Roles

Intercultural Communication

CMUN 4Mrs. Waddell

A Contextual Model of Intercultural Communication

Roles

A role is a person’s relative position/rank in a group

Roles do not exist in isolation Roles relate to other roles Dictate communication

With whom About what How

Roles= expected behaviors

Formal Defined

CEO Parent/Grandparent Congressman

Contractual Informal

Less explicit Behaviors must be

learned through experience

Varies across cultures

Roles

Four dimensions Personal vs. Impersonal Formality vs. Informality Hierarchy Deviation from ideal role

Family Social Occupational

Maslow’s Hierarchy of NeedsMaslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Self Actualization: Living life to its fullest. Function as autonomous beings

Esteem Need: The need for respect or esteem from self, or others

Belongingness Need: The need to be a part of a group

Survival Needs: Physiological/Safety

All In The Family Transmits (Samovar and Porter)

Culture Culture is transmitted to the family from the wider cultural context

(environment/history) Major institutions of a culture are tied together/interact with each other Family is primary caretaker of cultural values/worldview

“Families do not develop their rules, beliefs, and rituals in a vacuum. The family provides the environment within which human values and morals develop and grow in the new generation; these values and morals cannot exist apart from the family unit.”

Identity “The family is not only the basic unit of society, but also affords the

individual the most important social identity” Family history Traditions/customs/language Culture and ethnicity

Power BasesPower Bases Legitimate PowerLegitimate Power

Those elected/chosenThose elected/chosen Referent PowerReferent Power

Those we allow to have power because we admire themThose we allow to have power because we admire them Expert PowerExpert Power

Those with knowledge/experienceThose with knowledge/experience Reward PowerReward Power

Those able to reward other’s performance (grades)Those able to reward other’s performance (grades) Coercive PowerCoercive Power

Those able to use threats/blackmailThose able to use threats/blackmail

Power/Status and GenderPower/Status and Gender

Do men and women Do men and women have different power have different power bases in our society?bases in our society?

How does culture How does culture impact the issue of impact the issue of power/status and power/status and gender?gender?

Power Distance

Small power distance: Inequalities among people

should be minimized. Inter-dependence between

less/more powerful Family members treated

equally Familial decisions made

democratically

Large power distance: Inequalities among people

expected. Dependence expected of

those more powerful Obedience of children

expected Familial decisions made via

hierarchy Father Eldest son

All In The Family Hierarchy

Patriarchal Matriarchal Each with its own cultural responsibility

Legitimate roles Father/Mother

Default roles Oldest child/Relative “She wears the pants in the family”

Family roles: Individual/peer workRole Survey Work with peer Choose five roles you each perform List at least 8 behaviors expected of you for

that role

Compare with your partner What similarities and differences were there

between you?

Family roles Social/Symbolic Expectations made clear by culture/religious values

Father & Husband Leader

Directs family per roles each holds

Provider Wage earner Bill payer

Strength Disciplinarian Handyman

Mother & Wife Follower

Take direction Nurturer

Teach manners Taxi driver Counselor

Listen to problems Chef Shopper

Family roles

Social/Symbolic

Expectations made clear by culture/religious values Ultimately based in trust

TrustTrust

Trust must be earnedTrust must be earned Trust develops whenTrust develops when

you can predict how another will behave under you can predict how another will behave under certain circumstancescertain circumstances

they actually do as expectedthey actually do as expected Trust is always a gambleTrust is always a gamble Previous experiences influence ability to trustPrevious experiences influence ability to trust

Gender : Biology or Culture?

Sex and Gender: Group work

You have two minutes to come up with the most adjectives associated with:

Male/Men Female/Women

How do you best describe each gender?

Keep adjectives clean, please

Sex and Gender Sex: Biological Gender: Social/Symbolic

Expectations made clear by culture/religious values

Boys: Tough Physical Macho Forceful Assertive ?

Girls: Feminine Modest Gentle Compliant Tender ?

Sex and Gender Deviation = negative reactions

Disrupts harmony in group Collectivist/Individualistic

Boys: Tough Physical Macho Forceful Assertive ?

Girls: Feminine Modest Gentle Compliant Tender ?

All In The Family : Gender Roles 24 months of age: male/female differentiation learned

Often linked to religious beliefs and values Value statements:

She wears the pants in the family Woe to the house where the hen crows and the rooster is still

Cultural Men: Task functions/superior gender

Dominant role/Income earner/Undisputed authority Oldest son assumes authority in absence of father

Female: Social and cultural tasks/subservient gender Domestic role/Need protection Represent purity Sacrifice self for family/Saintly

Gender vs. Status & Power

Power BasesPower Bases Legitimate PowerLegitimate Power

Those elected/chosenThose elected/chosen Referent PowerReferent Power

Those we allow to have power because we admire themThose we allow to have power because we admire them Expert PowerExpert Power

Those with knowledge/experienceThose with knowledge/experience Reward PowerReward Power

Those able to reward other’s performance (grades)Those able to reward other’s performance (grades) Coercive PowerCoercive Power

Those able to use threats/blackmailThose able to use threats/blackmail

High StatusHigh Status

Shown more deference Shown more deference Are listened to more oftenAre listened to more often Asked for advice more oftenAsked for advice more often Rewarded with greater share of goodsRewarded with greater share of goods

Home: Place at the table/size of personal spaceHome: Place at the table/size of personal space Community: Table at restaurant/Name in news Community: Table at restaurant/Name in news Work: Bigger car/office/salaryWork: Bigger car/office/salary

Receive more recognition for contributionsReceive more recognition for contributions High Status people talk more often to other high status peopleHigh Status people talk more often to other high status people Are more likely to have a leadership role-person with the highest Are more likely to have a leadership role-person with the highest

status is usually the leaderstatus is usually the leader Have more influence than low status peopleHave more influence than low status people

Low StatusLow Status

Direct conversation to high status, not low Direct conversation to high status, not low status people.status people.

Communicate more positive messages to Communicate more positive messages to high status peoplehigh status people

More likely to complain about the task they More likely to complain about the task they have been assigned (victim mentality)have been assigned (victim mentality)

Are more likely to have comments ignoredAre more likely to have comments ignored Communicate more irrelevant informationCommunicate more irrelevant information

StatusStatus

Status is a position in society that carries with it certain distinct behaviors and abilities.

High Status Age/Beauty Position Talent (celebrities)

Low Status Age/Beauty Gender Introverted/Social unease Position

Cultural hierarchy application Men = high status Women = low status

Role is the behavioral definition required by persons occupying certain statuses. Thus, Gender Roles are the behaviors required by persons occupying the Male or Female Status

Gender

Gender is part of culture has its own culture gender norms

Gender as status: "tomboys“ "sissies"

The Cause of Gender Roles - Biology or Culture? most truckers are male, most nurses female

(although there are male nurses and female truckers). most cooks are women, most chefs are men. the primary caregivers of children are usually women. men make more money for the same job than do women. women as a group consistently score lower on mathematics and

science achievement tests men score lower on verbal ability and language facility.

men are prone to aggressive, assertive, inexpressive actions, while women are prone to passive, expressive ones.

Biology Argument

Predetermined appropriate sex based behavior Thus:

Musculature - women are physically weaker than men Brain function - women are more verbal, where men are

more oriented to actions Style - Women are more diplomatic, men are more

direct. Affection - Women are more nurturing, men are more

instrumental (task oriented)

Culture Argument

Appropriate gender behaviors learned from those around us Conventional wisdom.

Women are weak Thousands of years of evolution Consistent performance of physically less demanding tasks

Women are verbal and scheming Men social, political, and economic resources.

Women must align themselves with a powerful man to achieve in those arenas.

Women are nurturing

Genetic Difference

Girls "xx“ Boys "xy" Hormonal Difference

testosterone (aggression) and androgen are higher in males estrogen and others are higher in women.

Physical differences Gonadal Difference - ovaries and testes Genital Difference

Reproductive Difference - babies/cigars. Brain Function difference.

Differences in motivation

Culture exacerbates differences at birth Acculturation into the appropriate role

Constant Powerful

Traditional male and female behavior in American culture is not traditional in other cultures “feminine" and "masculine" behaviors are culturally

affected.

Different value placed on gender. Males most often inherit power

…and keep it (rarely is this not the case). This is known as PATRIARCHY

men have afforded themselves most of the social power in almost every society known.

Social Learning Theory Children are rewarded for conforming to their

parent's (i.e., society's) expectations Children are punished for behavior that meets

with disapproval. Disapproved behavior is extinguished.

Gender roles vs. Gender Identity Self-identity and self-esteem

partially dependent on the successful achievement of one's gender.

Social and relational expectations demand it. Happiness and life-satisfaction is partially

dependent on successful gender performance. Understanding of gender role effects on limiting

our progress as individuals and as a species may inform our choices in life.

Sex Roles and Family Relationships Traditional sex roles inhibits the full range of emotional

expression and interaction. Males

inexpressive, action oriented, instrumental no help necessary won't stop the car to ask directions

Females nurturing passive helpless in a crisis.

Agree? Disagree?

African American Matriarchal society

Mother is both wage earner and nurturer Mother-Son relationship Reasons:

Slavery Crime

Current action Bill Cosby Million man march

Mexican/Mexican American

Patriarchal Society Cultural ties strong Father dominant over home Mother takes care of home Children in hierarchy

Oldest son Oldest daughter

Social forces impact children/culture 3 generation rule for immigration

Traditional South Social status and self-worth came primarily from the family role for men

husband and father aggressive, dominant, and virile protecting and providing for the family maintaining the family honor responsible for protecting wives and daughters from the sexual

approaches of other men. Southern men have also been allowed and/or encouraged

display evidence of machismo sexually active outside of marriage drinking, gambling, and exhibiting violence on the surface, condemned by Southern society/church still considered positive evidence of "manliness."  

Traditional South Social status and self-worth came primarily from the family role for women

wife and mother passive, submissive, docile, and nurturing White women in the antebellum South

pure, seemingly helpless actually shouldering a great deal of work on the farms and plantations,

Delicate actually enduring ten to twenty rounds of pregnancy and childbirth in less

than ideal conditions. Primary labor roles

housework, raise children, and manage the household On small farms, women often spent more time on the production of

food--tending a garden and helping their husbands in the fields--and the production of clothing than they did on cleaning and caring for children.

Children were viewed as a source of labor and child-rearing had a very different meaning then than it does today. 

Tradition matters Traditional North

Status & Familial roots Strong cultural identity

Traditional West No/limited familial roots Individualism Self-reliance Culture unidentified Families operated traditionally

Father wage earner Mother homemaker

End of PresentationEnd of Presentation