4: Culture/Gender

4.1: Foundations of Culture and Identity

Ascribed identities: Personal, social or cultural identities that are placed on us by others

Avowed identities: Personal, social or cultural identities that we claim for ourselves

Co-culture: Different cultural identities people experience layered together to create a complex identity.

Cultural identities: The components of self that are based on socially constructed categories that teach us a way of being and include expectations for social behavior or ways of acting

Culture: The ongoing negotiation of learned and patterned beliefs, attitudes, values, and behaviors; negotiated and dynamic

Dominant identities: Identities that historically have had and currently have more resources and influence in society

Ideology of domination: A type of domination that makes it seem natural and normal to many that people or certain groups will always have power over others

Nondominant identities: Identities that historically have had and currently have less resources and influence in society

Personal identities: The components of self that are primarily intrapersonal and connected to our life experiences

Social identities: The components of self that are derived from involvement in social groups with which we are personally committed

4.2: Exploring Specific Cultural Identities

Ableism: The system of beliefs and practices that produces a physical and mental standard that is projected as normal for a human being and labels deviations from it as abnormal, resulting in unequal treatment and access to resources

Code-switching: Changing from one way of speaking to another between or within interactions; for example, a computer scientist may change language use when talking to coworkers as opposed to family members

Gender: An identity based on internalized cultural notions of masculinity and femininity that is constructed through communication and interaction

Medical model of disability: A model that places disability as an individual and medical issue rather than a social and cultural issue

Patriarchy: A system of social structures and practices that maintains the values, priorities, and interests of men as a group

Postfeminism: A societal perception that feminism is irrelevant because its goals have been achieved

Race: A socially constructed category based on differences in appearance that has been used to create hierarchies that privilege some and disadvantage others

Sex: An identity based on biological characteristics, including external genitalia, internal sex organs, chromosomes and hormones

Sexual orientation: A person’s primary physical and emotional sexual attraction and activity

Social Constructionism: A view that argues the self is formed through our interactions with others and in relationship to social, cultural, and political contexts

Transgender: An umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or expression do not match the gender they were assigned at birth

4.3: Intercultural Communication

Antimiscegenation laws: Laws that made it illegal for people of different racial/ethnic groups to marry; historically focused on relationships between African Americans and white people

Cultural-individual dialectic: Refers to the interplay between patterned behaviors learned from a cultural group and individual behaviors that may be variations on or counter to those of the larger culture

Dialectic: A relationship between two opposing concepts that constantly push and pull one another

Dichotomies: Dualistic ways of thinking that highlight opposites, reducing the ability to see gradations that exist in between concepts; for example, good/evil, right/wrong, male/female, etc.

Differences-similarities dialectic: A dialectic that focuses on how we are simultaneously similar to and different from others

Digital divide: The unequal access to technology and related skills that exists in much of the world

Essentialize: To overfocus on similarities or reduce/overlook important variations within a group

Ethnocentrism: The tendency to view your own culture as superior to other cultures

Global village: All parts of the world being brought together due to technologies that make travel and communication more accessible and convenient

History/past-present/future dialectic: A dialectic that reminds us to understand that while current cultural conditions are important and that our actions will inevitably affect our future, those conditions are nor without a history; holds that we always view history through the lens of the present

Intercultural communication: Communication between people with differing cultural identities

Intercultural relationships: Relationships formed between people with different cultural identities; includes friends, romantic partners, family, and coworkers

Intersectionality: A view which asks us to acknowledge that we each have multiple cultures and identities that intersect with each other

Personal-contextual dialectic: Refers to the connection between our personal patterns of and preferences for communicating; for example, a manager may be informal with her US workers, yet would need to more professional with employees from Malayasia, which is a higher power distance country

Privileges-disadvantages dialectic: A dialectic that captures the complex interrelation of unearned, systemic advantages and disadvantages that operate among our various identities

Static-dynamic dialectic: A dialectic that suggest culture and communication change over time yet often appear to be and are experienced as stable

4.4: Intercultural Communication Competence

Cognitive flexibility: The ability to continually supplement and revise existing knowledge to create new categories rather than forcing new knowledge into old categories

Intercultural communication competence (ICC): The ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in various cultural contexts

Intersectional reflexivity: A reflective practice by which we acknowledge intersecting identities, both privileged and disadvantaged, and implicate ourselves in social hierarchies and inequalities

Mindfulness: A state of self- and other-monitoring that informs later reflection on communication interactions

Motivation: The root of a person’s desire to foster intercultural relationships; can be intrinsic or extrinsic

Tolerance for uncertainty: Refers to an individual’s attitude about and level of comfort in uncertain situations

4.5: New Media, the Self, and Relationships

Constant connectivity: A sense of connectedness that occurs with personal media devices being “reachable” nearly all the time; can be comforting or anxiety producing

Cyberslacking: The non-related use of new media while on the job; seen as a problem in many organizations and workplaces

Dormant network: A network of people with whom users may not feel obligated to explicitly interact but may find comfort in knowing the connections exist