Response

In response to the last class discussion, I found it very interesting that there are so many different perspectives of what defines culture, and how there are so many different forms of communication. Examining in particular the relationship between culture and communication, I think that culture influences the way that we communicate more significantly than communication influences culture.
As we talked about in class, the different values established within seperate cultures are the basis for what people view as acceptable forms of communication. The textbook points out the different values regarding human relationships and how this influences how people in different cultures communicate with others. For instance, in some societies more emphasis is put on the importance of the individual and in other cultures the collective group is more important.
In the U.S we tend to be more individualistic, and that has a great influence on our communication with more collectivistic societies. Some of these collectivistic societies value the group so much more than individuals that it is difficult for us to communicate due to the difference in our values. The individualistic societies tend to be more straightforward and low context while the collectivistic societies tend to be more high context. One example of this that we discussed in class was with the Japanese businessmen and the American businessmen-the Japanese come from a more group-oriented culture, and therefore do not have the same straightforward communication style that we have in the U.S. and what one culture group percieved as the outcome of the meeting was vastly different from what the other group believed was the outcome.
This just shows how important it is to understand the connection between culture and communication. Especially when dealing with issues regarding international business and international conficts, these kind of cultural backgrounds should be studied in depth so as to avoid mistakes such as the ones we read about/discussed in class.