How Does Culture Affect Meaning and Communication Essay Example for Free

How Does Culture Affect Meaning and Communication Essay Nowadays we live in what is considered a â€Å"global village†, over time we have collectively worked towards this end. The need and desire to create a closer global community is not only seen as a technological advantage but an economic benefit. The world as we know it gets smaller every day, thanks to a new generation of social media applications such as facebook or twitter, which links vast communities together; communities and cultures are no longer cut off or remote. Take facebook for example, it has over 1 billion users, if it were a country it would be the third largest by population. (www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2013/012313.htm) Whether you live and work in remote Antarctica or bustling Hong Kong, technology and the studies of inter-culture communication ensures that people, governments and organizations can work effectively together in a harmonious and beneficial way. Naturally, this is an ideal situation, but as experience tells us, nothing is ever as simple. This essay explores how cultural differences effect meaning and communication. In doing so it will look at the definition of culture, what it is, and how it affects meaning. Furthermore, it will look at the acclaimed Dutch researcher, Geert Hofstede’s four dimensions of corporate culture as a framework to define and categorize cultural differences. Finally, it will raise potential problems raised in the field of inter-cultural communications and provide suggestions to overcome them. What is culture? Currently there are over â€Å"7 billion human inhabitants living on this planet. Each of these earth dwellers comes from a specific culture. (geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/worldpopulation.htm) As the world becomes smaller, not physically, but by the use of new media and technology, as they traverse earth looking for new or better opportunities, so must they face the modern conundrum of understanding firstly, what is culture, and secondly, how the differences between cultures effect meaning and communications. Without an understanding of different cultures, the potential for misunderstanding is high, with the ever-present possibility of a breakdown in relationships and opportunities. (Dostine, 2008, pg 58) text book suggests that all humans can be broadly defined by our culture. In essence, we are all born into a culture that over time has been passed down from previous generations, bestowing a rich history, significant culture defining traits such as its religion, its values and ethics, its ceremonies, rites and rituals, languages, customs, laws and business practices. Moreover, verbal and non-verbal communications practices that differ from one culture to the next. Therefore, suffice to say that the more we know about each other’s cultures the more effective our communication and co-habitation of the planet will be. How does cultural effect meaning? At the best of times, communication between individuals can be somewhat challenging. Add to that mix, communicating with people from another cultures and suddenly, the propensity for misunderstanding and in some cases offence can very easily take place as a result of the differences between the cultural backgrounds, understanding and meaning between the sender and receiver can be in stark contrast. This can be due to the increase in variables in the communication mix, therefore making global interaction more complex. Furthermore, people’s perception or way of thinking, hearing or seeing can vary quite extensively from one culture to the next. It could be strongly argued that it would be highly advantageous for both parties to be aware of the differences and therefore the potential for problems that arise from inter-cultural communication. Nowadays, many multi-national organizations, governments and educators have training and education programs in place. They see the importance in creating a clear, concise and respectful flow of communications between cultures. An example of this could be the department of foreign affairs and trade (DFAT) in Canberra. One of its main functions is to liaise internally and externally to better position itself to and for greater opportunity. It would be highly likely that the department has educated its employees in the science of how to deal effectively with other cultures (governments, organizations, businesses). One of DFATs main objectives is to â€Å"work with other government agencies to ensure that Australias pursuit of its global, regional and bilateral interests is coordinated effectively†. (dfat.gov.au/dept/what-we-do.html) In the field of organizational cultural studies, a Dutch researcher known as Geert Hofstede went on to publish his highly regarded findings. These findings have become a highly influential and acceptable way in which modern organizations can asses the difference between national culture and organizational culture. Hostede, seen as a pioneer in area of corporate culture, created a framework in which to asses national cultural groups and how they may affect or influ ence behaviors within an organization. Hofstede’s research in the 1980s, included the survey and analysis of hundreds of thousands of employees across fifty countries, to further increase the validity of his findings he followed up several years later by re-surveying these workers. In his work Hofstede asserted that the values that differentiated counties from each other fell into four dissimilar categories or clusters. Through the process of his study in corporate culture, Hofstede’s created a framework whereby he classified culture into four different dimensions. These dimensions looked at four anthropological problem areas that societies tend to handle differently to one another. Such as, ways in which they cope with inequality, uncertainty, the relationship between the individual and their primary group and implication of the persons sex. Born from this was Hofsteds four dimensions of national culture. They become knows as Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism versus Collectivism, and Masculinity versus Femininity. (www.geerthofstede.nl/dimensions-of-national-cultures) In discussing the Four Dimensions of Culture, Hofstede claims that: Power Distance Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. This represents inequality (more versus less), but defined from below, not from above. It suggests that a societys level of inequality is endorsed by the followers as much as by the leaders. Power and inequality, of course, are extremely fundamental facts of any society and anybody with some international experience will be aware that all societies are unequal, but some are more unequal than others. Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty avoidance deals with a societys tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. It indicates to what extent a culture programs its members to feel either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured situations. Unstructured situations are novel, unknown, surprising, and different from usual. Uncertainty avoiding cultures try to minimize the possibility of such situations by strict laws and rules, safety and security measures, and on the philosophical and religious level by a belief in absolute Truth: there can only be one Truth and we have it. People in uncertainty avoiding countries are also more emotional, and motivated by inner nervous energy. The opposite type, uncertainty accepting cultures, are more tolerant of opinions different from what they are used to; they try to have as few rules as possible, and on the philosophical and religious level they are relativist and allow many currents to flow side by side. People within these cultures are more phlegmatic and contemplativ e, and not expected by their environment to express emotions. Individualism Individualism on the one side versus its opposite, collectivism is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. On the individualist side, we find societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after her/himself and her/his immediate family. On the collectivist side, we find societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families (with uncles, aunts and grandparents) that continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. The word collectivism in this sense has no political meaning: it refers to the group, not to the state. Again, the issue addressed by this dimension is an extremely fundamental one, regarding all societies in the world. Masculinity Masculinity versus its opposite, femininity refers to the distribution of emotional roles between the genders which is another fundamental issue for any society to which a range of solutions are found. The IBM studies revealed that (a) womens values differ less among societies than mens values; (b) mens values from one country to another contain a dimension from very assertive and competitive and maximally different from womens values on the one side, to modest and caring and similar to womens values on the other. The assertive pole has been called masculine and the modest, caring pole feminine. The women in feminine countries have the same modest, caring values as the men; in the masculine countries they are more assertive and more competitive, but not as much as the men, so that these countries show a gap between mens values and womens values. (www.geerthofstede.nl/dimensions-of-national-cultures) Whilst Hofsted’s four dimensions are highly regarded, further research has highlighted other areas that effect intercultural communication and understanding. These include context, language and non-verbal communications. Firstly, it is almost impossible to investigate research into the cross-cultural issues without making mention of Edward Hall’s research in the area; he asserted that cultures are defined by context. (Hansen Lee, pg,30) A person’s behavior can be affected by its cultural context. (Dostine, 2008) From here, he broke context down into low context cultures; these prefer direct verbal interaction with minimal regard to context. Examples include Australia, USA, Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavian cultures.

Romantic Poets and Their Response to Nature Essay -- Romantic Poets Po

Romantic Poets and Their Response to Nature Consider how the romantic poets have responded to the subject of nature with close references to at least three poems studied. Consider how the romantic poets have responded to the subject of nature with close references to at least three poems studied, comment in detail on: 1. Imagery (e.g. simile, metaphor, personification.) 2. Subject matter/theme 3. Characteristics of the romantic movement Romanticism was a poetic movement of the 19th century, during The French Revolution. The poetry reflected on feelings of everyday events. It was written in a simplistic language so that everyone could understand and appreciate poetry because earlier poetry was written formally with a complex language, which only the well educated could understand fully. Romantic poems had strong characteristics, which stand out, these are: pantheism, the importance of childhood and memories, a simplistic style, an informal and everyday language, emotional and political. From studying Keats, Coleridge and Wordsworth Nature has been the most influential characteristic, and has inspired them to write personal poems reflecting on God, permanence, education, childhood and memory. The poem 'To Autumn' written by Keats (1795-1821) is a typical romantic poem and in the first sentence 'Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness,' we already have a sense of calmness because the words 'mist' and 'mellow' are very soft and gentle sounding words. Keats has used 'm' and 's' words like these because he wants to get across the calmness of autumn and how relaxed it is, he does this by using words which are almost impossible to be said in a harsh and vicious way. Keats strongly worships na... ... to visualise a supreme, perfect scene of exactly what Westminster looks like in the morning. 'All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautiful steep In his first splendor,' is building up a feeling of warmth because it is a very colourful passage. The word 'steep' increases the reader's sense of touch. To add nature into the poem Wordsworth has commented on 'open unto the fields, and the sky,' this has set a very peaceful tone to the poem and has demonstrated that nature can live together in harmony with man. This image really takes hold of Wordsworth and in a state of passion because of the perfection he cries out to God 'Dear God.' This has added vigour to the poem and to get back to the peacefulness and silent perfection he has added about how still London is in the morning, which means his 'almighty heart is lying still.

Personal Theory Paper Essay

Throughout my experience my current course, Theories and Practices: Human Services in Criminal Justice, I have learned plenty of information about the various theories of psychotherapy in counseling. Some of these theories operate on the basis of recognizing errors in thinking and correcting those errors. Other theories operate on the basis of multiculturalism and the fact that all clients are unique and deserve to be treated as such. As a result of learning from my readings and of my discussions with class mates, I was able to create my own intervention theory for counseling. Explanation of Theory and why I believe in it Any student in a human service course should be able to develop his or her own intervention theory by the time the course ends. My personal theory will involve both cognitive and multicultural approaches to therapy. Cognitive approaches to therapy operate on the assumption that by correcting the clients’ faulty beliefs, they can learn to behave more appropriately, how to think differently, and how to act on these learnings (Jones-Smith, 2012). On the other hand, Multicultural approaches to therapy suggest that counseling theories represent various views of the world with their own values, biases, and assumptions about human behavior, and that all clients are unique in some way and that their individual differences must be both accepted and respected (Jones-Smith, 2012). I believe in combining these approaches to therapy for my theory for a few reasons. First, I have always thought that offenders within the criminal justice system need to recognize their errors in thinking before they will be able to change their behaviors to be in accordance with the law. Plus, as a future employee of the criminal justice system who will most likely be working in human services, I need to be able to work with clients from various cultural backgrounds and  to accept and recognized their differences. Combining these two theories is the best way for me to be able to help all of my future potential clients in the best way possible. Theories and Theorists I Relate the Most to and why After reading all of the material for this course, I found that I relate to a few of the theories and theorist better than I do others. For instance, I found that I can relate to Albert Ellis and his Rational Emotive Behavior Theory or REBT. One of the reasons that I can relate to this theory and theorist is because it is a cognitive approach to therapy, which I think is very important for offenders to take part in for the best chances of living a crime-free life. Plus, REBT is based on the belief that people are born with a potential for irrational or rational thinking (Jones-Smith, 2012). In addition, REBT maintains that people are born constructivists and have a great deal of resources for human growth (Jones-Smith, 2012). I have always made these assumptions about people, which is also why I can relate to this theory. I can also relate to Ho’s theory of internalized culture, which suggests that the formations of our worldviews are influenced by eternalized culture (Jones-Smith, 2012). In addition, the theory suggests that effective multicultural counseling is based on the counselor’s ability to go beyond the boundaries and limitations of his or her personal culture (Jones-Smith, 2012). I can relate to this because I think that it is necessary to be able to look past my personal beliefs and experiences to be able to help a wide range of clients. Relating to these theories and theorists has helped me to develop my own personal intervention theory that I will be able to use in my future career. What Surprised me most about the Theories and why Some of the theories and concepts from this course took me by surprise. For instance, it took me by surprise that there are theories and theorists created specifically for feminist and the LGBT communities. Although I realize that all types of people have issues that they need to address in therapy, I never thought that specific therapeutic techniques were developed for feminist and LGBT communities. However, it does make sense that the LGBT community would have certain issues that other people may not have to face. In addition, I was a bit surprised at the variety of theories and  approaches that are used for Asians, Muslims, and Arabs. What surprised me about these theories is that they were very different from many of the theories generally used by our culture. In addition, I did not fully understand how the differences in these cultures played such a large role in how to approach these populations with therapy. However, I did find them interesting, and considered many of the concepts for use in my personal intervention theory. Even though these theories took me by surprise, I recognize their importance in psychotherapy approaches to counseling. Conclusion All of the theories of psychotherapy discussed in this course are effective for specific people with specific needs. Despite the fact that some of the theories were surprising, they all have merit and can be effective with the right client. Even though I recognize the importance of all of the theories and theorists, I was able to relate to some more than others. After relating to certain theories and theorists, I was able to develop my own personal intervention theory based on cognitive and multicultural approaches to therapy. My personal intervention theory, along with the rest of the theories and concepts discussed in this course will guide me along my journey of employment as a juvenile probation officer in the future. References Jones-Smith, E. (2012). Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy: An Integrative Approach. Sage Publications.

World War I And World II - 3092 Words

Both wrold War I and World Ii effected the outcome of how every part of the world turned out to be. World War I had severely impacted much of Europe as well a number force to France, including a medical unit ( this was one few roles women had in war, and were sent to serve in the trenches) and a fighter squadron. Some say the fighter pilots were still in training when the war ended, others that they had just managed to fly a couple of missions before the officially goin to way. The result was that 19 Thai soldiers were killed, and their names are now on a war memorial in Bangkok. Japan was given the territories of Germany to ruleover and take advantage of, most importantly the Shandong peninsula in China. They were also given the right of extraterritoriality in China, which means that Japanese could not be arrested and tried in Chinese courts, which made them equal to Europeans who also had the right, and let them act in a high-handed way toward the Chinese, because Japanese courts would rule in their favor. This lead almost directly to the May 4th Movement in China, which was a popular protest against the Treaty of Versailles (the treaty that ended WW1), and turned the modernist movement in China from an intellectual exercise into a popular movement. It would indirectly lead to the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party Once it became obvious that the war was going to be won by the Allies, there was an unseemly scramble all around the world to declare war onShow MoreRelatedWorld War I and World War II700 Words   |  3 PagesMany people know about World War I and World War II seeing that they are a couple of the world’s most famous wars. 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