Chapter 5
Understanding Culture
Understanding Culture
Culture: An established, coherent set of
beliefs, attitudes, values, and practices
shared by a large group of people
Influences: Nationality, ethnicity, religion,
gender, sexual orientation, physical abilities,
age
Culture Defined
•Culture is:
•Learned
•Communicated
•Layered
•Lived
Intercultural communication: Communicating
with someone from a different culture
Co–cultures (1 of 2)
In any society, there are groups of people
who have more power than others.
•Co–cultural Communication Theory:People
who have more power within a society
determine the dominant culture.
•Co–cultures:Members of a society who don’t
conform to the dominant culture
•Co–cultural communication:Underrepresented
groups interact with people from the dominant
group.
Co–cultures (2 of 2)
Members of co-cultures develop communication
practices for dealing with members of the dominant
culture.
•Use overly polite language
•Suppress reactions to offensive comments
•Try to excel to counteract negative stereotypes
•Conform to negative stereotypes in an exaggerated
way
•Try to act, look, and talk like members of the
dominant culture
•Openly disparage their own co-culture
•Express co-cultural identity through appearance,
actions, and words
Cultural Identity
Intersectionality: Notion we are the sum total
of our overlapping experiences, rather than a
singular category
Prejudice (1 of 2)
Prejudice: When stereotypes reflect rigid
attitudes toward groups and their members
