become better able to respond appropriately to varied communication styles, expand your choices as a communicator, and increase your effectiveness in interacting with people from diverse cultural groups.
What Happened to the Melting Pot?
To what extent has the amount of contact you have with people of diverse cultural backgrounds changed since you were a child? Changes in demography and technology have made it more likely that you will interact with people unlike yourself. For most of us, intercultural communication is now the norm. In fact, living in the United States gives us an incredible opportunity to engage with intercultural communication without having to pay for international travel. But it hasn’t always been that way.
The Melting Pot Philosophy
Years ago, the United States embraced a melting pot philosophy. According to that theory, when individuals immigrated to the United States, they lost or gave up their original heritage and became Americans. The national motto, E pluribus unum (a Latin phrase meaning “one out of many”), reflected this way of thinking. It was believed that diverse cultural groups should be assimilated into the parent or dominant culture.
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The Philosophy of Cultural Pluralism
Over time, the philosophy of cultural pluralism, allowing for cultures to maintain differences while coexisting in broader society, replaced the melting pot philosophy. Cultural pluralists believe in respect for uniqueness and tolerance for difference. In a multicultural society, every group will do things differently, and that’s OK.
Diversity is Reshaping the Future
Demographers tell us that diversity will shape our country’s future. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the five largest ethnic groups currently are composed of people who identify themselves as White (223.6 million), African American (38.9 million), Hispanic (50.5 million), Asian American (14.7 million), and Native American (American Indian and Alaska Native) (3.8 million).10 Hispanics are now the largest minority group. Within one generation, minorities are forecast to become the majority (Figure 2.1). Recent projections, however, assert that Asian immigration will make Asians the largest immigrant group by 2065 at 38%, surpassing Hispanics who are estimated to then comprise 31% of the population.11
Additionally, acknowledging the blurring of racial lines and the evolution of racial identity, the 2010 U.S. Census let the nation’s more than 308 million people define their racial makeup as one race or more. Results revealed that multiracial Americans are among the fastest growing demographic groups.12
The United States is the most demographically diverse country in the world, making it very probable that the number of contacts we have with people of other cultures will continue to increase in the future. This alone makes it important for us to be able to understand and communicate with those whose backgrounds, nationalities, and lifestyles differ from our own.
Figure 2.1 Projected U.S. Population by Race and Hispanic Origins
Source: Pew Research Center, “Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to the U.S., Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065,” September 28, 2015, http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/09/28/modern-immigration-wave-brings-59-million-to-u-s-driving-population-growth-and-change-through-2065.
Culture and Communication
As cultural anthropologist Edward T. Hall put it, “Culture is communication and communication is culture.”13 Culture is the lens through which we view the world. It is the mirror we use to reflect and interpret reality.14 It teaches us how to think and what to think about. It reveals to us what is beautiful or ugly, helpful or harmful, appropriate or out of place.
Culture is a Teacher
In effect, every culture provides its members with a series of lessons. Among the lessons we learn are how to say “hello” and “good-bye,” when to speak or remain silent, how to act when angry or upset, where to focus our eyes when functioning as a source and receiver, how much to gesture, how close to stand to another, and how to display emotions such as happiness or rage. By instructing its members, culture guides behavior and communication, revealing to members how to act, think, talk, and listen.15
What We Know About Difference Matters
Cultures outside of our own are operating with their own expectations for behavior and communication. If we fail to realize that people from different cultures may not look, think, or act as we do, we risk appearing insensitive, ignorant, or culturally confused (lacking knowledge of cultural difference). The culturally confused pay a high price. The following examples demonstrate the cost of cultural ignorance and its effect on communication.
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Showing the sole of a shoe (while crossing one’s legs, e.g.) means nothing to observers in the United States or Europe. In Muslim cultures, the gesture is perceived as insulting.16 Similarly, crossing your legs in the United States indicates you are relaxed, whereas in Korea it is a social faux pas.
Blinking while another person talks is considered normal to North Americans; to Taiwanese it is considered impolite.17
McDonald’s fast-food chain unintentionally offended thousands of Muslims when it printed an excerpt from the Koran on its throwaway hamburger bags.18 Muslims saw this as sacrilegious.
The Japanese view business cards as an extension of a person, handling them with great care, whereas North Americans view them as a business formality and a convenience. Consequently, Americans often end up insulting the Japanese by treating a business card too casually.19
Arabs typically adopt a direct body orientation when communicating, which can seem aggressive and unnerving to North Americans, who employ a stance that is somewhat less direct. Arabs and South Americans also tend to gesture vigorously when speaking to others, which the less physical North Americans construe as inappropriate and unmannerly. It is common in Middle Eastern cultures for both males and females to physically exaggerate responses, whereas in the United States emotions are more likely to be less public. In Japan, individuals may try to hide or mask certain emotions. It is common among Asian cultures to exhibit reserve and emotional restraint.
North Americans place a high value on looking someone in the eye and tend to distrust those who fail to do so. The Japanese, in contrast, believe eye contact over a sustained period of time
