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COMMUNICATION, CULTURE,
AND DIVERSITY
Everyday Culture

• Culture and diversity impact communication every day

• Classrooms
• Social Media
• Workplace
• Medical Professionals
• Family members
• Must show sensitivity and respect to be competent
communicators
Culture

• “the distinctive ideas, customs, social behavior, products, or

way of life of a particular nation, society, people, or period”
• Complicated and powerful part of human development
• Influences self-images, priorities, personalities, and how we
communicate
• We are also members of co-cultures
• Smaller, more specific groups within and alongside larger cultures
• People simultaneously belong to many co-cultures
Hofstede’s Dimensions of Culture
• All nations fall along each continuum, not either/or category
• High vs. low power distance
• High vs. low uncertainty avoidance
• Individualist vs. collectivist
• Masculine vs. feminine
• Long-term vs. short-term orientation
• Indulgent vs. restrained
• High vs. low context (added by Hall)
Race and Ethnicity in Culture

• Race = physical characteristics of a group

• Skin color, body type, facial structure
• Ethnicity = common experiences
• Geographic origin, religion, history, food
• Both are prominent cultural markers
Sex, Gender, and Sexual
Orientation
• Sex = biological sex based on reproductive function
• Gender = socially constructed notions of masculinity,
femininity, and androgyny
• Sexual orientation = one’s romantic attractions
Age

• Age influences our experience, expectations, attitudes

• Generation affects us but does not pre-determine our
experience
• GI
• Silent
• Baby boomers
• Generation X
• Millennials
Physical Diversity
• We all have physical levels
• Physical abilities ad limitations affect experience
• Examples: blindness, muscular strength
• People with the same impairment are not necessarily limited in
the same way
Cognitive Diversity
• We all have cognitive levels
• Based on IQ, learning preferences, memory, interests
• Cognitive abilities affect experience
• Gardner identified seven intelligences by which people experience
and learn the world
• We can all access the world through every intelligence
• But we each prefer and are better at certain intelligences
• These differences shape our perspectives and actions
Ideological Diversity

• Ideologies are sets of ideas, beliefs, and ideals that form one’s
worldview and provide a basis for action
• Diversity of thought
• Usually emerges in politics
• Family and society are significant in developing ideologies
Religious Diversity

• Many religions in U. S. culture

• Religion can have strong impact on experience
• Developing trend in “spirituality”
• Must be sensitive to others’ beliefs
• Do not make assumptions about people based on their
affiliation with religious groups
• Do not make assumptions about people who are not affiliated
with religious groups
Communicating in a Diverse
World
• Make your message accessible
• Focus on similarities, not differences
• Avoid “ist” language