Instructor Resource
Duck, Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public Speaking, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
Lecture Notes
Chapter 5: Culture and Communication
Learning Objectives
1. Define what it means to view culture as “structured.”
2. Explain what it means to view culture as “transacted.”
3. Describe how communication is organized to reflect cultural beliefs about context,
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Introduction
A. Four issues need to be addressed as we explore culture.
i. First, people tend to associate culture with something that happens to others.
a. Unique cultural practices are carried out by everyone, including ourselves.
b. Ethnocentric bias stems from the belief that your culture is right and the
benchmark for all other cultures to emulate.
ii. Second, contrary to popular belief, cultures are not mere possessions. No one
owns a culture; rather we perform and transact culture.
iii. Third, culture should not be geographically defined or restricted. Cultures are not
defined by nationality. They are defined by how we communicate.
Instructor Resource
Duck, Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public Speaking, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
iv. Fourth, relationships are a fundamental notion in shaping and maintaining cultural
identities.
B. Cultural influences are deeply ingrained in our routine talk and relational
II. How Can Culture Be Identified and Studied?
A. Culture has most commonly been viewed as national structure, encompassing the
practices and rituals of a nation.
B. Primarily, there are two ways in which culture has been and can be examined.
C. Culture as Structure
i. This approach focuses on large-scale differences in values, beliefs, goals, and
preferred ways of acting among nations, regions, ethnicities, and religions.
ii. Cross-Cultural Communication and Intercultural Communication
a. Cross-cultural communication: Looks for the differences in the
b. Cross-cultural approaches make comparative studies between social aspects of
different nations such as death, birth, relations between young adults,
c. Intercultural communication: Examines how people from different
cultural/social structures interact with one another and what difficulties or
d. Intercultural communication studies what happens at cultural crossroads, or,
in other words, when different cultures meet.
e. Limitations and Benefits
4. The main advantage of such a broad perspective is that we can study how
all members of a nation partake of the customs or beliefs of the nation and
its communication patterns.
D. Culture as Transacted
i. Culture, as part of our social life, is transacted through communication.
ii. Cultural beliefs and values are established and reinforced through everyday
E. Coded Systems of Meaning
i. Coded system of meaning: A set of beliefs, a heritage, and a way of being that is
transacted in communication.
III. Structure-Based Cultural Characteristics
A. Though a simplistic approach, some broad distinctions between exclusively national
or regional cultural groups need to be taken into account.
B. All members of a nation-state are bound to be impacted by their most general
communication styles.
C. They are impacted by the geographical realities of their country.
ii. High-context cultures: a culture that places a great deal of emphasis on the total
environment (context) where speech and interaction take place, especially on the
Instructor Resource
Duck, Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public Speaking, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
iii. Low-context cultures: assumes that the message itself means everything, and it is
much more important to have a well-structured argument or a well-delivered
presentation or to rely on public information in making choices than it is to be a
G. Collectivism/Individualism
i. Collectivist Cultures
a. Traditionally speaking, Eastern cultures have been found to be more
collectivist in their outlook, stressing group benefits and the value of working
together.
b. Collectivist cultures can be compared to the workings of a beehive.
ii. Individualist Cultures
a. Western cultures are typically viewed as individualist cultures.
b. Individual dreams, goals and aspirations take precedence over the collective.
H. Time
i. Cultural views of time and how they affect the way people communicate within
that culture is another way to categorize different cultures.
ii. Monochromic culture: A culture that views time as a valuable commodity and
Instructor Resource
Duck, Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public Speaking, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
b. They believe in working towards one particular goal, or doing one particular
task at a time.
iii. Polychronic culture: A culture that sees time as complex and made up of many
strands, none of which is more important than any other, hence such culture’s
iv. Future and Past Orientations
a. The way a group of people views its past, present and future is also a
distinguishing feature across different cultures.
b. Different cultures believe that the present is influenced by past actions or
future goals.
IV. Transacting Culture
A. This approach focuses on how culture is created symbolically through
communication.
B. Culture is reinforced through our relationships and everyday experiences.
C. Culture Is Embedded Within Your Communication
i. Culture is not only embedded in the language we speak but also in the thoughts
D. Cultural Groups Are Created Through Communication
i. Diverse cultures may coexist within the same country.
ii. The way to distinguish between them is paying attention to their unique
Instructor Resource
Duck, Communication in Everyday Life: The Basic Course Edition With Public Speaking, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2021
b. Their belief systems may be distinct from those of the larger cultural mass
they belong to.
iv. Speech Communities
a. Speech communities: Sets of people whose speech codes and practices
identify them as a cultural unit, sharing characteristic values through their
E. Cultural Membership Is Enacted Through Communication
i. The enactment of membership in a particular cultural group is achieved through
the communication and assignment of meanings similar to the other members of
that group.