so it is burdensome to think proactively. In other words, the issues at hand are seen as so important that they overshadow prospective issues. g. Indulgence/Restraint: This last dimension of Hofstede’s is defined as, “the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses” (2). This is yet another variable that is related to Chinese and Mexican cultures. Chinese Americans, like Chinese, do not indulge themselves very many with luxuries or gratify their desires. For years, my Chinese American grandparents lived in a shanty apartment in a rough neighborhood. My grandfather collected cans in the park and worked as a door-to-door salesman offering anything he could get his hands on. My grandmother worked in a sweatshop sowing garments together for a pittance. They raised my mother, aunts, and uncle on a very little budget. They had no discretionary income, and certainly no excess to spend on indulging themselves. Thus, they restrained. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, Mexican Americans, as many Mexicans do, indulge themselves on luxuries. Many Mexican Americans buy themselves pricey smart phones with phone plans that they cannot afford for the sake of indulgence. h. Summary of Chinese and Mexican American cultures: In the Chinese American and Mexican American co-cultures, we find that the Chinese American culture is individualistic, accepting of uncertainty, dissatisfied with large power distance, masculine, long-term oriented, and restrained. We also find that Mexican American culture is collectivistic, unaccepting of uncertainty, dissatisfied with large power distance, masculine, short-term oriented, and indulged. III. Time Orientation: (pg. 198) a. Topic Sentence: The second core principle that we examine to understand a culture or co-culture is its Time Orientation, or “people’s fixation with time” (198). There are general categories of time orientation that a culture may have: past, present, and future orientation. Past-orientated cultures value history, established religions, and tradition, while present-oriented culture value the act of living in the moment (198). Futureoriented cultures think of what is yet to come and appreciate taking chances, youth, and optimism (199). b. Chinese American: Chinese Americans draw wisdom and guidance from the past. There is even a Chinese proverb that goes, “The past is as clear as a mirror, the future as dark as lacquer” (198). As Chinese Americans, we mostly go to the past as our source of inspiration. China has a long history of prosperity and innovation. Many Chinese Americans often refer to ancient Chinese accomplishments as a fountain of ethnic pride and inspiration for the future. In this way, Chinese Americans are both past-oriented and future-oriented. The present is important, but it is never satisfactory. The present is

merely a disappointment in light of the past and a vehicle to arrive at a more glorious future. c. Mexican American: Mexican American culture, however, is more of a presentoriented culture. We hold that the present moment is what must be enjoyed, because the past is long gone and the future is uncertain (198). Therefore, stay in the present and do not be too concerned with the past or the future. d. Chronemics: Chronemics is a subset of Time Orientation. This is the study of how the time on the clock affects how members of a culture act (296). The two main branches of chronemics are monochronic time (M-time) and polychronic time (P-time). M-time is a culture’s view that time is linear, sequential, and segmented (299). Thus, time can be “spent,” “saved,” “wasted,” and “lost” like a tangible object. This is typical of the Western world where people pay much attention to time and adhere to strict cultural norms regarding time – like being at a certain place no later than when told to, or showing up early for an important meeting, etc. P-time, though, is a perspective on time that is typically held in Latin American cultures (300). In P-time, time is flexible and rules restricting actions regarding time are not usually held. Chinese Americans are very much partakers in the M-time. My Chinese American grandmother has advised me since I was a small child to “always be early” and, if possible, “to get ready 30 minutes ahead of time in case anything goes wrong.” Mexican Americans are quite different. They take more of the P-time approach (7). I do not think Mexican Americans are as ecstatic about P-time as Mexicans are, due to the dominant American culture’s influences, but Mexican Americans are still much more of a P-time culture than the Chinese American co-culture. My Mexican grandfather has shown up unannounced on my parent’s house’s doorstep. Lunches often do not begin or end at a certain time, and everything on the clock is rather flexible. My Mexican father can spend hours talking with a friend and not even flinch. My Chinese family, however, would view that type of “spending” of time as wasteful and unproductive. e. Summary of Chinese and Mexican American cultures: So, we have learned that Chinese American culture is past- and future-oriented, while Mexican American culture is present-oriented. Additionally, we found that the Chinese American co-culture is a Mtime culture, while the Mexican American co-culture is a P-time one. IV. High- and Low-Context Language: (pg. 201) a. Topic Sentence: The third core principle is High- and Low-Context Languages. Anthropologist E.T. Hall provides the differentiation of the two as the “degree to which meaning comes from the contextual environment rather than the words exchanged during communicative interaction” (201). High-context cultures/languages depend more on context than do low-context ones. b. Chinese American: Chinese Americans share a high-context culture. There are many aspects of society and language that Chinese Americans share, as Amy Tan explained and explored in her novels. The high-contextual aspect of Chinese American society is backed

by the common experience of many Chinese Americans. For one example, most Chinese Americans will be very familiar with the experience of the following dialogue between Person A and a Chinese American: Person A: So, where are you from? Chinese American: I’m from [insert any American city]. Person A: No, but where are you really from? This gives us all a shared foundation to reference and allude to. It also helps that Chinese languages themselves are rather contextual. Conversations do not have to be explicit – ideas can be referenced often with a seemingly imperceptible gesture or a facial expression (203). c. Mexican American: Mexican American culture is more of a low-context culture. Words are concrete and when one is told to do something, there is no ambiguity about it (7). Family members often say to one another, “ven aquí” (“come here”) to show each other things of interest. Mexican Americans say what they mean and mean what they say. Chinese Americans may gesture or hint at it, but Mexican Americans say it in quite a straightforward manner. d. Summary of Chinese and Mexican American cultures: Thus, Chinese American culture is high-context and Mexican American culture is low-context. V. Family, Religious, and Gender Influences: a. Topic Sentence: The fourth core principle is a trifold concept we refer to as Family, Religious, and Gender Influences. Each concerns itself with how a certain aspect of a culture influences the members of that culture. b. Family: In the Chinese American co-culture, the family is an important unit in society. It not only acculturates children, it gives them values that they will likely hold for the rest of their lives. Since, as we saw earlier, Chinese American co-culture is already collectivistic, it is natural to infer that the Chinese American family is also very collectivistic. I believe that is an accurate statement. The head of the family is typically the father. However, it is common for there to be “split households” (6). This is where the father often goes to work in a completely different location to earn and send back money for his family. Thus, the family is still a unit, but it is “split.” In split Chinese American households, the mother does not take charge, but rather the eldest son does (6). This comes from the patriarchal attitude in family within Chinese American culture. Also, as I mentioned earlier, family provides security in the Chinese American mindset. From my own experience, my Chinese grandmother advised me to have children and a family, because I will eventually need assistance in my old age – just as she does now. In this way, family is a safety net of sorts. There is even a sense of shame experienced by Chinese American families that put their elderly family members in nursing homes (84). In the Chinese culture, seniority means wisdom and it entails respect (84).

In Mexican American culture, family is also extremely important. In fact, la familia (the family in Spanish) refers to all blood relatives (81). In this co-culture, one owes their life and their loyalty to his or her family. There are often strong bonds between children and parents, as well as between children and grandparents (81). The general attitude in Mexican American families is that of inclusiveness and raising the youth to be better than their predecessors. My Mexican father has told me since I was very young that his hope is that he teaches me well enough so that I not only survive in this world, but to thrive in it. I think is a widespread attitude in Mexican American co-culture. My Mexican grandfather faced curfews aimed specifically at Mexicans du...