COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE:Enculturation, Acculturation

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Introduction to Mass Communication MCM 101

LESSON 10

COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE

The debate which always rant and rave whenever there is a talk about communication is the

mystery of cultures which vary from place to place and through times and which cause perhaps the

strongest hurdles in understanding of what has been said (by people of one culture) and what has been

understood (by people of an other culture).

Before we start to examine as what factors are responsible to generate this debate, it seems only logical that

we understand what culture is.

Though no definition of culture exists on which all will agree, the one which is close to everyone's belief is

the way people live, or say the living style of people of a particular area is denoted as their culture. This

includes their living habits, eating and cooking style, dressing up, language they speak in, social values and

traditions they observe along with the religion they follow. Well, for a student of communication who

believes that a slight change on part of the sender or receiver may effect a huge change in the meaning of a

message the definition of culture and its little explanation offers only an embarrassing situation for there is

plenty in the name of change that can vary (or destroy) the meaning and hence the process of

communication may face hurdles.

Enculturation

The process of passing on culture from one generation to the next is referred to as enculturation.

Most people are encultured they receive their cultural values from their parents including language,

religion, dressing up eating and living habits etc. The impact of enculturation is very strong. You generally

carry this culture with you wherever you travel or even settle for some time. For instance a Pakistani settling

in UK will continue to practice its eating, living habit along with other cultural values. In the field of

communication he or she would remain on the look out to find another Pakistani with whom he/she could

talk in Urdu or they sit together and dine the way they have been doing back home. The two would enjoy

the enculturation to the utmost by communicating to each other matters pertaining to their life style.

Acculturation

The most difficult part in the process of communication and cultural conflicts is the process of

acculturation. In this process one tends to learn the rules and norms of a culture different from one's native

culture. Easy said than done. It may take years even to those who command some expertise on

communication techniques for it is very difficult to break the shell of your own culture only to adopt

another. But people do tend to do so if they have to live longer in another land. For instance if a Pakistani is

settling in America, he will have to acculturate himself by learning the living style of that part of the world

at least in areas where it could be adopted. It does not mean to scrap your religion but it certainly means

living by the rules and practices of that part of the world if you want to stay there for generations. If one

resists acculturation, one is bound to face embarrassment in every day communication for every message

from him / her will be understood differently (wrongly) by fellow people there and vice versa.

The communication problems arising out of cultural conflicts will simply make life miserable. And not to be

seen as a cross country phenomenon, the cultural differences may exist among different shades of culture

within one society. For instance all the Muslims around the world make one community but vary drastically

in their life style. There being dressing up, traditions at the time of child-birth, weddings and other major

events in life are very contrasting. Within a country these traditions may vary. A Sindhi life style is different

from Baluchi's and Punjabi traditions on scores of matters are different from what are observed by

Pashtoons. The existence of sub-cultures also leads to communication snags and problems may arise only

due to these factors when people from sub-cultures undertake a joint business.

Cultural Shock

This phenomenon in communication is very common around the world. It occurs when people

from one culture have to live in another culture where normal life values are radically diverse. One may not

like to send his daughter to join dancing, or swimming classes at school in Pakistan, it is a must in certain

Introduction to Mass Communication MCM 101

countries. You may have separate colleges, universities or even medical colleges for boys and girls in

Pakistan and some other Islamic countries. But there is no such concept in the west. A family going to the

west will have to face the cultural shock which is complete breakdown of communication, as long as they

live there without conceding to the concept of acculturation.

Principles of Intercultural Communication

Prepare yourself

The best to overcome communication gaps in multicultural society is to prepare yourself in advance

about the new culture you may face. These days videos, newspapers and magazines are widely available

which tell about the social norms of a society. By learning a good deal on these values, the process of

communication is eased out to a great extent.

Overcoming fears of unseen

Scholars believe that even learned people have a sense of fear when they tend to communicate to

the people of a different culture. At ordinary people level this fear exists even more. That is one reason you

would not find foreign tourists mixing up with local people frequently. Not that they feel superior, but the

fear that any miscommunication by way of words and gestures should not infuriate a local and put the

visitor in an embarrassing situation. The solution here is again in making a fair assessment of what you want

to communicate juxtapose to the social values of the people to whom you want to communicate. Once

getting a positive feedback on your message would dispel the earlier fear and equip you with confidence for

more communication.

Know different meanings due to change in culture

One most important aspect of improving communication in a new culture is the consideration of

meanings of different phrases, gestures and body language in the new culture. Some body gestures which

stand for certain meaning to you due to enculturation may be entirely different in the other culture. A study

of some basic differences in meanings of words and actions between the two cultures is obviously going to

ease the communication gap hence making the process of communication gainful for all involve in the

interaction.

Knowing some hard and fast values

As mentioned earlier, certain societies are strongly under influence of their centuries old traditions.

For instance Muslims do not like eat with left hand or even shake left hand. Others may not find any

problem in using the left hand.

In Indonesian culture direct eye contact is a case of disrespect especially when talking to older people. For

Americans avoiding eye contact means disinterest. Think if a young Indonesian is talking to an American

and the two do not know cultural values of each other, where the communication end up!

There are some times few small things but which have strong implications in the sense of communication.

In America if some one says `come over and pay us a visit', it amounts to only a friendly gesture and not a

formal invitation. In some other cultures the same set of words make the listener (receiver) take the words

seriously and a formal invitation. Think of a situation when an American family says this to a family from a

different culture.

World moving towards acculturation

But with the advancements in electronic media, internet chatting and enhanced movement of

people due to increased traveling facilities, the level of understanding of each other's culture is going up and

so is the communication. It appears that the communication hurdles raging for the last many centuries

would be reduced as people see more of each other's living style on the high number of TV channels now

available in most parts of the world.

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