Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
Lecture Notes
Chapter 13: Contact Between Cultures
Learning Objectives:
13-1: Characterize intercultural communication in the age of colonialism.
13–2: Explain the concept of cultural imperialism.
13–3: Develop a model of the spread of innovations from one culture to others.
13–4: Give examples of cultural icons.
13–5: Describe what characterizes the marketing of U.S. cultural icons.
13–6: Describe critical factors for today’s international marketing communication.
I. Colonialism
A. For thousands of years, humans lived in isolated communities, cultures developed
largely independently, and many were unaware of the others’ existence.
B. Contact zone: “space in which geographically and historically separated peoples
come into contact with each other and establish ongoing relations, usually involving
conditions of coercion, radical inequality, and intractable conflict” (Pratt, 1992).
C. From the 16th to 19th centuries: new contacts dominated Euro-American cultures;
yet in the Euro-American cultures, peoples and cultures from other lands were
devalued and information from them ignored; the perception of difference leads to
violence.
D. Sepúlveda made four arguments for enslaving the Indians
1. The state of their culture made them fit for slavery.
2. Spaniards were obligated to prevent them from engaging in cannibalism.
3. Spaniards were obligated to stop Indians from making human sacrifices.
4. Slavery was an effective method of converting Indians to Christianity.
E. Hawai’i
1. Hawaiians are able to trace their origins to daring seafarers who discovered and
colonized the islands.
2. The society controlled by a strict system that dictated daily activity between
the classes and between the people and nature and the gods.
3. British Captain James Cook arrived in Hawai’i in 1778.
4. The contact and subsequent linguistic construction of non-Western cultures is
described by Edward Said (1978, 1981) as “Orientalism.”
5. The Europeans labeled the Hawaiian on the basis of what they were not.
Shome (1996) calls this discursive imperialism.
6. The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act would have created a
“Native Hawaiian Governing Entity,” permitting negotiations over land,
natural resources, criminal and civil jurisdiction, and historical grievances. The
bill was not enacted.
F. Australia
1. Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in 1788 with 11 ships and their cargo of
prisoners and established a British settlement on the shores of Sydney Harbor.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
2. Captain Arthur Phillip arrived in Australia in 1788; his view of the colonists as
“guests” of the Indigenous inhabitants and his edict prohibiting molesting or
killing Aboriginals were not long-lasting.
3. As the Europeans moved further into the continent with farming and cattle
raising, the Aboriginal population was decimated.
4. It is estimated the Aboriginal people may have been 700,000 with up to 300
spoken languages at the time of European settlements. By 1900, the population
had declined to 93,000, a decrease of almost 87%.
5. In 1967, the reconciliation movement began with a referendum in which 90%
of Australians voted to remove clauses in the Australian Constitution that
discriminated against Indigenous Australians.
6. Australia’s parliament passed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Recognition Act in 2013, which recognizes the Indigenous peoples of Australia
and established a process to change the Constitution by national referendum.
II. Cultural Imperialism
A. Some argue that the cultural imperialism of colonialism continues in many ways
today, including military occupation, corporate colonialism, and media.
B. Youth in Iraq have been greatly influenced by U.S. military. They have adopted
Marine-style haircuts, hoodie sweatshirts, listening to rap music, and watching
vampire movies.
C. Corporate colonialism is another form of cultural imperialism.
1. In the Niger delta, Shell admits to spilling 14,000 tons of oil in 2009.
2. ExxonMobil spilled more than a million gallons into the delta over the course
of 7 days in 2010.
3. Nnimo Bassey, Nigerian head of Friends of the Earth International, has said
that the oil companies “have been living above the law. They are now clearly a
danger to the planet. The dangers of this happening again and again are high.
They must be taken to the international court of justice.”
4. Throughout history, ideas and technology have spread from one culture to
another. Some planned and some not planned.
III. Development Communication
A. Opinion Leadership and Change Agents
1. Opinion leadership is accomplished by individuals who can influence
informally other individuals’ attitudes or overt behavior in a desired way.
2. Change agent is a person who influences innovation decisions in a direction
deemed desirable by a change agency.
B. Adopters
1. The rate of adoption is the relative speed with which an innovation is adopted
by members of a social system.
2. Studies of adaptation potential, or an individual’s possible success in
adapting to a new culture, give us hints of likely innovators.
a. Age and educational background are good predictors.
b. Being familiar with the new technology or belief through previous contact.
c. Personality factors, such as gregariousness, tolerance for ambiguity, risk
taking, open mindedness, and others.
C. Change Agent Ethics
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
1. The diffusion process is change agent ethics. The introduction of rejection of
an innovation has consequences for a society.
2. Fear of the consequences of culture contact is one reason why products are
rejected.
3. The participatory model emerged in response to criticism of the diffusion
model and stressed the dialogue as catalyst for individual and community
empowerment.
4. In the convergence model, communication is defined as a process in which
information is shared by two or more individuals who converge overtime
toward a greater degree of mutual agreement.
D. Case Study: Quality Circles
1. An example of the diffusion of management concepts from the United States to
Japan and then from Japan back to the United States.
2. After World War II, Dr. W. Edward Deming, a relatively unknown statistician
for the U.S. government, was sent to Japan to help them rebuild.
a. He lectured to almost all major Japanese corporations.
b. His message was quality is the result of consistency, efficiency, and
continual improvement.
3. Later, Dr. Joseph Juran lectured in Japan on extending quality to the entire
process, from product design to customer delivery.
4. In 1962, Japan developed the concept of the quality circle.
5. The concept of working together in groups to benefit the organization matched
with the Japanese cultural value placed on group affiliation, or homogeneity.
6. In the late 1960s, Lockheed and Honeywell started similar programs.
E. Case Study: Vietnamese Nail Technicians
1. In the mid-1970s, Vietnamese refugees in Hope Village outside of Sacramento,
California were visited by actress Tippi Hedren.
2. She arranged for the women to receive free manicuring lessons at a nearby
beauty school and helped them find jobs when they passed their licensing
exams.
3. Eighty percentage of manicurists in California and 40% nationwide are
Vietnamese Americans.
IV. Cultural Icons
A. Products can carry cultural values, and many products that are seen to represent a
culture have been both widely popular and resisted.
B. Whetmore (1987): icons and artifacts as aspects of popular culture
1. Icon: special symbol that tends to be idolized in a culture
2. Artifact: object less widely recognized
V. Cultural Hegemony
A. Some nations are major exporters of their own cultures.
B. Some societies are excellent markets for U.S. icons, other societies may resist
adopting these ideas because they fear the changes that may accompany the new
ideas.
1. Perception of cultural hegemony—fear of predominant influence that one
culture can develop over another; it is believed that what is transmitted are the
values of the culture, and that reception is unconscious and uncritical.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
2. Cultural dependency—belief that a receiving culture becomes accustomed to
cars from Japan or movies and TV from Great Britain and the United States,
and that it’s natural that they come from there, thus discouraging local
businesses.
C. Japanese Icon in Mexico
1. After World War II, Japan invented instant ramen.
2 In the 1980s, instant ramen noodle was imported to Mexico.
3. Today, Mexico is Latin America’s largest per capita consumer of instant
ramen.
4. Mexican food traditionally has fresh ingredients, slow-cooked sauces, and
handworked dough. Today’s culture defenders see a threat to family and other
traditional values.
VI. U.S. Cultural Icons
A. Coca-Cola
1. The most widely recognized U.S. icon worldwide; Coke sells 1.8 billion
servings daily in nearly 200 countries.
2. Coca-Cola products are sold in more countries than the United Nations has
members, and it is claimed that Coke is the second most universally understood
term in English after okay.
3. Coke began its first global marketing campaign in 1992: six commercials
broadcast at the same time all over the world.
B. Disney
1. Disneyland opened in Tokyo in 1983, the first park outside the United States.
2. The Paris location opened in 1992 and in an attempt to attract people from all
over Europe they tried to “Europeanize” the park with attractions, products,
and multilingual staff.
3. Disney had discounted its own value as an icon which made EuroDisney lose
money.
4. Once they changed the name to Disney-Paris and made the park the
Disneyland experience people expected, the park started making a profit.
5. Disney has parks in Hong Kong and in Shanghai. Each tailored to the people
most likely to visit.
C. McDonald’s
1. Started in San Bernardino, California and partnered with Ray Kroc in 1955.
2. By 1998, McDonald’s had about 25,000 restaurants in more than 110
countries.
3. McDonald’s knew it was selling U.S. popular culture and kept much of the
product the same.
4. The “McDonaldization of society.” Ritzer (1993)
a. Efficiency. The McDonald’s fast-food model offers an efficient method of
satisfying many needs.
b. Quantification. Time is quantified in terms of how quickly one is served,
and quantity (“bigger is better”) becomes more important than quality.
c. Predictability. The food McDonald’s serves in Baltimore is essentially
identical to the food it serves in Houston. It offers no surprises.
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
d. Control. Employees are trained to do a very limited number of things, and
customers as well are controlled through limited options.
D. KFC
1. Has more than 18,000 locations in 118 counties.
2. KFC has adapted its menu to local tastes, including rice congee, egg custard
tarts, and tree fungus salad.
3. KFC remains popular in Muslim Indonesia despite less than favorable attitudes
toward the U.S. government.
E. SPAM
1. The “Miracle Meat in a Can” was launched in the United States in 1937.
2. SPAM remains popular in places with a history of U.S. military presence,
including the Philippines, Okinawa, Guam, and Saipan.
3. SPAM is a luxury item in South Korea and on their equivalent of U.S.
Thanksgiving, Chuseok, some 8 million cans of SPAM are given as gifts.
F. Nike
1. One of the world’s largest suppliers of athletic shoes and apparel.
2. Nike localizes each website, including having subdomains for multiple
languages spoken within one country.
3. The challenge Nike faced in China marketing running shoes was solved by
featuring a few runners talking about why they run.
VII. Adapting the Message
A. Key to the diffusion and convergence processes across cultures is adaptation of
message to receiving culture.
B. Adapt to the local culture, localize thinking, localize the product, and localize the
marketing strategy.
C. Advertising styles differ depending on location.
1. Japanese advertising reflects Confucian and collectivistic values.
2. Taiwan generally links the product to traditional Chinese values.
3. U.S. advertising reflects assertiveness, the direct approach, competitiveness,
and individualistic values.
D. Case Study: Marketing Gerber Baby Foods Worldwide
1. Gerber started selling their products in other counties starting with Australia in
1959.
2. The assumption was made people in other countries would like and buy what
was popular in the United States.
3. Gerber established committees to determine what products would be
acceptable.
E. Case Study: Religious Missionary Work in New Guinea
1. Missionaries look for what is called a redemptive analogy, or something in the
culture that can be compared to the Christian gospel.
2. A missionary learned of the practice of peacemaking between two villages. A
man from each village handed over to the other village one of each village’s
babies to live among the other people. This child was called a “peace child.”
3. The missionary built his message around the peace child.
VIII. Adapting U.S. Icons
Jandt, An Introduction to Intercultural Communication 9e
SAGE Publications, 2018
A. Initially, the marketing of U.S. icons required that they be the same as in the United
States.
B. The focus has shifted to local customs and taste.
1. When McDonald’s opened in New Delhi, India, meat was not included because
80% of the population is Hindu (they do not eat beef).
2. McDonald’s in Great Britain, France, Germany, and Brazil serve beer and
wine.
3. Kraft found the Chinese did not like the American version of the Oreo. They
adjusted to be smaller and not as sweet.
C. Global marketing may symbolize the lifestyles that people aspire to, but evidence
shows that local cultures have taken on a renewed significance as political
movements promote local cultures and local identities.