COMM 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 22: Location (Geography), Masculinity, Individualism

• School: Ohio State University
• Department: Communication
• Course: COMM 1100
• Professor: Simon Lavis

Document Summary

Beyond arts and culture, culture for our purposes is a more sociological term. A way to define location (geography: continental divides, international divides, cross-national divides, community-based divides. Culture might also be connected to demographics: the culture of race, gender, sexuality, ideology, fandom. How can we identify culture: a socially constructed, and historically transmitted pattern of symbols, meanings, premises, and rules; complex webs of shared meanings. Geert hofstede"s four dimensions for cultural comparison (using america and japan as exemplars) Power distance: the extent to which the less powerful in society are able to identify the inequality of societal power: usa: low, japanese: medium. Masculinity: clearly define sex roles: usa: high, japan: extremely high. Uncertainty avoidance: are the peoples threatened by ambiguity, and create belief systems to avoid them: usa: low, japan: extremely high. Individualism: focus on self/ family but not many others: usa: high, japan: low. Communication accommodation (proposed by welsh scholar- howard giles)