Cultural Values - Иностранные языки - Скачать бесплатно
«Urals State Technical University - UPI»
Foreign language department
Thesis
«Cultural Values»
Student: Zaitseva S.V.
Group: PП-4
Supervisor: Hramushina Zh.A.
Ekaterinburg
2004
Table of contents:
Summary
3
Key words
4
Introduction
5
1. Definitions: beliefs, values
7
The value / belief puzzle
8
Contrastive orientations
12
Japanese interpersonal norms
15
2. Japanese and American patterns of social behavior
22
The national status image
25
A Cultural model of interaction
27
Seven statements about Americans 31
3. Factors influencing values
40
Intercultural communication: a guide to men of action
40
Cuisine, etiquette and cultural values
52
Patterns of speech
55
4. Contrast Russian’s stereotypes
58
Nine statements about Russians
58
Middle Eastern interview responses
61
5. American’s view of Russian. Russian’s view of American
65
American interview responses
65
Russian interview responses
75
Conclusion
79
Literature
80
Appendix
SUMMARY
A diploma work contains 80 pages, 2 tables, 1 figure, 4 books are a
source of it.
Key words: cross-cultural communication, values, beliefs, clusters,
stereotypes.
In detail it is said about concept "values", factors influencing
values, the meaning of values in intercultural communication and
understanding between different nations.
In brief it is mentioned differences between beliefs, values.
The actuality and novelty of a theme consist in the following points.
Problems of the intercultural communications and cultural values are
"young". Scientists started to consider them rather recently. In Russia
researches have begun only in the 80th years. In such a way, there is not
enough literature and materials on the given questions. Therefore any new
works and researches make the significant contribution to studying these
problems.
So in my work I tried: to research the influence of cultural values to
attitude one country to another; to explore and to compare Japanese and
American patterns of social behavior; to understand the factors influencing
values; to discover stereotypes between different countries.
In conclusion it is noted that excellent knowledge of language is only
half-affair for successful cooperation with other country. Also it is
necessary to know features of people of other country in negotiating or
their attitude to business. Also it is necessary to take into account
features of dialogue, etiquette, relations with grown-ups and many other
things.
KEY WORDS
Cross-cultural communication is the information exchange between one
person and any other source transmitting a message displaying properties of
a culture different to the one of the receiver’s culture. The source of
such a message can be either a person, in an interpersonal communication
process, or any form of mass media or other form of media.
Values. A value is something that is important to people — like honesty,
harmony, respect for elders, or thinking of your family first. They are
represents what is expected or hoped for, required or forbidden. It is not
a report of actual conduct but is the inductively based logically ordered
set of criteria of evaluations by which conduct is judged and sanctions
applied.
Beliefs are generally taken to mean a mental acceptance or conviction in
the truth or actuality of something. A belief links an object or event and
the characteristics that distinguish it from others. The degree to which we
believe that an event or object possesses certain characteristics reflects
the level of our subjective probability (belief) and, consequently, the
depth or intensity of our belief. The more certain we are in a belief, the
greater is the intensity of that belief.
Clusters are groups of inter-related industries that drive wealth
creation in a region and provides a richer more meaningful representation
of local industry drivers and regional dynamics trends than traditional
methods and represents the entire value chain of a broadly defined industry
from suppliers to end products, including supporting services and
specialized infrastructure.
Stereotype is a fixed set of ideas about what a particular type of person
or thing is like, which is (wrongly) believed to be true in all cases.
INTRODUCTION
The subject of my diploma work is cultural values.
Our perception of foreign cultures is usually based not on their
complex reality, but on the simplified image they project. The clearer and
more sharply defined that image is, the more convinced we will be that we
are intimately acquainted with it: it is a mere outward confirmation of
knowledge we already possess.
All cultures have been designed to meet universal human needs: for
shelter - for love — for friendship. While they have commonalties, they
have great variety too! Values - universal feature of culture, how they
might vary within and between cultures.
One universal feature of culture is values. A value is something that
is important to people — like honesty, harmony, respect for elders, or
thinking of your family first.
We can't see values directly, but we can see them reflected in
people's ordinary, day to day behavior. What we value shapes what we do. If
respect for elders is important to me, I might listen very patiently to
grandmother's stories and not argue with her. In fact, I might turn to her
for valuable and wise advice. If I value honesty, I will hope that my
friends will tell me the truth and not what they think I want to hear. If
harmony is more important to me, I prefer to say things that make people
happy, even if those things are not exactly true.
In the course of human interaction, evaluations are assigned to given
types of behavior, attitudes, and kinds of social contact. Taken together
they form the belief and value system, the cultural premises and
assumptions, and the foundation for law, order, and the world view of given
cultural groups. These systems embrace a number of assumptions about how
the world is put together. Some values and norms, differentiate between
good and evil, right and wrong. Some of these assumptions are made explicit
in the beliefs and myths of the people. Beliefs, value systems, and world
view often combine with other features of social and cultural organization
to provide shared cultural symbols.
The actuality and novelty of a theme consist in the following points.
Problems of the intercultural communications and cultural values are
"young". Scientists started to consider them rather recently. In Russia
researches have begun only in the 80th years. In such a way, there is not
enough literature and materials on the given questions. Therefore any new
works and researches make the significant contribution to studying these
problems.
Objects of research in my diploma work are behavioral samples and
cultural clusters.
1. DEFINITIONS: BELIEFS, VALUES
It is useful at this juncture to make some distinctions between
beliefs and values.
BELIEFS
Beliefs are generally taken to mean a mental acceptance or conviction
in the truth or actuality of something. A belief links an object or event
and the characteristics that distinguish it from others. The degree to
which we believe that an event or object possesses certain characteristics
reflects the level of our subjective probability (belief) and,
consequently, the depth or intensity of our belief. The more certain we are
in a belief, the greater is the intensity of that belief.
This is well attested to in the power of religious beliefs. There are
three types of beliefs, all of which are of concern to us. They are
experiential, informational, and inferential. Experiential beliefs come
from direct personal experience, of course; they are integrated at the
intrapersonal level. The second type involves information. This is
transferred on the interpersonal level and shows great cultural variation.
Here cultural beliefs are stated, transferred, learned, and practiced.
Informational beliefs are connected with what are called "authority
belief," or credible information sources. If a group of people believes
that exercising increases the individual's physical and mental well-being,
these believers may also be willing to accept athletes as authority figures
even though the testimonies of these idols range beyond their physical
prowess. Witness the selling success of Olympic champions and football
stars in promoting breakfast food or panty hose.
Inferential beliefs are those which go beyond direct observation and
information. These concern rules of logic, argumentation, rhetoric, and
even establishment of facts (the scientific method). Although internal
logic systems differ from one individual to another within a culture, they
differ more from one culture to another. The most dramatic difference in
cultural variance in thinking lies between Western and Eastern cultures.
The Western world has a logic system built upon Aristotelian principles,
and it has evolved ways of thinking that embody these principles. . . .
Eastern cultures, however, developed before and without the benefit of
Athens or Aristotle. As a consequence, their logic systems are sometimes
called non-Aristotelian, and they can often lead to quite different sets of
beliefs.
VALUES
Values bring affective force to beliefs. Some of these values are
shared with others of our kind some are not. Thus, we all adhere to some of
the beliefs and values generally accepted within our cultures; we reject
others. Values are related to what is seen to be good, proper, and
positive, or the opposite. Values are learned and may be normative in
nature. They change through time and are seldom shared in specifics by
members of different generations, although certain themes will prevail. For
example, the positive attributions placed upon competitiveness,
individualism, action, and other general principles that pervade the belief
and value orientation of members of the North American culture of the
United States remain. They include the constitutionally guaranteed and
socially valued "unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness" in individualistic, action-oriented, and competitive ways. These
values have endured their expression varies from generation to generation.
A cultural value system "represents what is expected or hoped for,
required or forbidden." It is not a report of actual conduct but is the
inductively based logically ordered set of criteria of evaluations by which
conduct is judged and sanctions applied.
THE VALUE / BELIEF PUZZLE
Value and belief systems, with their supporting cultural postulates
and world views, are complex and difficult to assess. They form an
interlocking system, reflecting and reflective of cultural history and
forces of change. They provide the bases for the assignment of cultural
meaning and evaluation. Values are desired outcomes as well as norms for
behavior; they are dreams as well as reality, They are embraced by some and
not others in a community; they may be the foundations for accepted modes
of behavior, but are as frequently overridden as observed. They are also
often the hidden force that sparks reactions and fuels denials. Unexamined
assignment of these characteristics to all members of a group is an
exercise in stereotyping.
ATTRIBUTIONS AND EVALUATIONS
Often values attributions and evaluations of the behaviors of
"strangers" are based on the value and belief systems of the observers.
Have you heard or made any of the following statements? Guilty or not?
Americans are cold.
Americans don't like their parents. Just look, they put their mothers
and fathers in nursing homes.
The Chinese are nosy. They're always asking such personal questions.
Spaniards must hate animals. Look what they do to bulls!
Marriages don't last in the United States.
Americans are very friendly. 1 met a nice couple on a tour and they
asked me to visit them.
Americans ask silly questions, they think we all live in tents and
drink nothing but camel's milk! They ought to see our airport!
Americans just pretend to be friendly; they really aren't. They say,
"Drop by sometime" but when I did, they didn't seem very happy to see me.
Of course, it was ten o'clock at night!
How should such statements be received? With anger? With explanation?
With understanding and anger? Should one just ignore such patent half-
truths stereotypic judgments, and oversimplifications? Before indulging in
any of the above actions, consider what can be learned from such
statements. First, what do these statements reveal? The speakers appear to
be concerned about families, disturbed by statistics, apt to form opinions
on limited data (friendliness), given to forming hasty and unwarranted
generalizations (Spanish bullfighting), and angered by the ignorance of
others. No one cultural group has a corner on such behavior. Second, we
might be able to guess how certain speakers might feel about divorce,
hospitality, or even animals. Third, the observations, while clearly not
applicable to all members of the groups about which the comments were made,
represent the speakers' perceptions. To many, Americans are seen as cold
and uncaring. Because perceptions and native value and belief systems play
such important roles in communication, it is important to recognize and
deal with these perceptions-correct or incorrect, fair or unfair.
In the following part of this chapter the concept of value
orientations will be explored. This will be followed by a review of the
major value orientations associated with people from the United States.
These orientations will be contrasted with those of other culture groups.
Such an approach to cross-cultural variations in values and beliefs is far
more productive than flat denial or even anger, as we form evaluative
frames of reference for ourselves and hold them up to the frames of others
we shall, at the very least, learn a great deal about ourselves.
VALUE ORIENTATIONS
Compiling a list of cultural values, beliefs, attitudes, and
assumptions would be an almost endless and quite unrewarding endeavor.
Writers in the field of intercultural communication have generally adopted
the concept of value orientations suggested by Florence Kluckhohn and Fred
Strodtbeck (1961).
In setting forth a value orientation approach to cross-cultural
variation, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck (1961:10) pointed out that such a
theory was based upon three assumptions:
1. There are a limited number of human problems to which all cultures
must find solutions.
2. The limited number of solutions may be charted along a range or
Continuum of variations.
3. Certain solutions are favored by members in any given culture group
but all potential solutions are present in every culture.
In their schema, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck suggested that values
around five universal human problems involving man's relationship to the
environment, human nature, time, activity, and human interaction. The
authors further proposed that the orientations of any society could be
charted along these dimensions. Although variability could be found within
a group, there were always dominant or preferred positions. Culture-
specific profiles could be constructed. Such profiles should not be
regarded as statements about individual behavior, but rather as tendencies
around which social behavioral norms rules values, beliefs, and assumptions
are clustered. As such, they might influence individual behavior as other
cultural givens do; like other rules, they may be broken, changed, or
ignored.
In the Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck classification, three focal points in
the range of variations are posited for each type of orientation. In the
man-to-nature continuum variations range from a position of human mastery
over nature, to harmony with nature, to subjugation to nature. Most
industrialized societies represent the mastery orientation; the back-to-
nature counterculture of young adults during the 1960s and 1970s, the
harmonious stance; and many peasant populations, the subjugation
orientation.
The time dimension offers stops at the past, present, and future.
Human nature orientation is charted along a continuum stretching from good
to evil with some of both in the middle. The activity orientation moves
from doing to being-becoming to being. Finally, the relational orientation
ranges from the individual to the group with concern with the continuation
of the group, as an intermediate focal point.
Value orientations only represent" good guesses" about why people act
the way they do. Statements made or scales constructed are only part of an
"as if" game. That is to say, people act as if they believed in a given set
of value. Because the individuals in any cultural group exhibit great
variation, any of the orientations suggested might well be found in nearly
every culture. It is the general pattern that is sought. Value orientations
are important to us as intercultural communicators because often whatever
one believes, values, and assumes are the crucial factors in communication.
CONTRASTIVE ORIENTATlONS
Let us take some American cultural patterns that have been identified
as crucial in cross-cultural communication and consider what assumptions,
values, and attitudes support them. Edward C. Stewart was a pioneer in
examining such American behavior in a cross-cultural perspective. His book
- American Cultural Patterns. This book describes dominant characteristics
of middle class Americans. Stewart distinguishes between cultural
assumptions and values and what he called cultural norms. Cultural norms
are explicit a repeatedly invoked by people to describe or justify their
actions. They represent instances in which the behavior and the value
attached to it seem at odds. Stewart writes, “Because cultural norms are
related to behavior as cliches, rituals or as cultural platitudes, they
provide inaccurate descriptions of behavior”. He points out that Americans
are devoted to the concept of self-reliance but accept social security,
borrow money, and expect a little help from their friends. Culture bearers
are usually more aware of their cultural norms than their systems of values
and assumptions. As Stewart explains, "being fundamental to the
individual's outlook, they [the assumptions and values] are likely to be
considered as a part of the real world and therefore remain unquestioned".
Table 1, illustrates some of the general value orientations identified
with North Americans. The left-hand column indicates what the polar point
of the orientational axis might represent. The Contrast American column
does not describe any particular culture, but rather represents an opposite
orientation. Of course, the American profile is drawn in broad strokes and
describes the mainstream culture; ethnic diversity is of necessity blurred
in this sweeping treatment.
Thus, with the reservations noted above, it can be said that in the
relationship of human beings and nature, Americans assume and thus value
and believe in doing something about environmental problems. Nature can and
should be changed. In addition, change is right and good and to be
encouraged. That toe pace of change has increased to a bewildering point in
the United States at the present time presents problems, but, as yet,
change has not been seen as particularly detrimental.
Equality of opportunity is linked to individualism, lack of rigid
hierarchies informality, and other cultural givens. It is manifested in
American laws regarding social conduct, privacy, and opportunity. This
contrasts with an ascriptive social order in which class and birth provide
the bases for social control and interaction.
The achievement orientation calls for assessment of personal
achievement, a latter-day Horatio Alger (Lee Iacocca) orientation. A future
orientation is joined to the positive value accorded change and action.
Directness and openness are contrasted to a more consensus-seeking approach
in which group harmony is placed above solving problems.
Cause-and-effect logic joined to a problem-solving orientation and a
pragmatic approach to problems defines the much-vaunted scientific method.
Intuition and other approaches to evidence, fact, and
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