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Lecture Notes
Chapter 4: The Environmental Context
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Compare and contrast high– and low-load environments
2. Discuss the relationship between culture and the natural environment
3. Discuss the relationship between culture and the built environment
4. Compare and contrast the housing patterns of different cultures
5. Compare and contrast cultural preferences for privacy
6. Compare and contrast monochronic and polychronic time orientations
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the environmental context of intercultural ommunication. All
human communication occurs within a physical and perceptual environment. These environments have
a pervasive influence on the nature of communication. In the contextual model of intercultural
communication presented in Chapter One, the environmental context is the third largest circle
surrounding the interactants. How humans perceive the physical environment is very much affected by
their culture and microculture. Furthermore, like the cultural and micro-cultural contexts, the influence
of the physical environment is generally outside our conscious awareness. How we see the physical
world around us is very much influenced by our individual psychological perceptions which, in turn, are
shaped by culture. People from all cultures project their mental perceptions onto the physical
environment and treat it as though what is projected is in fact the true quality of the physical world. In
other words, even the physical environment is subject to cultural interpretation.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. Environments and Information Load
1. There are a number of ways to compare one environment to another. One way is to calculate
the information rate; that is, the amount of information contained or perceived in the
environment per some unit of time. The more information available to process, the greater the
information rate. An environment having a high information rate has a high load (e.g.,
uncertain, complex, novel, dense, crowded) where one with a low information rate has a low
load (e.g., certain, redundant, simple, sparse).
2. Information load is equivalent to the level of uncertainty in a particular environment. The
higher the information load the higher the uncertainty, especially in novel and complex
environments. The more familiar we are with a situation the less uncertainty we experience. Of
all the environmental factors, people are perhaps the greatest source of uncertainty. This is
especially true of strangers, including people from different cultures. Hence, the probability is
high that when we are interacting with people from a different culture (especially in their
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environment) the information load will be high.
II. Culture and the Natural Environment
1. The natural, or terrestrial, environment includes the physical geography of the earth, its climate,
and its natural processes. The terrestrial environment for every person is the planet earth. The
natural environment is valued differently for different people. A culture’s relationship with
nature is culture bound.
2. While all cultures exist within specific terrestrial contexts, some aspects of the terrestrial
environment exist in every culture while others do not. Gravity, for example, exists everywhere
on earth. Oceans, lakes, streams, mountain ranges, deserts, valleys, trees, and forms of
vegetation vary considerably across cultures, however.
3. The natural environment of any culture influences life in that culture. Physical and climatic
aspects of the environment can restrict the kinds of activities that occur.
III. Worldviews of the Natural Environment
1. Cultures can be described as having one of three orientations toward nature, including whether
they believe that people are subjugated to nature, are an inherent part of nature, or dominate
over nature. A culture’s orientation toward nature affects how people within that culture
communicate about nature and organize their daily activities.
a. In cultures where nature is viewed as supreme, people believe they are at the mercy of
an omnipotent nature. The natural environment and nature are viewed as threatening
and dangerous.
b. Many cultures attempt a balancing act with nature and try to live in harmony with it. In
these types of cultures, the natural environment is seen as orderly and cyclical. The
days and seasons recur regularly and natural events repeat themselves in consistent
patterns. People and environment are viewed as one, changing together.
c. In many Western societies people believe that nature is something to be controlled,
domesticated, and subjugated. People are not just part of the environment, like trees,
plants or animal, but are of divine origin.
IV. Culture and Natural Disasters
1. A culture’s relationship with nature can be seen in how it deals with natural disasters. Whether
it be drought, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, or earthquakes, natural disasters occur in all
cultures. How people manage such disaster is shaped by the culture and its view of nature.
Moreover, many times when natural disasters strike, people from all over the world come
together to help. Understanding the stricken culture’s relationship with nature can facilitate
communication among those directly affected and those offering aid and comfort.
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2. One model of human responses to natural disasters segregates cultures into three types,
including folk or preindustrial, transitional, and industrial. Preindustrialized cultures are
characterized by primarily rural agrarian land use, have low income and literacy levels,
underdeveloped communication systems, and simple technology. Transitional societies are
characterized by rural to urban migration. These cultures may be investing in industry, see shifts
from labor to capital-intensive land use, have low to moderate income, basic level literacy rates,
developing communication systems, and some trade. Industrial societies can be classified as
primarily urban land use. These cultures are capital intensive, heavily mechanized, have high
income and literacy levels, highly developed communication systems, and high trade.
V. Natural Disasters as Cultural and Social Events
1. Although natural disasters are triggered by natural events (e.g., tsunamis, earthquakes, floods,
etc.), the effects of the disaster vary considerably across cultures because they take place within
particular social and cultural systems of laws and values. Hence, an individual’s vulnerability to
the disaster is grounded in the social system and hierarchy within which that individual exists. In
this sense, natural disasters are as much social phenomena as they are natural ones.
VI. The Built Environment
1. The built environment of any culture consists mainly of adaptations to the terrestrial
environment, including architecture, housing, lighting, and landscaping. The built environment
artificially changes natural patterns of behavior, heat, light, sound, odors, and human
communication. Hence, the built environment affects the interaction between people and the
natural environment.
2. Although sometimes designed for purely aesthetic reasons, the built environment is typically
structured for specific activities. Culture affects how the built environment is designed. The
interior of any given built environment influences and directs the way activities are carried out,
how the family is structured, how gender roles are played, attitudes toward privacy, and the
overall process of social interaction.
3. How the built environment is planned and constructed reflects the values, motivations, and
resources of the culture wherein it exists. The overall economic, political, and legal system of a
particular culture affects how that culture designs its built environment, including homes,
schools, government, and private business buildings. As the built environments of cultures
differ, so do communication patterns.
VII. Cross Cultural Comparisons of Housing
1. In the past 150 years much has been written about Japanese architecture, especially the
Japanese home. Since World War II, great changes have occurred in Japanese housing. Many
of the traditional Japanese homes, where most of the daily activities occurred in one room, have
been replaced by Western styles homes and highrises where space is defined by walls. A
relatively new housing phenomenon has emerged in the past 20 years: kyosho jutaku, also
called microhomes or ultra-small homes. Some of these microhomes are built on lots literally
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the size of a parking space—some homes as tiny as 300 square feet.
2. Many American Navajo live in remote parts of reservations and have very limited contact with
white Americans. Traditional Navajo families speak mostly Navajo and live in aboriginal
dwellings called hogans. Hogans typically consist of three large converging support posts that
interlock at the top with smaller support posts. The hogan is covered with earth. In addition to
the hogan, the Navajo camp may consist of a wooden ramada, a wood-chip storage area, a
horse corral, and small fields of corn. The hogan is occupied in the winter and the ramada is
used in the summer. The hogan is used for storage during the summer months.
3. Traditional Islamic teachings prescribe guidelines that have direct applications for the design of
Muslim homes across the globe. Specifically, the principles of privacy, modesty, and hospitality
are central to the design of Muslim homes. Privacy is the leading factor taken into consideration
when designing a Muslim home. In traditional Muslim homes there are four layers of privacy to
be considered, including privacy between neighbors, privacy between males and females,
privacy between family members inside the home, and individual privacy. These four layers of
privacy are achieved by designing homes that ensure visual privacy, acoustic (noise) privacy, and
olfactic (odor) privacy.
VIII. Privacy
1. Most social scientists agree that human beings, regardless of culture, are a social species with an
innate propensity to affiliate and communicate with other human beings. At the same time,
however, human beings cannot tolerate extended physical contact with other humans and need
privacy.
2. Although the need for privacy is innate and universal, the degree to which an individual human
feels the need for seclusion varies considerably across cultures. Anthropologists contend that
individuals in virtually all cultures engage in a continuous process of seeking privacy at some
times and companionship at others.
3. Westin identified four types of privacy, including (a) solitude; the state of being free from
observation of others, (b) intimacy; the state of being with another person but free from the
outside world, (c) anonymity; the state of being unknown even in a crowd, and (d) reserve; the
state in which a person employs psychological barriers to control unwanted intrusion. Darhl
Pedersen identified six types of privacy including (a) reserve, (b) isolation, (c) solitude, (d)
intimacy with family, (e) intimacy with friends, and (f) anonymity.
IX. Perceptions of Privacy in the United States
1. Although the United States literally legislates privacy, perceptions of privacy differ throughout
the country and among microcultural groups. Moreover, attitudes about privacy have changed
dramatically in the past decade or so. There is a tension in American culture between the
individual’s desire for, and right to, privacy and the invasion of personal privacy brought on by
the computer age. Because so much personal information about people is stored electronically,
it is relatively easy to gain access to it, including virtually all of one’s financial and medical data.
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2. Different groups of people throughout the United States have different concerns about privacy.
X. Cross Cultural Variations on Privacy
1. A culture’s definition and perception of privacy is often based on its history and dominant
cultural values. China is a fascinating case study of how cultural values associated with privacy
have changed over the years. In traditional Chinese culture, the basic unit of privacy was not the
individual but the extended family. An individual’s privacy was held only within the social
hierarchy of the family, where higher-ranked individuals enjoyed privacy from the lower ranked
but not vice versa. Furthermore, children were seen as the private property of the higher-
ranked family members.
2. Although most Chinese do not benefit from the privacy that persons in Western cultures enjoy,
for the past 30 years or so, the Chinese people have witnessed a return of a relative private and
personal social life. The Chinese government is shifting its focus from reliance on the state to a
reliance on the self. Given the one-child policy, privacy has become a major focal point in child
rearing. Unlike most Western cultures—where privacy is achieved primarily by means of space
manipulation—in China, privacy is often defined in abstract ethical terms.
XI. Online Privacy Across Cultures
1. Technological advances in areas such as the Internet and cell phones have decentralized
information across the globe—meaning that more people than ever before have access to more
information. Because so many people have access to information, information privacy is
becoming a salient issue in our information-saturated global village.
2. There is a tension in American culture between the individual’s desire for and right to privacy
and the invasion of personal privacy brought on by the computer age. Because so much
personal information about people is stored electronically, it is relatively easy to gain access to
it, including virtually all of one’s financial and medical data.
3. In June 2013, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. National Security Agency and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were tapping directly into the central computer servers of
nine U.S. Internet companies (e.g., Google), extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e–
mails, documents, and connection logs that would enable security officials to track U.S. citizens
and foreigners. The program, code-named PRISM, was not known to the public until The
Washington Post published its article. The purpose of the program, according to government
officials, was to track potential terrorists. Reactions to the program were mixed but very strong.
Many U.S. citizens accused the government of spying, while others believed it was a necessary
step in protecting the United States from future terrorist attacks.
4. The overwhelming majority of consumers are concerned about their privacy and that such
concerns limit online commerce. Female Internet users are more concerned about their
personal privacy than are male users. Older and better-educated persons are also more
concerned about privacy, presumably because they are more aware of privacy problems.
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Research is mixed regarding overall Internet usage and privacy concerns. Some studies show
that as Internet usage increases, privacy concerns decrease; other research shows the opposite.
5. Two dimensions of cultural variability discussed in Chapter 2 may have implications for online
privacy concerns. Specifically, persons from individualistic cultures tend to place more value on
private life, while those from collectivistic cultures more easily accept groups’ and organizations’
intrusion into their private lives. Power distance, too, may affect privacy concerns. Persons from
large power distance cultures tolerate power inequality but tend to mistrust those in power.
6. In 2014, EMC Corporation (logo is EMC2) surveyed 15,000 respondents in 15 countries to study
perceptions and attitudes about data privacy and the willingness to trade privacy for
convenience and benefits online. EMC is a U.S. corporation that sells data storage, information
security, and cloud computing products that facilitate businesses in storing, managing,
protecting, and analyzing their data. The results of their survey reveal that about one in four
(27%) people globally are willing to sacrifice some of their privacy for more benefits and
convenience online. But these results vary considerably by country.
7. North Koreans continued to suffer violations of almost every aspect of their human rights. In
the fourth year of Kim Jong-un’s rule, authorities continued to impose harsh restrictions on
freedom of expression, especially involving mobile phones. Amnesty International reports that
of the 3 million domestic mobile service subscribers among the North Korean population of 25
million—that is, just over 1% of the population—virtually everyone is barred from international
mobile telephone services and access to the Internet. Only tourists and foreign residents are
allowed to make international calls or access the Internet using smartphones. Just over 40% of
China’s 1.3 billion citizens (i.e., over 500 million people) use the Internet. The Chinese
government recently passed a number of laws and regulations, ensuring online privacy and
regulating the collection and use of personal electronic information.
XII. Monochronic vs. Polychronic Time Orientation
1. In addition to its physical and spatial components, the built environment also contains a
perceptual-temporal feature. Human communication occurs in a physical space and perceptual
time.
2. Like other components of the environment, the perception and use of time is cultural. Unlike
other elements of the built environment, time is not physical or tangible; it is a psychological
component of the environment. Hall categorizes cultures as either monochronic or polychronic.
Monochronic and polychronic oriented cultures organize time and space differently.
a. Monochronic (M-time) orientations emphasize schedules, the compartmentalization
and segmentation of measurable units of time.
b. Polychronic (P-time) orientations see time as much less tangible and stress multiple
activities with little emphasis on scheduling. P-time cultures stress involvement of
people and the completion of tasks as opposed to a strict adherence to schedules.
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3. An M-time orientation is learned and completely arbitrary; it becomes so ingrained in people
that they have no other way of thinking about their world. Through compartmentalizing and
segmenting time, a person’s day is completely planned and scheduled, including sleep, work,
leisure, and even sex. Perhaps the most important consequence of M-time is that it denies the
natural context and progression of human communication.
4. In P-time cultures, schedules are not important and are frequently broken. Polychronic people
can do many things at once and relationships take priority over schedules. P-timers are often
distracted and tolerant of interruptions. In P-time cultures, time is not thought of as tangible
and a person may be engaged in several activities, in the same space with several people,
simultaneously.
X. A Cultural Conversation: Monochronic and Polychronic Cultures
1. Mr. Paul Bersik is the international sales representative for his computer equipment company.
His most recent trip takes him to Saudi Arabia where he is scheduled to meet with his Saudi
counterpart, Abdul Arami. In the following scenario, Mr. Bersik comes face to face with P-time.
Mr. Bersik and his training team arrived in Saudi Arabia three days ago for a scheduled
appointment with Mr. Arami. Mr. Arami had not yet met with Mr. Bersik or his team. Finally, a
call to Mr. Bersik’s hotel room indicates that Mr. Arami is prepared to meet with him. When he
arrives at the location, Mr. Bersik is asked to wait outside Mr. Arami’s office. As he waits he
notices many people entering and leaving Mr. Arami’s office at a very quick pace. The hallways
of this building are a hustle and bustle of activity with people shuffling in and out of many
rooms. Finally, after several hours, Mr. Bersik is called in to meet Mr. Arami.