Chapter Overview

Summary--From the Intercultural Perspective

Many of us take our culture for granted. The only time when we may ever think about it is when we leave our own country to travel abroad or when we encounter someone with a culture so different from ours that we have to examine our own beliefs. Much of what we think is the “right” or “correct” way to act or do something is actually part of the knowledge that we have learned from our culture.

Culture is a large and inclusive concept. The first definition of culture, by English anthropologist Edward B. Tylor, involves knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Although this definition has tried to cover more aspects that may direct human behavior, more inclusive definitions continue to come into being. However, in this course, culture is defined from the intercultural communication perspective: culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience, belief, values, actions, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and artifacts acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.

Comparing with the different ideas on what culture is, scholars agree on the characteristics of culture. Generally speaking, culture is learned, dynamic, pervasive, integrated and adaptive.

Cultural identity refers to one’s sense of belonging to a particular culture or ethnic group. People identify with being a member of a group. Being a member of a group helps to define who we are. We are all members of groups of different sizes. One of the largest groups that a person can belong to is a culture. Everyone belongs to a culture.

Other groups that people may be a member of are subcultures (also called co-culture) and subgroups. Subcultures exist within dominant culture, and are often based on economic or social class, ethnicity, race, or geographic region.

Co-culture refers to groups or social communities exhibiting communication characteristics, perceptions, values, beliefs, and practices that are significantly different enough to distinguish them from the other groups, communities, and the dominant culture.

Subgroups usually do not involve the same large number of people and are not necessarily thought of as accumulating values and patterns of behavior over generations in the same way as cultures do. Subgroups can be as small as a few people or as large as a major religion. Subgroups provide their members with norms that tell people how to behave and think. Subgroups can be considered “deviant” forms of behavior. Subgroups can also be defined as “non-exclusive” and “temporary” forms of behavior.

Case Analysis for Chapter 1

Critical Thinking Questions

Keywords for Chapter 1

(1) Culture (from intellectual perspective): Culture is “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively”.（从知性角度定义文化：作为整体的人类智力成就的艺术和其他表现。）

 (2) Culture (from anthropologic perspective): Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional ideas and especially their attached values”.（从人类学角度定义文化：文化由清晰和模糊的行为模式构成，这些模式通过符号获得并传播，这些符号由人类群体的特别成就构成，包括具体的人工制品。文化的基本核心由传统思想和与其相关的价值观构成。）

(3) Culture (from psychological perspective): Culture is the collective programming of he mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.（从心理学角度定义文化：文化是使一个人类群体成员区别于其他人类群体的思维的总体规划。）

(4) Culture (from socialogical perspective): Culture is defined as a pattern of learned, group-related perception—including both verbal and nonverbal language, attitudes, values, belief system, disbelief systems, and behavior. (从社会学角度定义文化：文化是一种可习得的、基于群体的认知模式——包括言语与非言语符号、态度、价值观、信仰和非信仰系统以及行为。)

(5) Culture (from intercultural communication perspective): Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience, belief, values, actions, attitudes, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and artifacts acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.（从跨文化交际学角度定义文化：文化是个人和群体在种族发展过程中所获得的知识、经验、信仰、价值观、行为、态度、阶级、宗教、时间观、角色、空间观、宇宙观和艺术品的集合。）

(6) Culture Identity: refers to one’s sense of belonging to a particular culture or ethnic group.（文化身份：认为自己归属于某一文化或民族群体的感觉。）

(7) Subculture: refers to a culture that exists within dominant culture, and is often based on economic or social class, ethnicity, race, or geographic region.（亚文化：指存在于主流文化中的文化，其划分通常基于经济地位、社会阶层、民族、种族或地理区域。）

(8) Co-culture: refers to groups or social communities exhibiting communication characteristics, perceptions, values, beliefs, and practices that are significantly different enough to distinguish them from the other groups, communities, and the dominant culture.（共文化：指具有独特的交际特征、感知特点、价值观、信仰和行为，区别于其他群体、社团以及主流文化的群体或社团。）

(9) Subgroup: usually does not involve the same large number of people and is not necessarily thought of as accumulating values and patterns of behavior over generations in the same way as cultures do.（亚群体：相对于亚文化和共文化群体，亚群体通常规模不大，也不一定有文化群体世代相传积累的价值观念和行为模式。）

Now you've finished studying Chapter 1, have you mastered all the key points in this chapter? If the answer is yes, move on to Assessment in your coursebook to check your comprehension and mastery of Chapter 1.